78 TOWN PLANTING 



centres of industry. The ample delicate 

 green foliage betrays even late in the 

 season, and when about to be cast off- 

 little evidence of the fierce struggle that must 

 almost constantly go on between vegetation 

 and the smoke and filth of our towns and 

 cities. That the thick leathery leaves and 

 strong constitution of the tree play an im- 

 portant part in keeping it free from disease 

 is clearly evident, while the fact of the leaves 

 being renewed annually must go a long way 

 towards casting off the sooty nodules which 

 work such havoc on the tender foliage of 

 most trees. At no less than five places in 

 and around the great metropolis and such 

 places, too, where one is almost stifled with 

 the fumes from chimneys the Maidenhair 

 Tree may be seen almost in as fresh and 

 flourishing a condition as anywhere in the 

 country; indeed about as large trunks as can 

 be seen anywhere are growing in the smoke of 

 Chelsea and the Commercial Road. Not only 

 as a standard tree is the Maidenhair valuable, 

 but it is also one of the prettiest wall plants 



