MUNICIPAL PARKS 
125 
that dear old-fashioned “ bear’s ears,” put in about the 
end of October, make a little show all the winter, and 
produce a mass of colour in spring. There is still roojn 
for improvement in the direction of the planting, but of 
late years the war waged against the monopoly of calceo¬ 
larias, geraniums, and blue lobelias has, fortunately, had 
its effect in a marked degree on the London Parks, 
municipal as well as royal. 
There is apt to be a great uniformity in the selection 
of plants, more especially among the trees and bushes. 
The future should always be borne in mind in planting, 
and alas ! that is not always the case. Anything that will 
grow quickly is often put in, whereas a little patience 
and a much finer effect would be the result in the end. 
Privet grows faster than holly, but can the two results be 
compared ? There is a very fine old elm avenue in 
Ravenscourt; trees which the planter never saw in per¬ 
fection, but which many generations have since enjoyed. 
But will the avenue of poplars in Finsbury Park have 
such a future ? After thirty-five years’ growth they are 
considerable trees, but how long will they last ? The 
plane does grow remarkably well, there is no denying, 
but is it necessary for that reason to exclude almost every 
other tree ? Ash trees thrive surprisingly. Some of the 
oaks take kindly to London, yet how few are planted. 
Richard Jefferies, that most delightful of writers on nature, 
bemoans the lack of English trees in the suburban gardens 
of London, and the same may be said of the parks to 
some extent. “ Go round the entire circumference of 
Greater London,” he writes, “and find the list cease¬ 
lessly repeated. There are acacias, sumachs, cedar 
deodaras, araucarias, laurels, planes, beds of rhododen¬ 
drons, and so on.” “If, again, search were made in 
