ACACIA 13 



the beautiful pea-green pinnate foliage and long 

 racemes of white or pinky tinted and slightly fragrant 

 flowers, which are produced in the greatest abun- 

 dance, render it one of the most beautiful of town 

 trees. 



The Acacia has been so generally planted in the 

 Metropolis that few of our squares, parks, or open 

 spaces are wanting in specimens. There are unusually 

 fine trees in Russell Square, in St. James's and Hyde 

 Parks, and on Hampstead Heath and Golder's Green, 

 though the oldest are undoubtedly those in Ravens- 

 court Park, one of the largest there being 80 feet high. 

 The Russell Square Acacias, which are supposed to 

 have been planted about 1720, are now on the decline, 

 the trunks being diseased and the upper branches 

 dead and dying. They present rather a miserable 

 appearance, and would hardly from size of stems 

 4 feet in diameter be considered as t\vo centuries 

 old. Around Westminster, at Hampstead, and in 

 most of the East End parks and open spaces, the 

 Acacia may be seen in a flourishing condition. Though 

 a comparatively short-lived tree, the growth in a young 

 state is rapid, and suckers 4 feet in length are frequently 

 sent out by specimens that have been cut over or 

 beheaded. 



But in every part of London the Acacia may be 

 found of large size and in a thriving condition unless 

 where its natural beauty has been interfered with by 

 the ruthless hand of the pruner. For such there is 

 no excuse, as the different varieties of Robinia are 

 equal to providing the most capricious planter with 

 subjects of almost every size and form, from the 

 globose and fastigiate to the pendulous, without 

 resorting to mutilation. Pruning the Acacia is not 



