ITS TREES. 109 



necessary. A beginning has been made, and will 

 be largely extended in future years. 



Some have urged that extensive drainage of 

 the Forest should be undertaken. On the other 

 hand, naturalists have complained that this would 

 destroy the swamps, which are their favourite hunt- 

 ing ground. They need be under little apprehen- 

 sion, for, as regards the wooded portion, drainage 

 is very difficult if not impossible. Open drains 

 through clay soil get quickly trodden in by cattle, 

 while covered drains are sought out and presently 

 blocked by the roots of trees. 



Of the thousands of Londoners who refresh them- 

 selves by a visit to our groves, comparatively few 

 do so at the two periods of the year when they are 

 most beautiful — early May and late October. To 

 the tree -lover I strongly recommend the former 

 month. It is then, when the first burst of spring 

 takes place, that the distinguishing characteristics, 

 and especially the colours of each tree, can be best 

 seen. A few weeks later the yellow of the young 

 oak foliage, the gray green of the birches and the 

 burnished light-reflecting quality of the beeches, 

 are merged in one uniform dark green, lovely in its 

 varied shapes and play of light and deep shadow, 

 but monotonous as to colour. The blackthorn in 

 x^pril, the hawthorn in May, a month later the 

 crab, and sheets of the water-violet and water- 

 ranunculus, supply the masses of white without 

 which no group either of flowers or trees is com- 

 plete. Again in the " fall," when our glades are 

 almost solitudes, who can measure the glories of 

 the beech groves when they put on their first 

 autumn touches of brown and gold, contrasting 

 with the dark green of the more persistent oak, 



