REGENT'S PARK 



1057 



white and Lombardy poplars (the black 

 should not be grown anywhere), and the 

 plane which has been made free of all 

 our cities. Elder, lilac, and Guelder 

 roses ; with all our common garden 

 flowers, except the Madonna lily — these 

 homely things do not lose their quahty 

 by being grown in town, and a daisied 

 sward is as right in St. Paul's Churchyard 

 as at the foot of the Grampians. But 

 I do not want to see the ash here, nor the 

 oaks and beeches of the English wood- 

 lands, and the pine needs to be rooted 

 amongst crags ; these belong to their 

 places like the wild flowers. I will go to 

 them, but they shall not be brought to 

 me ; and let that man be anathema who 

 takes the lady of the woods, the silver 

 birch, from the forest and stains her 

 whiteness with city smoke I 



Perhaps the most attractive trees in 

 Regent's Park are the wych elms. In 

 the avenues of the central walk they 

 alternate with the common and Cornish 

 elms, assimilating and contrasting with 

 both ; for the wych elm is sister to the 

 more familiar and robust campestris, 

 graceful where he is sturdy, waving a 

 hundred slender arms where he sends a 



sturdy column or two skyward. With 

 drooping terminals and large, shapely 

 leaves, a wych elm forms a perfect ex- 

 ample of sylvan life and grace. 



Two large and beautiful trees growing 

 on the eastern side of the flower garden 

 exhibit all the special characteristics of 

 this species (though the complete and 

 regular manner in which the outer branches 

 sweep the ground may suggest the guiding 

 hand of the gardener) ; the multitude 

 of long, slender branches, all grace and 

 lissomness ; the bark of pure grey, boldly 

 \'et delicately carved into a thousand 

 lines of ridge and channel, whilst the 

 luxuriance of its May foliage is enhanced 

 by myriads of leaf-like seed vesicles not 

 yet scattered by the winds. Wide spread- 

 ing like a forest oak, these shapely 

 domes of verdure, with the long grass 

 around them, and flowering cow parsley 

 beneath their shade, form a picture which 

 draws the steps again and again to this 

 part of ihe gardens. 



The modern practice of planting bulbs 

 in the turf is twice blessed. Not only 

 do we get the first spring green lit up 

 with patches of colour — white and yellow 

 and purple — and afterwards starred with 



v/'^;^ 



A MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY OF HYACINTH BULB BLOOMS. 



134 



