flower again. But if the lover of nature has to choose between flowers or flowering shrubs and trees, the 
latter, in our opinion, are much preferable, inasmuch as while they include the former, they can give a more 
retired and verdant feeling to a place, and call to mind, even in their very nestling and closeness, something 
of the whispering and quiet amplitude of nature. 
In the earlier ages of Europe, kings were crowned, councils were held, and justice dispensed beneath 
the shade of some noble trees. From the shadow of an oak was Christianity first proclaimed in these 
realms ; in a more recent day of our dear and noble country, the willows of Pope and Johnson, the mulberry 
of Shakspeare, and that of Milton, have associated those great names with the love of trees and of plant- 
ing. Many noble works of our illustrious countrymen it would be easy to mention, that have been written, 
and more than one of our most distinguished living authors, who delights to compose, amid the inspiring 
grace and freshness and purity of trees. John Evelyn spent a considerable portion of a valuable life in en- 
deavouring to communicate his admiration of trees and forests; and, besides, immediately effecting a great 
national service, by turning the attention of government to the importance of planting, has left a fine monu- 
ment of his taste and labour. Well might this venerable and enthusiastic apostle of woods exclaim: “Here 
then is the true Parnassus, Castalia and the Muses; and at every call in a grove of venerable oaks, methinks 
I hear the answer of a hundred old Druids, and the bards of our inspired ancestors. In a word, so charmed 
were poets with those natural shades, that they honoured temples with the names of groves, though they 
had not a tree about them. In walks and shades of trees poets have composed verses which have animated 
men to heroic and glorious actions. Here orators have made their panegyrics, historians their grave 
relations ; and the profound philosophers have loved to pass their lives in repose and contemplation.” 
And what author, ancient or modern, has not expressed his sense of their beauty, by employing them 
as figures of whatever is rich, flourishing and pleasant? In spring when they are in the delicacy of their pride, 
in summer when they are shadowy and aromatic, in the last splendour of autumn, or when winter robs them 
of their foliage, but brings to light what summer has concealed, the under-work and tracery of their 
branches — in each and all, are trees and woods inspiring and delightful. 
It is in this month, however, that woods may be pronounced most beautiful. Towards the end of it, 
what is called the fading of the leaf, but what might more fitly be termed the kindling or tinting of the leaf, pre- 
sents a magnificent spectacle. Every species of tree, so beautifully varied in itsgeneral character — the silver- 
stemmed and pensile-branched birch, the tall smooth beech, the wide-spreading oak andchesnut, each deve- 
lopes its own florid hue of orange, red, brown, or yellow, which, mingling with the green or unchanged trees, 
or the darkness of the pine, presents a tout ensemble rich, glowing, and splendid. Yet fine as our woods at 
this season, far are they exceeded by the vast forests of America; the greater variety of trees, and the greater 
effect of climate, conspiring to render them in decay gorgeous and beautiful beyond description. 
“ The woods ! oh solemn are the boundless woods 
Of the great Western World in their decline.” 
Hemans. 
And solemn too are our own. The dark and glossy acorns lie scattered in profusion on the ground, the 
richly coloured and veined horse-chestnuts glow in the midst of their rugged and spiny shells, which have 
burst open by their fall among the deep and well-defined circle of “broad palmy leaves,” that seem to have 
been shed at once. The host of birds enjoy a plentiful feast of beech-nuts in the tree-tops ; and the squirrels 
beneath them, ruddy as the fallen leaves amongst which they rustle, and full of life and archness, are a 
beautiful sight. 
The great business of Nature, with respect to the vegetable creation, at this season, is dissemination. 
Plants, having gone through the successive stages of springing, flowering and seeding, have, at length, 
brought to maturity the rudiments of a future progeny, which are now to be committed to the fostering 
bosom of the earth. Seeds are scattered by the hand of Nature in various manners. The winds which at 
this time arise, disperse far and wide many seeds, which are curiously furnished with feathers, or wings, for 
this purpose. Hence, plants with such seeds are, of all others, the most universally to be met with; as dande- 
lions, ragworth, thistles, &c. Other seeds, by means of hooks, lay hold of passing animals, and are thus carried 
to distant places ; as the bur. Many are contained in berries, which are carried about by birds. The 
seeds of some trees, as the maple, sycamore, &c. exactly resemble the wings of dragon-flies, being placed 
in pairs. Thus carefully has Nature provided for the distribution and propagation of plants. 
Trees generally loose their leaves in the following succession: walnut, mulberry, horse-chestnut, syca- 
more, lime, ash ; then, after an interval, elm ; then beech and oak; then apple and pear trees, sometimes 
not till the end of November; and lastly, pollard oaks and young beeches, which retain their withered 
leaves till pushed off by the new ones in spring.* 
* Howitt’s Book of the Seasons. 
