THE FOREST TREES OF BRITAIN. 
465 
are its objects. Let the Council beat White 
Conduit House and the Eagle Tavern, but let 
all the world be made acquainted with the 
fact, that emulation to excel these establish- 
ments is the exalted aim of the executive. 
We quote from tlie journal the Society's officer 
writes in, and upon his authority say, that in 
one season no less than twenty-nine thou- 
sand persons visited the gardens in the Park ; 
but we can in the same sentence remind 
the Council, that ten times the number of 
persons have been to "Cremorne." We are 
told that comparisons are odious, and we 
therefore advise every body who thrusts 
them upon the public, to be very cai'eful that 
the advantages they boast are not realized 
at the cost of something yet more valuable, — 
and especially to remember, that the number 
of visitors at places of amusement is no test 
of the usefulness or the respectability of the 
estabUshment. 
THE FOREST TREES OF BRITAIN.* 
There can hardly be mentioned a subject 
on which the public are more interested than 
the timber which will flourish in this king- 
dom. The flowers interest us individually, 
and a large class will not fail to give them pre- 
cedence; but, when we consider the part trees 
occupy in our rural scenery, and the impor- 
tant share they take in our ships, our build- 
ings, and our manufactures, they must take 
the lead in the vegetable kingdom. It was a 
happy thought of the reverend author to col- 
lect and put in order all the information ex- 
tant, and to furnish the reading public with a 
general description of the inhabitants of our 
woods, forests, and plantations. There is in 
the volume we have already noticed, and the 
one before us, a concentrated mass of infor- 
mation conveyed in a pleasant style, and those 
who hardly know an oak from an elm will feel 
a pleasure in reading of their native trees, 
and of others that have been naturalized. 
Few persons can read the volume without 
learning a good deal that they did not know, 
concerning even the most familiar of our trees 
and shrubs. How few of the inhabitants of our 
" woods and forests" are really natives ! The 
chestnut, although familiar and of noble 
growth in England, was, according to the best 
authority, brought here by the Romans, and 
the Tortworth chestnut is believed to be a 
thousand years old. The horse chestnut, still 
more common, is a native of Asia ; the birch, 
from the coldest pai'ts of Europe and Asia ; so 
also the alder. The walnut is not even a 
native of Europe, nor have we any evidence 
of property in the lime. The plane belongs 
to America, and of course the oriental plane 
to the East. The acacia is an American; and 
we could go on to great lengths, dismissing 
one by one many that we are proud of, and 
would wish to think our own. The reverend 
* " The Forest Trees of Britain," Vol. II. By the 
Rev. C. A. Johns, B.A. F.L.S. Society for Promoting 
Christian Knowledge. 1849. 
50. 
author of the present volume gives us an ex- 
cellent history of all the trees of any conse- 
quence that flourish in this country, and con- 
veys many deeply interesting facts connected 
with the introduction, the culture, the uses, 
and general habits, of all he mentions ; be- 
sides which, we have descriptions of particular 
specimens at home and abroad, with fifty little 
historiettes which are associated with them. 
The style of these volumes is much to be 
commended. There is just enough of botany, 
and scientific terminology, to do away with 
any doubt in the identification of the sul)jects 
under discussion — a matter too often disre- 
garded in attempts to popularize those branches 
of knowledge which are in any way connected 
with science ; and at the same time we have 
none of the dry technical details which tend 
to render scientific subjects uninteresting to 
the general reader. 
One extract would be as good as a thousand 
to remind our readers of the nature of the 
work, but we do not promise that we shall 
confine ourselves to one only. We shall first 
quote what is said of the Deodar, a tree com- 
paratively new, that is, introduced of late 
years, and by no means near its maturity in 
England ; we take this subject because very 
little has been written about it by disin- 
terested persons ; besides, it is an elegant tree, 
which, though not twenty years old in this 
kingdom, is in great repute, and cannot be 
too largely cultivated. 
" THE DEODAR, 
" Cedrus deouara. 
" The deodar, holy cedar, or Himalayan 
cedar, is known to us only as an ornamental 
plant of exquisitely beautiful outline and 
graceful spray, giving an air of refinement to 
eveiy lawn and shrubbery to which it has 
been admitted ; but in its native haunts it is 
a magnificent tree, of rapid growth and enor- 
H H 
