LONDON. 9 



A very lofty American Plane-tree (Platan us occidentalis) 

 attracted our particular notice : its shape is highly symme- 

 trical ; the lower branches extend very wide, not less than 

 48 feet in diameter, or 144 feet in circumference; they 

 project very considerably beyond those immediately above, 

 and they literally sweep the grass ; while the upper mass 

 of branches and foliage is bell-shaped, and rises to the 

 height of about 80 feet. At three feet from the ground 

 the trunk measured nearly 8 feet in circumference. Some 

 of the first-mentioned trees are of considerable age : this 

 plane-tree, however, is said to be little more than twen- 

 ty years old, although we should, from its appearance, 

 have guessed it to have been at least double that age. It 

 is in perfect vigour, and seems to have completely escaped 

 the effects of the winter 1813-14, already alluded to, which 

 proved fatal to many of the finest specimens of the occiden- 

 tal plane both in England and Scotland. We admired the 

 taste displayed in preserving an ancient walnut-tree (Ju- 

 glans regia), although one-half of it is dead : for, as the 

 bare spray of the walnut-tree speedily blackens with decay, 

 a good contrast is formed with the light-green foliage of the 

 living part ; and the whole seemed to us to accord well with 

 the venerable antiquity of the archiepiscopal palace. 



Mile-End Nurseries. 



We afterwards paid a visit to the long established nur- 

 series of Mr Archibald Thomson at Mile-End, where Mr 

 Hay had learned some parts of the gardener's business five 

 and thirty years ago. This place is particularly remark- 

 able for possessing a very fine Ginkgo or Maidenhair-tree 

 (Salisburia adiantifolia) : it is now near fifty years old, 

 and more than thirty feet high ; it is a handsome standard 

 tree, and probably the finest specimen of the kind in Bri- 



