E^K NATURE NEAR LONDON SE 



the house was built ; for the rest, the products 

 of English woods and hedgerows have been care- 

 fully excluded. The law is, " Plant planes, lau- 

 rels, and rhododendrons ; root up everything natural 

 to this country." 



To those who have any affection for our own 

 woodlands this is a pitiful spectacle, produced, too, 

 by the expenditure of large sums of money. Will 

 no one break through the practice, and try the effect 

 of English trees ? There is no lack of them, and 

 they far excel anything yet imported in beauty and 

 grandeur. 



Though such suburban grounds mimic the isola- 

 tion and retirement of ancient country houses sur- 

 rounded with parks, the distinctive feature of the 

 ancient houses is omitted. There are no massed 

 bodies, as it were, of our own trees to give a sub- 

 stance to the view. Are young oaks ever seen in 

 those grounds so often described as park-like ? 

 Some time since it was customary for the builder 

 to carefully cut down every piece of timber on the 

 property before putting in the foundations. 



Fortunately, the influence of a better taste now 

 preserves such trees as chance to be growing on 

 the site at the moment it is purchased. These 

 remain, but no others are planted. A young oak 

 is not to be seen. The oaks that are there drop 

 their acorns in vain, for if one takes root it is at 

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