yr~-^x TREES ABOUT TOWN 



closure from trespassers, and warding off the bitter 

 winds ; or it will grow into a tree. Again, the 

 old hedge-crab the common, despised crab-apple 

 in spring is covered with blossom, such a mass 

 of blossom that it may be distinguished a mile. 

 Did any one ever see a plane or a laurel look like 

 that ? 



How pleasant, too, to see the clear white flower 

 of the blackthorn come out in the midst of the 

 bitter easterly breezes ! It is like a white hand- 

 kerchief beckoning to the sun to come. There 

 will not be much more frost ; if the wind is bitter 

 to-day, the sun is rapidly gaining power. Prob- 

 ably, if a blackthorn bush were by any chance dis- 

 covered in the semi-parks or enclosures alluded to, 

 it would at once be rooted out as an accursed 

 thing. The very brambles are superior ; there is 

 the flower, the sweet berry, and afterwards the 

 crimson leaves three things in succession. 



What can the world produce equal to the June 

 rose ? The common briar, the commonest of all, 

 offers a flower which, whether in itself, or the 

 moment of its appearance at the juncture of all 

 sweet summer things, or its history and associations, 

 is not to be approached by anything a millionaire 

 could purchase. The labourer casually gathers it 

 as he goes to his work in the field, and yet none 

 of the rich families whose names are synonymous 

 z 37 



