90 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



with those of the so-called " Willow " hanging 

 over the bridge in the picture on the kitchen 

 plate, will at once see the resemblance. 



Mrs. Bishop, in Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, 

 describes great trees of " beautiful Salisburia 

 adiantifolia " (Maidenhair-tree) in the wild, 

 forest-covered mountains in Yezo the island 

 of the primitive " hairy Ainos." But the best 

 Japanese authorities say that even these are 

 not wild. 



What can be the weakness which now pre- 

 vents the Maidenhair-tree from holding its 

 own without the help of man ? What the 

 extraordinary vitality, which has enabled it to 

 survive all its fellows, and come down to us 

 through countless ages ? 



There are two Maidenhair-trees at present 

 in the Physic Garden not old ones. 1 The 

 venerable tree came to an end when parish 

 authorities widened the street on the north side 

 of the Garden. A strip of a few feet was then 

 taken from the Garden, and with it the old 

 Maidenhair-tree. The going dry of the 

 Garden had not killed a tree whose race had 

 survived world cataclysms ; but the pavement 

 in modern London was another matter, and the 

 tree died. 



Two old Mulberry-trees are still flourishing 

 in the Physic Garden. There are many of 

 these old Mulberry-trees in Chelsea, monu- 



1 Young Maidenhair-trees are not as picturesque as old ones. 

 The branches are erect like the artificial variety of the Black 

 Poplar, the " Lombardy " Poplar, whose boughs give no shelter 

 from sun or rain, nor resting-places for birds ; " fastigiate " the 

 botany books call it, with twigs packed close together like the 

 instrument of punishment in old-fashioned schools. 



