4 Edinburgh's Park and other Trees. [Sess. 



the manna or flowering ash (F. Ornus), also grows fairly well 

 in the city, but its occurrence is very rare. 



The beech (Fagns sylvatica) is gradually disappearing from 

 the more central parts of the city, and as building operations 

 extend it will be driven farther and farther out. Among the 

 broad-leaved trees there is none more sensitive to poisonous 

 matters in the atmosphere than the beech, and it is impatient 

 even of air polluted with ordinary domestic smoke and soot. 

 There are still some fine old specimens of the tree in the 

 Meadows district (Plate III.) and some of the suburbs, but 

 with the disappearance of the former the last of the beech will 

 be seen in the more central parts of the city, and it will be 

 impossible to replace it with the same kind of tree. The 

 nearest allies to the beech are the birch, oak, and alder, but 

 none of the British species of these, all of which occur in the 

 city, adapt themselves well to town conditions. The common 

 birch (Bctula alba) occurs fairly frequently, but it is only 

 in its younger stages that it is at all attractive. When it 

 does reach maturity (it is a short-lived tree even in its 

 natural habitat) it becomes very thin-foliaged, and there are 

 very few really good specimens of the tree after they have 

 reached about middle age. Like the birch, the common alder 

 (Alnus glutinosa) is only useful for town planting in the 

 young state. Long before it reaches middle age it becomes 

 unsightly, and even under the most favourable conditions it 

 does not take well to city life. The white alder {A. incana), 

 which, like the common alder, occurs here and there in the 

 city, is a species which is more likely to adapt itself to town 

 conditions, as it prefers drier ground than the common alder; 

 but whether or not it will be a success can only be proved 

 by experiment. The British oak (Qitercus Robur) is of com- 

 paratively rare occurrence in the city, and there are very few 

 specimens of it which are even fairly good. The Turkey oak 

 (Q. Cerris) thrives fairly well in some of the more central 

 parts, but it is not a tree which can be recommended for town 

 planting. The only oak which is at all likely to succeed as 

 a town tree is the Hungarian species (Q. confcrta), which, 

 moreover, is probably the finest of the European kinds. 



The white or Huntingdon willow (Salix alba) is by far the 

 best of the genus for town planting, and in Edinburgh it has 



