90 Practical Forestry 



inflata), Saponaria officinalis, the common Marigold, and 

 Rye Grass seem positively to revel. In situations almost 

 constantly subjected to the sulphurous fumes of the railway 

 engines near Camden Town, and in the poorest of soils, Poa 

 annua would appear to be quite at home. The chemical 

 fumes from the pottery works at Lambeth are well known 

 to act injuriously on vegetation generally, but the Mulberry, 

 Fig, Sycamore, Turkey and Evergreen Oaks thrive as well 

 there as they do in any part of the metropolis. The fumes 

 given off from many of our city manufactories act most 

 perniciously on vegetation generally a fact that was 

 brought to my notice by the behaviour of some of our most 

 valuable smoke-resisting trees and shrubs planted in the 

 graveyard at St. Giles- in-the-Fields. Meeting the gardener 

 there I remarked on the wretched condition of the trees 

 and shrubs generally, his quick reply being, " Well ! with 

 Crosse & Blackwell's on the one side, and Nixey's Black 

 Lead Works on the other, it's a wonder there's a living plant 

 left ! " Here the common Fig and Black Poplar seemed 

 better able to withstand the atmospheric conditions than 

 either the London Plane or Acacia. With the largely 

 increased use of coal gas for cooking purposes, improved 

 grates, and the better combustion of fuel, the atmosphere 

 of certain districts of London, has, however, become much 

 less smoky than was the case a few years ago, and in con- 

 sequence vegetation generally succeeds better. This is 

 especially the case in some of the low-lying districts adjoining 

 the Thames where the " slot " system of providing gas for 

 cooking purposes has caused a great decrease in the con- 

 sumption of coke and coal, with a corresponding reduction 

 of the attending evils of smoke and soot. In one of the 

 poorest parishes many of the inhabitants have taken advan- 

 tage of the facilities offered by the Gas Company in the matter 

 of cooking by means of gas provided by the " slot " system, 

 which, in comparison with coal, has been found not only 

 cheaper, but cleaner and handier to use. According to a 

 competent authority the smoke nuisance has, in con- 

 sequence, greatly abated, and with the purer air, the cultiva- 

 tion of window and other plants, as well as of trees and 



