4 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



angles of every degree. Another peculiar feature is the 

 uniformity of the diameter of the trunk for an unusual 

 length; in this respect resembling the grape-vine or 

 poison ivy. An hexagonal stem of one of these trees 

 which I was tempted to measure is uniformly ten 

 inches in circumference for twenty feet. It bends 

 sharply at two points, and makes a shapely letter Z, 

 slightly tilted upward, and so far resembles the "E" 

 maple" on Poaetquissings Creek, some miles away. 



The English hornbeam, which is also called "yoke- 

 elm," like the American form, has the trunk "usually 

 flattened and twisted, as though composed of several 

 stems united." 



Pulling my boat ashore, I counted fifty of these trees, 

 and all had the trunks, for a space of a foot or more 

 from the ground, either quadrangular or pentagonal. 

 Usually, they were distinctly diamond -shaped, in sec- 

 tion, then approaching a true square, and from this be- 

 coming hexagonal, and so approaching a truly cylindrical 

 form ; but this is seldom perfectly acquired except by 

 a few of the terminal twigs. 



From many of these hornbeams branches could have 

 been cut bearing a marked resemblance to a deer's ant- 

 lers, and so would be of use for hat-racks where the gen- 

 uine article could not be obtained. 



While lingering in the shade of these dwarfed trees, 

 and of the upreaching lindens about and beyond them, 

 I was struck with the painful silence brooding, at the 

 time, over all. Do such localities usually have a de- 

 pressing influence over animal life, particularly bird- 



