150 THE PARKS AND GABDBNS OF PAEIS. [Chap. X. 



These opinions are as erroneous as they are emphatic ; the 

 splendid Planes in Berkeley Square, and other places in London, 

 should rid us of the erroneous notion that trees cannot he grown 

 well in London. It is the custom in Paris and other Continental 

 cities to plant trees with care, to provide them with good soil, 

 to spend a great deal of money in attending to them and 

 watering them, and yet neither in all Paris, nor in any Conti- 

 nental city, can such noble examples as these he found. But 

 some may say. An open square at the West-end of town may do 

 that which the smoky, densely-packed city will not. If these 

 persons, who are evidently not yet acquainted with Stationers' 

 Hall Court, will inquire for that narrow enclosure the next time 

 they are passing near St. Paul's, they will find in it a great Plane- 

 tree looking as happy as if it were in its native forest. Much, 

 however, depends upon the kind of tree selected for the purpose ; 

 for even our landscape-gardeners make mistakes, by persisting in 

 planting evergreens, which as a class are totally unfit for town- 

 cultivation. Even when moderately healthy, these trees are 

 generally so coated with smut that they entirely lack that 

 refreshing verdure which is so characteristic of evergreens grown 

 in fresh and pure air. 



Will nobody deliver us from the perils of smoke ? Every year 

 our cities grow vaster, and the great pall of " blacks " is ever 

 widening ! To hope to arouse public attention to the magnitude 

 of the evil, by pointing to the thousands of plants that are 

 always perishing from it, would be vain considering that its 

 pernicious efi'ects on our own lives do not seem to be taken the 

 least notice of. London and all our large cities are always under 

 its ban; but its most detestable aspects are most apparent on 

 those still, frosty, autumnal and winter days, which in the 

 country are so clear and sunny. On these, there being no 

 breeze to brush away the outpourings of the innumerable 

 chimneys, the whole settles down in the streets, leaving the sun 

 powerless to shoot a ray through its density. Not the least 

 curious thing about this great but avoidable plague, is that both 

 foreigners and natives often put it down to the climate. M. 

 Taine speaks of the woefully-depressing influences of the climate 

 of London. Doubtless there are many better ; but certainly the 

 climate of London is quite as agreeable as that of Paris or 



