CHAPTER IV 



TREES AND LANES 



Within half a mile of my home is a deep hollow lane 

 whose steep sides are barred with strata of ragged 

 sandstone, with layers of yellow sand between. In 

 summer it is shaded by the wide-spreading branches 

 of the trees, mostly Beeches, that grow above. Some 

 of these come forward to the actual edge of the scarp, 

 and as there is no stone quite near the surface, the 

 gradual crumbling away of the sandy earth where they 

 first took root, threatens to leave the trees without 

 support. Now the Beech is evidently a tree with a 

 strong instinct of self-preservation and no small degree 

 of constructive ability, for I see that wherever this has 

 happened the tree has thrown down a great stem-like 

 root, a reversed counterpart of the stem above the 

 ground level, that not only carries the weight with abso- 

 lute security, but so well satisfies the eye of the critical 

 observer that the tree looks as if it had support and 

 to spare, and bears itself gracefully upon its admirably 

 designed pillar. The root-stem seems to become a 

 piece of true trunk, and is covered with exactly the 

 same kind of smooth bark as above ground. Several 

 fair-sized Beeches with trunks about from two and a 



