GREENWICH PARK 



7/1 



gate its use among our 

 common people." The 

 amiable diarist woukl 

 no doubt be gratified to 

 see how amply his pro- 

 phetic hint has been acted 

 upon by " the common 

 people," especially the 

 boys, that frequent the 

 Park to-day. In the old 

 time the beating ot the 

 trees was carried out as a 

 necessary work, and at 

 considerable cost ; but we 

 ha\-e changed all that — the 

 beating is informal, done 

 with sticks, stones, caps 

 and other missiles, and 

 entirely con amore ; occa- 

 sionally a keeper will 

 catch one of the amateurs 

 at work, and then the 

 tree has its revenge ! 



With an interval or 

 two, perceptible now in 

 an unequal gradation of 

 size, chestnut planting 

 seems to have gone on 

 fairly continuously, 

 especially during later 

 years ; and naturally the 

 better part of the fruit is 

 borne by the young trees. 

 The advantage of youth, 

 howe\'er, goes no further. 

 Independent!}' of size, and the increased 

 dignity which goes with it, the old chest- 

 nut is a much handsomer tree than the 

 3'oung ; the main difference lies in the 

 bark — perhaps the chief glory of the full 

 grown or ancient tree. One can only 

 wonder at the magic which converts the 

 lifeless, lustreless casing of the young 

 chestnut, pale yet dingy, neither smooth 

 nor rough ; and makes of it this marvel of 

 ridge and spiral, and intricacy of network, 

 and engra\'es upon everv inch of its surface 

 these quaint and lovely devices, so that 

 the tree stands complete, like a great art 

 work, perfect in form and colour, in 

 majesty of stature and beauty of detail. 



But alas for strength ! Alas for beauty ! 

 Mere grass for the scythe of Father Time ! 

 All the trees of the first ])lanting are 

 more or less decaved ; some of tliem 

 mere wrecks ; but still the spring brings 



A QUIET SPOT TO REST. 



fresh green to them as to the youngest ; 

 still they hold up their broken and 

 blackened limbs to feel again the bless- 

 ings of sunshine and air. and to invite 

 the birds to shelter and nesting as of 

 old. 



The elms of Greenwich Park, notwith- 

 standing the advantages of royal planting 

 and cultivation, are, on the whole, some- 

 what disappointing. Set much too closely 

 together, the size even of the largest is 

 only moderate ; many of them lean 

 considerablv, a most unfortunate defect 

 in an arcade. The capricious habit of 

 the elm in the extension of its branches 

 is here seen in excess, the branching of 

 many of the trees being not only irregular 

 but insufficient ; whilst the hand of man, 

 felt in the more or less necessary dismem- 

 berment of old trees, seenis to ha\-e had 

 a more than usually disfiguring effect 



