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CHAPTER IX. 



TREES FOR CITY PARKS, AVENUES, GARDENS, STREETS, ETC. 



It is a very popular but utterly erroneous notion to suppose 

 that " trees will not succeed in London/' On the Continent 

 people are accustomed to see wide open streets and road- 

 ways embellished with trees that are properly planted, well 

 cared for and flourishing. They naturally at once compare 

 these verdant avenues with our own streets, in which trees 

 are never planted at all, or where, if they are, no care is taken 

 of them, and at once jump to the conclusiou that there is 

 "something in the air." If you tell them that trees 

 may be grown better in London than in Paris they 

 will stare at you in incredulous amazement ; but such 

 is nevertheless the fact. In August last a correspondent of 

 the Pall Mall Gazette wrote several letters to that journal 

 against planting trees in London, the following extract from 

 which affords an excellent example of the notions almost 

 universally held upon this subject. 



" When people propose to decorate London, the first con- 

 sideration should be what will suit the climate. It cannot 

 be too often repeated that our city atmosphere is fatally 

 inimical to debcacy of architecture, and quite equally so to 

 delicacy of vegetation. Our skies will rain soot continually, 

 and moisture therewithal to make the soot adhere ; the soot 

 will insinuate itself amidst fairy tracery of stone, and clog the 

 pores of beautiful trees and shrubs ; and it is an utter waste of 

 art and money to disregard these inevitable conditions of the 

 question. It is very childish to tickle our fancy by providing 

 for a momentary admiration of things which a short time will 

 make hideous, and then, when the inevitable has taken 

 place, contenting ourselves with a shrug of the shoulders 

 and ' what a pity V Few young trees will really flourish 



