30 FRESH FIELDS 



probably owing to our cruder soil and sharper cli- 

 mate. The aspect of our trees in midsummer is as 

 if the hair of their heads stood on end ; the woods 

 have a wild, frightened look, or as if they were just 

 recovering from a debauch. In our intense light 

 and heat, the leaves, instead of spreading them- 

 selves full to the sun and crowding out upon the 

 ends of the branches as they do in England, retreat, 

 as it were, hide behind each other, stand edgew^ise, 

 perpendicular, or at any angle, to avoid the direct 

 rays. In Britain, from the slow, dripping rains and 

 the excessive moisture, the leaves of the trees droop 

 more, and the branches are more pendent. The 

 rays of light are fewer and feebler, and the foliage 

 disposes itself so as to catch them all, and thus 

 presents a fuller and broader surface to the eye of 

 the beholder. The leaves are massed upon the 

 outer ends of the branches, while the interior of 

 the tree is comparatively leafless. The European 

 plane-tree is like a tent. The foliage is all on the 

 outside. The bird voices in it reverberate as in 

 a chamber. 



" The pillar' d dusk of sounding sycamores," 



says Tennyson. At a little distance, it has the 

 mass and solidity of a rock. The same is true of 

 the European maple, and when this tree is grown 

 on our side of the Atlantic it keejDS up its Old 

 AYorld habits. I have for several years taken note 

 of a few of them growing in a park near my home. 

 They have less grace and delicacy of outline than 

 our native maj)le, but present a darker and more 



