4 , 2 MY GARDEN. 



it has been sadly injured by the cutting ordered by the road sur- 

 veyor, who about our district forbids any tree to 'encroach upon the 

 roadway. This tree in early spring produces so much cotton with 

 the seeds that the ground is covered with it, and therefore it does 

 not please tidy gardeners. It is however most ornamental, both 

 when growing by itself when its form is specially beautiful and 

 when judiciously mixed with other trees. There is a variety called 

 acerrifolia, of great beauty. 



I have a tree or two of the Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera}, 

 which has balsamic, gummy excretions about the buds, exhaling a 

 powerful odour ; and also a Weeping Poplar, which is a variety of 

 a species of no great importance, but pretty amongst small trees or 

 shrubs. It is the earliest of all forest trees in coming into leaf. 



Our district abounds in noble Horse-chestnut trees (ALsculus 

 hippocastanum, fig. 937). Although the avenue of horse-chestnut trees 

 at Hampton Court is justly esteemed as one of the finest examples 



of its kind in Europe, yet the full majesty of 

 each tree is rather spoilt by the trees having 

 been crowded together. When a single tree 

 is in flower, it presents one of the most 

 glorious sights of the vegetal kingdom. The 

 tree takes the general form of a gigantic 

 pyramid, and occasionally the branches hang 

 down for many yards, which give it a peculiar 

 and elegant appearance. In spring the tree 

 is covered with blossom, every flower being a 



FIG. 937. Horse-chestnut. i i n i i r 



pyramid, and every floweret a model of 



beauty. In Kensington Gardens there are a few trees of surpassing 

 beauty, yet I generally have given the preference to those in 

 Beddington Park. Within the last ten years some of the magnificent 

 trees in the Park have been cut down. Unfortunately, the fruit of 

 this stately tree is unfit for human food. Deer, however, are so fond 

 of it that they will stand on their hind legs to gather it, but for 

 most other animals it is too bitter to be palatable. 



