CITY TREES 



1117 



but just after, the five long stamens follow 

 suit, dusting their pollen on the same 

 spot. So the bee carries away more pollen 

 than it knows of, some of which is taken 

 up by a similar action of the pistil of the 

 next flower visited, and cross fertilisation 

 is achieved. After the explosion, which 

 ruptures the flower, the petals do not 

 recover their position, but leave the 



remamder of the pollen exposed, free to 

 any kind of insect that may come for it. 

 But no bee will ever take the slightest 

 notice of a ruptured flower. The pods of 

 the Broom are flat, compressed, and 

 fringed along either edge with hairs. 

 They contain several seeds which, when 

 ripe, are flung out by the sudden splitting 

 and twisting of the pod. 



Henry Irving. 



NATURE "IN TOWN" 



CITY TREES 



By ARTHUR SCAMMELL 



THE writing of an essay on the 

 subject of Nature in London 

 would seem, at first sight, an 

 example of the art of making bricks 

 without straw, for, be it noted, the 

 City proper, the " square mile," is our 

 field, and we may not even step over the 

 border into Gray's Inn to visit London's 

 only rookery, nor go into the Embank- 

 ment gardens to hear the thrush which 

 sings there within the shadow of the 

 Hotel Cecil. 



And yet, though we have pushed 

 Nature somewhat out of our sight, she 

 is with us all the time ; the rain falls in 

 our streets, and the snow ; and, in St. 

 Paul's Churchyard, at any rate, it is 

 possible to feel the force of the wind ; 

 half the day the fresh water flows down 

 from the hills through our City, and half 

 the day the sea water pushes it back ; 

 and everywhere the air, with patient 

 unseen hand, is hiding seeds and germs 

 innumerable, bidding them lie till time 

 and chance bring the hour for life and 

 growth. 



Myriads perish and are swept away, 

 but to some the hour comes ; let a cistern 

 leak upon a paving-stone in a back yard, 

 and soon the stone will be green with 

 moss. Pull down a house in the winter, 



and by next autumn the ruins will have 

 become a garden ; so quickly does vegeta- 

 tion spring, and so rankly does it grow, 

 one may, casting the thoughts forward, 

 imagine this " hot huddle of humanity " 

 succeeded by a dense jungle, and see Lord 

 Macaulay's New Zealander hewing his 

 way with an axe to his seat on the ruins 

 of London Bridge. 



For centuries after its foundation there 

 were probably pastures within London's 

 walls on the north side, whereon cattle 

 might be grazed in times of siege ; and 

 when, in mediaeval ages, the monastic 

 orders, the nobles, and other wealthy 

 founders set up their establishments, 

 the new buildings were always surrounded 

 by large and fertile gardens. 



And as long as London houses were the 

 homes of Englishmen, the gardens 

 remained ; but minds seem now to be 

 arranged in watertight comjiartments, 

 so that the man who cannot dine or 

 sleep unless surrounded, or at least backed, 

 by his own " grounds," cheerfully passes 

 most of the daylight hours of his life in 

 a wilderness of asphalte and massed 

 buildings. 



Howi'wr, the birds of jiassagc in tlu'ir 

 flight over the City may yet look down 

 upon a green islet here and there in the 



