XLI 



OF all the trees in the wood, none is so prudent as the 

 ash ; none that stays itself against the storm with such 



far-reaching roots, or probes such distant 



The ^ __ r 



Prudent soil for nourishment ; none that, in the vital 



matter of putting forth leaves, is so fearful 



of encountering a backward blast of winter. Tennyson 



taunted this tree for its laggardliness : ' Why lingereth 



she ' the beautiful passage is already threadbare; 



and each spring one yields to fresh impatience when 

 the woodland is all in new green, save for the frosty 

 ash-boughs. 



Yet there is often seasonable reminder that nine- 

 tenths of our park trees are foreigners, too easily lured 

 into leaf by treacherous 'bask' days in March and 

 tepid April showers ; not seldom have limes and horse- 

 chestnuts to pay for their temerity in foliage bruised 

 and blackened by the broken promise of May. The 

 birch, indeed, is as early as these, and escapes damage 

 in virtue of wiry sprays and small leaves ; but woe to 

 the broad-leafed exotic that puts faith in the tricksome 

 north-country spring ! Herein is shown the wise con- 

 stancy of the ash and oak, which, with the wych-elm 



