WEST OF THE ADUR 



231 



the high chalk hills are doubtless more brilliantly 

 coloured in September than most trees of their kind. 

 But though so various and charming on that account, 

 you do not get masses of splendid colour in the thorn, 

 owing to the looseness of its foliage and to the 

 various colours and shades of colour which may be 

 seen on almost any tree. Or if in any one tree you 

 get a mass of intense colour, it is in the fruit and 



Hill-top Grove 



not the leaf. Here are many trees so entirely covered 

 with berries as to appear at a short distance like trees 

 cut out of deepest crimson coral. 



For great masses of intense colour nothing can 

 compare with the beech, which flourishes above all 

 trees on the West Sussex downs. And here it may 

 be remarked that it is not only in its mac^niticent 

 autumn colours that the beech adds greatly to the 

 attractiveness of the downland scenery in West Sussex. 



