MUNICIPAL PARKS 125 



that dear old-fashioned " bear's ears," put in about the 

 end of October, make a little show all the winter, and 

 produce a mass of colour in spring. There is still room 

 for improvement in the direction of the planting, but of 

 late years the war waged against the monopoly of calceo- 

 larias, geraniums, and blue lobelias has, fortunately, had 

 its effect in a marked degree on the London Parks, 

 municipal as well as royal. 



There is apt to be a great uniformity in the selection 

 of plants, more especially among the trees and bushes. 

 The future should always be borne in mind in planting, 

 and alas ! that is not always the case. Anything that will 

 grow quickly is often put in, whereas a little patience 

 and a much finer effect would be the result in the end. 

 Privet grows faster than holly, but can the two results be 

 compared ? There is a very fine old elm avenue in 

 Ravenscourt ; trees which the planter never saw in per- 

 fection, but which many generations have since enjoyed. 

 But will the avenue of poplars in Finsbury Park have 

 such a future .? After thirty-five years' growth they are 

 considerable trees, but how long will they last ? The 

 plane does grow remarkably well, there is no denying, 

 but is it necessary for that reason to exclude almost every 

 other tree .? Ash trees thrive surprisingly. Some of the 

 oaks take kindly to London, yet how few are planted. 

 Richard Jefferies, that most delightful of writers on nature, 

 bemoans the lack of English trees in the suburban gardens 

 of London, and the same may be said of the parks to 

 some extent. " Go round the entire circumference of 

 Greater London," he writes, "and find the list cease- 

 lessly repeated. There are acacias, sumachs, cedar 

 deodaras, araucarias, laurels, planes, beds of rhododen- 

 drons, and so on." "If, again, search were made in 



