164 LONDON TREES 



out-of-the-way places being difficult to explain. In 

 all probability the owner or tenant of the garden 

 plot had an interest in trees, and so the seedling plant 

 or c slip ' that he borrowed from some kind friend 

 got inserted in its rather unusual quarters. In the 

 case of the larger private gardens one can more readily 

 account for the planting of a variety of the less common 

 trees, as in all likelihood the gardener in charge of 

 such, or the nurseryman who laid out and planted 

 the grounds, had a knowledge of the kinds that were 

 most likely to succeed in the London district. Nearly 

 opposite to the house occupied for a time by Charles 

 Dickens, in Marylebone, may be seen tucked away 

 in a tiny front garden a huge specimen of the Catalpa, 

 the far-spreading branches of which look as if they 

 would push over the boundary wall in order to get 

 room for development ; while in a very cramped 

 position at the back of the same house is an unusually 

 fine tree of the rare yellow-flowered Pavia or Horse 

 Chestnut. Growing in a small ' penned in ' front 

 garden in Campden Hill Road, W., and within reach 

 of the passing public, are 2O-feet-high specimens, in 

 the best of health, of the Maidenhair and Tulip Trees. 

 Surpassed in neither size nor height by any example 

 in the country of our native Spindle Tree, is the 

 3O-feet-high tree that occupies a recess by a motor 

 garage at the back of Albany Street. The Mulberry 

 that hangs over the wall in Great Smith Street, West- 

 minster, is another example of an uncommon tree 

 being planted in a confined space ; but probably in 

 many cases the planter had not taken into account 

 the size to which his cherished seedling or sapling 

 would attain in the heart of London. Proudly a 

 lady pointed out to me the other day in her tiny patch 



