178 NATURE NEAR LONDON, 



severe frosts we sometimes have split oak trees ? 

 Some may be found split up the trunk, and yet not 

 apparently otherwise injured, as they probably would 

 be if it had been done by lightning. Trees are said 

 to burst in America under frost, so that it is not 

 impossible in this country. 



There is a young oak beside the highway which 

 in autumn was wreathed as artistically as could have 

 been done by hand. A black bryony plant grew up 

 round it, rising in a spiral. The heart-shaped leaves 

 have dropped from the bine, leaving thick bunches of 

 red and green berries clustering about the greyish 

 stem of the oak. 



Every one must have noticed that some trees have 

 a much finer autumn tint than others. This, it will 

 often be found, is an annual occurrence, and the same 

 elm, or beech, or oak that has delighted the eye with 

 its hues this autumn, will do the same next year, and 

 excel its neighbours in colour. Oaks and beeches, 

 perhaps, are the best examples of this, as they are 

 also the trees that present the most beautiful appear- 

 ance in autumn. 



There are oaks on villa lawns near London whose 

 glory of russet foliage in October or November is not 

 to be surpassed in the parks of the country. There 

 are two or three such oaks in Long Ditton. All oaks 

 do not become russet, or buff ; some never take those 

 tints. An oak, for instance, not far from those just 

 mentioned never quite loses its green; it cannot be 

 said, indeed, to remain green, but there is a trace of 

 it somewhere ; the leaves must, I suppose, be partly 

 buff and partly green ; and the mixture of these 



