FEBRUARY 121 



very best intentions, and have studied the tree or trees from all 

 standpoints and at every season of the year in order to decide 

 which shall go and which shall stay, and then, after all, find that 

 a mistake has been made. Also the error, if it be one, is so 

 utterly irredeemable, for no ordinary person can hope to live long 

 enough to repair it. 



It is extraordinary, however, to see what growth trees will make 

 during the span of a single life. Thus on the lawn of this house 

 stand many good-sized timbers, elm, oak, beech, lime, and wal- 

 nut. With the exception of the walnuts, which are ancient, every 

 tree of them was planted within the memory of a relative, now just 

 eighty years of age, who was living in this house at the time. 

 Indeed, the man who actually set them was shoeing horses until, 

 having been much hurt by a kick, he took to his bed and died not 

 very long ago. It is not given to many to see oaks planted, cut 

 down as good timber, seasoned, made into bookcases, window- 

 frames, and shutters, and set up to furnish the room from which 

 in childhood they watched the gardener setting them. Yet this 

 has happened to the relative in question ; moreover, it is now 

 some ten years since the trees were felled. 



It should be added that there is something in this soil which is 

 extraordinarily well suited to the needs of hardwood timber, which 

 flourishes here exceedingly. This is shown by the fact that in 

 Websdill Wood, at Bedingham, which is also a clay soil, though 

 stiffer, the oaks, that seem to have been planted for many 

 generations, are for the most part no larger than those upon this 

 lawn. At any rate, old men at Bedingham have told me that 

 they have not been able to notice any change in them since they 

 were boys. The timber of the trees also goes to corroborate this 

 statement, as when we steam-sawed a parcel of them a few years 

 ago, I noticed that the wood seemed as hard as iron, and that 

 there was practically no * sap,' that is, soft outer wood, which is 

 useless for most purposes. 



Altogether I think that I marked about fifty trees this 

 morning, small for the most part and of every variety. Some of 



