NATURE NEAR LONDON sr 



there is not one of these. The fern is actually 

 purposely eradicated just think ! Purposely ! 

 Though indeed they would not grow, one would 

 think, under rhododendrons and laurels, cold- 

 blooded laurels. They will grow under hawthorn, 

 ash, or beside the bramble bushes. 



If there chance to be a little pond or " fountain," 

 there is no such thing as a reed, or a flag, or a 

 rush. How the rushes would be hastily hauled 

 out and hurled away with execrations ! 



Besides the greater beauty of English trees, 

 shrubs, and plants, they also attract the birds, 

 without which the grandest plantation is a vacancy, 

 and another interest, too, arises from watching the 

 progress of their growth and the advance of the 

 season. Our own trees and shrubs literally keep 

 pace with the stars which shine in our northern 

 skies. An astronomical floral almanack might 

 almost be constructed, showing how, as the con- 

 stellations marched on by night, the buds and 

 leaves and flowers appeared by day. 



The lower that brilliant Sirius sinks in the 

 western sky after ruling the winter heavens, and 

 the higher that red Arcturus rises, so the buds 

 thicken, open, and bloom. When the Pleiades 

 begin to rise in the early evening, the leaves are 

 turning colour, and the seed vessels of the flowers 

 take the place of the petals. The coincidences of 

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