94 LONDON TREES 



Manchester Squares specimens have attained to a size 

 rarely exceeded by the trees when growing under 

 more favourable atmospheric conditions. In the 

 grounds of the latter are five Plane trees, each being 

 fully 100 feet in height and with a corresponding 

 thickness of stem and branch spread. 



Other examples of almost equally rapid growth 

 and development are the beautiful trees in Bedford, 

 Russell, and Gordon Squares, also in Lincoln's Inn 

 Fields, many being fully 80 feet in height, with in 

 some instances a branch spread of 70 or 80 feet and 

 a stem girth of from 6 to 8 feet at a yard from 

 ground-level. No doubt in all these cases the healthy 

 condition and giant proportions to which they have 

 attained are mainly due to the care with which the 

 trees were planted and to good management in pro- 

 viding suitable soil and ample room for the develop- 

 ment of root and branch. But in many other of 

 the London squares, where the atmosphere is by 

 no means pure, the Plane tree may be seen in all its 

 glory of leaf and branch. It is, however, not only 

 in the squares and gardens of the great Metropolis 

 that the Plane thrives in a satisfactory manner, but 

 even where the tree is hemmed in by tall buildings 

 and without room for perfect branch development. 

 There are many examples of this, as at Cheapside, 

 in the Tower of London, at Ludgate Hill, and in not 

 a few of the old and disused churchyards in the City 

 and East End, where the heated, dusty, and otherwise 

 impure atmosphere is almost stifling. 



But apart from thriving in crowded thorough- 

 fares the Plane is by no means particular as to 

 soil, and will even flourish in that of a stiff clayey 

 description, as the many beautiful specimens in 



