258 A Walk from 



our largest cities ; filtering with their wholesome leafage 

 the air breathed by the people. New Haven and Cleve- 

 land are good specimens of beautifully-shaded towns. 



There is a third circumstance in our favor as yet, 

 and of no little value. The grand old English oak 

 and elm are magnificent trees, in park or hedgerow 

 here. The horse-chestnut, lime, beech and ash grow 

 to a size that you will not see in America. The Spanish 

 chestnut, a larger and coarser tree than our American, 

 reaches an enormous girth and spread. The pines, 

 larches and firs abound. Then there are tree-hunters 

 exploring all the continents, and bringing new species 

 from Japan and other antipodean countries. But as 

 yet, our maples have never been introduced ; and with- 

 out these the tree-world of any country must ever lack 

 a beautiful feature, both in spring, summer and autumn, 

 especially in the latter. Our autumnal scenery, with- 

 out the maple, would be like the play of Hamlet with 

 Hamlet left out ; or like a royal court without a queen. 

 Few Americans, even loudest in its praise, realise how 

 much of the glory of our Indian summer landscape is 

 shed upon it by this single tree. At all the Flower 

 Shows I have seen in England and France, I havo 

 never beheld a bouquet so glorious and beautiful as a 

 little islet in a small pellucid lake in Maine, filled to 

 the brim, and rounded up like a foil-blown rose, with 



