TREES ABOUT TOWN 



once cut off; it would spoil the laurels. It is the 

 same with elms ; the old elms are decaying, and no 

 successors are provided. 



As for ash, it is doubtful if a young ash is any- 

 where to be found ; if so, it is an accident. The 

 ash is even rarer than the rest. In their places 

 are put more laurels, cedar deodaras, various ever- 

 greens, rhododendrons, planes. How tame and 

 insignificant are these compared with the oak ! 

 Thrice a year the oaks become beautiful in a 

 different way. 



In spring the opening buds give the tree a ruddy 

 hue; in summer the great head of green is not to 

 be surpassed ; in autumn, with the falling leaf and 

 acorn, they appear buff and brown. The nobility 

 of the oak casts the pitiful laurel into utter insig- 

 nificance. With elms it is the same ; they are red- 

 dish with flower and bud very early in the year, 

 the fresh leaf is a tender green ; in autumn they are 

 sometimes one mass of yellow. 



Ashes change from almost black to a light green, 

 then a deeper green, and again light green and yellow. 

 Where is the foreign evergreen in the competition ? 

 Put side by side, competition is out of the question : 

 you have only to get an artist to paint the oak in 

 its three phases to see this. There is less to be said 

 against the deodara than the rest, as it is a graceful 

 tree ; but it is not English in any sense. 

 _2 33 _ 



