88 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



But the Embankment was by no means a gain 

 to the Physic Garden. 



The trees had been accustomed all their lives 

 to drink twice a day the good Thames water, 

 which at high tide soaked through the earth 

 to their roots ; and the total abstinence from 

 it, enforced by the new Embankment, was a 

 sudden change in their way of living, and proved 

 fatal to many. But some lived on. One most 

 interesting tree survived the " going dry " of 

 the Garden a Maidenhair-tree (Ginkgo), one 

 of the first brought to England. It was planted 

 against the north wall of the Garden to allow 

 its being protected from frost in the winter ; 

 but the great Maidenhair-tree in the open lawn 

 at Kew 1 shows that the precaution was not 

 needed. 



Maidenhair-trees are easily distinguished 

 from other trees by the shape of their leaves, 

 which are fan-shaped, like enormous Maiden- 

 hair-fern leaves, and they have straight veins as 

 the fern leaves have. The Chinese 2 say that 

 they are like ducks' feet, and give that name to 

 the tree. 



The Maidenhair-tree must appeal to all as 

 one of the most wonderful things living on this 

 wonderful earth. It is a link with a bygone 

 time, of which we can only have the faintest 

 conception a time when the great vegetable 

 world was preparing this planet for man. 

 Trees resembling it were spread over the earth ; 



1 Sir David Prain informs the writer that the Kew Maidenhair- 

 tree was planted about 1760. But the Kew tree must originally 

 have been near a stove-house in the Princess Dowager's garden. 



2 Trees of Great Britain. Elwes. 



