TREES ABOUT TOWN 173 



lands this is a pitiful spectacle, produced, too, by the 

 expenditure of large sums of money. Will no one break 

 through the practice, and try the effect of English trees ? 

 There is no lack of them, and they far excel anything 

 yet imported in beauty and grandeur. 



Though such suburban grounds mimic the isolation 

 and retirement of ancient country-houses surrounded 

 with parks, the distinctive feature of the ancient houses 

 is omitted. There are no massed bodies, as it were, of 

 our own trees to give a substance to the view. Are young 

 oaks ever seen in those grounds so often described as 

 park-like? Some time since it was customary for the 

 builder to carefully cut down every piece of timber on 

 the property before putting in the foundations. 



Fortunately, the influence of a better taste now pre- 

 serves such trees as chance to be growing on the site 

 at the moment it is purchased. These remain, but no 

 others are planted. A young oak is not to be seen. The 

 oaks that are there drop their acorns in vain, for if one 

 takes root it is at once cut off; it would spoil the laurels. 

 It is the same with elms ; the old elms are decaying, and 

 no successors are provided. 



As for ash, it is doubtful if a young ash is anywhere 

 to be found ; if so it is an accident. The ash is even 

 rarer than the rest. In their places are put more laurels, 

 cedar deodaras, various evergreens, rhododendrons, 

 planes. How tame and insignificant are these com- 

 pared with the oak ! Thrice a year the oaks become 

 beautiful in a different way. 



In spring the opening buds give the tree a ruddy hue ; 

 in summer the great head of green is not to be surpassed ; 

 in autumn, with the falling leaf and acorn, they appear 

 buff and brown. The nobility of the oak casts the pitiful 

 laurel into utter insignificance. With elms it is the same ; 



