234 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



the oak's characteristic appearance of having each bough 

 tensely braced against the onset of a storm. The main 

 limbs of the walnut are also longer and more straggling in 

 proportion to the amount of their support ; this makes them 

 weaker, and they are more often torn off by a gale. As we 

 trace the lines of a main bough as it ramifies into smaller 

 branches, and onwards as the branches become twigs, we see 

 how at every stage it lacks the oak's wealth of design. Its 

 outer fabric is emptier of pattern ; and when we come to the 

 outmost twigs, they make a thin network against the sky, 

 very different from the oak's innumerable knotted spurs, and 

 more like the blunt tips of the ash. Well-grown old planes 

 are chiefly seen in London and a few country gardens; 

 they have never gained a thoroughly acclimatised status in 

 the woods and fields. They combine strength with sinuous- 

 ness to a remarkable degree ; many of their boughs writhe 

 like a captive snake ; yet they very rarely succumb to a 

 storm. They also grow to a fine girth, both in the trunk 

 and in the main limbs. Yet in spite of their real toughness, 

 and the massive dignity of the largest English specimens, 

 they do not possess the peculiar aspect of power which is 

 seen in the oak. Even more than in the case of the walnut, 

 the boughs seem to writhe idly and uncontrolled, instead of 

 framing every curve to withstand the violence of the south- 

 west. And they have not the oak's accurate proportions, 

 which give so conspicuous and satisfying a sense of power. 

 The boughs twist independently of the lines of the main 

 limbs and of the trunk ; and often a long thin wandering 

 bough will start off at an erratic angle from the flank of a 

 massive stem. These characteristics are most marked in 

 English specimens ; in central and southern Europe, where 

 the plane grows to a greater size than here, it is also better 

 proportioned. But the same features are still noticeable, 



