23 NOVEMBER 1945, Page 9

COUNTRY LIFE

AN architect writing, in allusion to some mention of Corinthian and Norman columns, calls attention to the architecture of trees. After lament- ing with indignation of the demolishment in Oxford, of all places, of " the most beautiful Corinthian columns ever devised by Greeks or Romans " adds their postscript. I often go through a vaulted Way beyond Chip- ping Norton and Stow-on-the-Wold. The vault is of beech trees which now are brilliant red on a background of purple. The most skilful medieval builders of Canterbury or Winchester or Bath or Kings Cam- bridge could scarcely vie with this." The beeches this autumn have surpassed other trees in clinging to their leaves and developing their autumn tints. They are late, while ash trees, limes, poplars and elms surrendered, not as usual to early frost, but to exceptional wind.