THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



avenue a round pond 400 feet in diameter, with a 

 noble fountain in the centre, forces the Horsechestnut- 

 trees from line to circle with great enhancement of 

 effect. Some of the larger trees have died and are 

 replaced by young ones, but the show of blossoms is 

 wonderful year after year. The largest trees are 

 fully 100 feet tall and from 10 to 20 feet in girth of 

 trunk, with handsome crowns and branches sweeping 

 the ground. 



The tree is so common a feature of the landscape 

 of the British Isles that a majority of the people 

 take it for granted that it is a native tree. With 

 schoolboys it is a great favourite for does it not 

 furnish the seeds used to play the famous game of 

 "Conquerors"? Among my earliest recollections 

 is that of a grove of trees in an ecclesiastical semi- 

 nary, and much I used to appreciate a generous gift 

 of nuts from the student priests. How carefully 

 one used to bore a hole through them — a horseshoe 

 nail being a favourite tool — dry them afterward, 

 and test their strength in battles with other boys. 

 Some were clever in hardening them by roasting, 

 but, as far as memory serves, mine always burst 

 when placed in the oven. Many a mile do boys in 

 England walk to gather the Horsechestnut seeds and 

 when seven or eight years old my proudest possession 

 was a long rope of them. Young schoolboys can 

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