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FEBRUARY 



look very strange and queer against the whiter walls of 

 chalk. But the dell-hole is essentially different from the 

 chalk-pit. It consists of curves, not angles. The trunk 

 of the trees nursed by the concavity rise very straight. 

 The good soil that has tumbled in and been deepened by 

 the fallen leaves breeds an unbroken undergrowth at 

 least in the garden dell and its sides have proved a con 

 genial home for spring bulbs, especially the snowdrops. 

 The place is more glorious to some eyes than the rock 

 or scree garden often founded in a chance hollow, for , 

 the tree is the crown of plants- So think the tree- 

 creepers which especially frequent one such dell-hole. 

 They look like mice as they run up the straight trunks, 

 and when one of thek favourite trees crashed in a gale, 

 they used the hollow for their cunning nest. 



