196 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



ample enough to prevent the possible interference of 

 these sports, (which every sensible township would 

 do well to encourage,) with the enjoyment of a quiet 

 drive. 



"While there is no need for making the wood of a 

 public park a complete arboretum, I think that 

 special care should be taken to give specimens of all 

 the best known timber and shade trees, and that 

 these should be definitely marked with their botanical 

 as well as popular names, so that strollers might come 

 to a pleasant lesson in their seasons of idleness. The 

 particular habits of individual specimens and of forest 

 growths might, I think, be safely and profitably 

 noted as lending additional interest to them, and 

 creating a sort of fellowship with the trees. Every 

 forester knows that oaks and maples of the same 

 species have yet idiosyncrasies of their own one 

 blooming a full fortnight before its neighbor, and 

 another taking a tawny hue, while its companion is 

 still in full array of green. In the garden of the 

 Tuilleries there is a chestnut which enjoys the tradi- 

 tional repute of showing leaflets upon the twentieth of 

 March (hence called Vingt de Mars), and the vener- 

 able old tree, well known to every frequenter of the 

 garden, has come to have a character of sanctity by 

 reason of this early welcome of the spring. In a field 

 within sight of my own door, there is a sugar-maple 



