COUNTRY LIFE

Tree Worshippers

About six hundred tree worshippers (if they all did as they were bid) assembled in the Guildhall and listened to a succession of very sentimental—very rightly sentimental - speeches. You might have thought that the Guildhall itself and the crypt with its branching roof were spaces in a wood. The " tricks of art that builders learned of trees " appeared in the delicate tracery and the domed roof. The end in view, of course, was to persuade everyone in any authority to commemorate the Coronation by planting a tree or trees. The committee, led by the Marquess of Lothian, has not been content with this single temporal endeavour. It has overflowed into general propaganda on behalf of botany in general, especially for the young school-child both in town and country. The ambition is worthy, but for the time being the Coronation scheme is perhaps enough.

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Life Statistics

The experts on trees, who have been co-operating, have given some rare information about the comparative longevity of trees. Some, as we all know, are old at a hundred years and some still very young at two hundred. Such long life is not correlated with size : some dwarfs and some giants last long. Good examples of rather rarer trees about which most of us know too little are the catalpa which is fairly small and the tulip tree which grows to an imposing height and girth. Both are long-lived. Both are beautiful in flower as in leaf and general grace. One of the best tulips, perhaps, in England, is about two hundred years old—as is probable—and stands sentimental beside a lovely house built near a farmhouse made famous by Charles Lamb. Other houses near by have specimens almost as fine. It does not grow too slowly to deprive its first planter of the pleasure (which may be great) of watching growth. I know one pretty sizeable tree of twenty-nine years of age in a Kent garden. Plant more tulip trees, and catalpas, seems good advice of advantage not only to posterity.

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Public Fruit Trees

An educational authority, by whose side I sat at the Guild- hall, scoffed at the idea of planting fruit trees at the roadside. He knew too much of the British boy to doubt what would happen to the fruit. In Germany most of the crop from road- side fruit trees is gathered by the municipalities and is in some districts considerable. The Germans are perhaps the most obedient people in the world : they refrain from doing what they are told not to do ; but education and the wise direction of public opinion may do much in less strictly dis- ciplined countries. How effective have proved the delightfully Worded, and rhymed, notices about litter in Holland. If, as is likely, fruit trees are planted in this planting season, I hope the crab apple will find a place, if only on the score of its longevity, of which I have seen no mention.

Bad Varieties

Variety is important as well as species in any planting scheme. I quoted the other day evidence of the lasting harm done by the general planting of a poor variety of the walnut. A yet better example is to be seen in the elms that are the commonest tree and typical of the English landscape. A number have been hit by a fell disease, and alarm has been general among both specialists and the general public. Elms in England are of many sorts, several of them named from their alleged place of origin. There are the Irish elm, the Dutch elm, the Cornish elm, not to mention that other tree the Wych elm or " Huntingdonshire oak." Some botanists who have studied the elm malady (spread and encouraged by that curious creature the bark beetle) have come to believe that the Cornish elm is more or less immune, while the Dutch elm is particularly sensitive. Such points arc literally of vital importance to all planters of trees.

A Clump Pattern

We are urged to plant single trees, avenues, clumps and fringe trees not only to roads but to that newly named feature, " parkways," a rather more elaborate and con- sciously designed thing than the common rural pathway. Nothing is said of any definite pattern that should mark the historical occasion. Would it not be a good idea to suggest a clump pattern to the public ? The "Men of the Trees" I believe are suggesting for use in their own scheme that the clumps should be of a shield pattern, with pedlars particular sorts of trees planted at particular points in the pattern thus The idea is at least a pretty one.

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Clumped Dumps

Years ago, near Aberdare, the question of concealing and decorating coal " tips " and other heaps of shale and refuse was investigated ; and subsequent experiments proved more successful than was expected. A good many trees, including the horse chestnut, and bushes grew very well on the tips and their leaves and roots created a humus which made the most barren-looking tip fertile. The dumps of urban refuse scattered about the country arc much richer in plant food. You find on them all manner of surprising plants, trees and bushes, which include (in my own experi- ence) Virginia creeper, Senna bushes, apple trees, oaks, thorns, tomatoes, sunflowers and much besides, but so far as trees are concerned the deserted part of the dump is usually seized upon by the elder, a bush-tree that has the gift of destroying all rivals. The size and number of these at least indicate the power of cinders and such material to give trees the chemicals that they need. A good clump or small wood on a dump is twice blessed. It both makes beauty and destroys ugliness.

Feeding Dates

When winter approaches birds seem to put off devouring particular foods till particular dates. For example : in my garden they did not touch the fruit of the barberies till after the third week of November. Then they fell to on the Berberis Wilsonae. It is the loveliest thing in the winter garden, a bright, cheerful red in both berry and leaf, which match to perfection. It is now past one part of its beauty, but more than a half remains. Other berried shrubs will have their dates. As a rule the hollies are eaten among the last.

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Pigeon and Owl

Inquests, both anatomical and other, into the utilitarian qualities of our birds go on continuously with results that are not altogether expected. Among farmers, who were at one time highly prejudiced against the bird, the little owl grows whiter and the pigeon, always regarded as enemy number one, grows yet blacker. Against this latter enemy a common day or week of destruction has been fixed between those august bodies the National Fanners' Union and the Landowners' Association. A concerted attack is to be made on the eve of St. Valentine (of all dates), when doubtless many thousands will be shot. Nearly all the victims will be foreigners. Pigeons stream over the North Sea into this hospitable island, even before Northern winters become severe ; and the amount of turnip tops and clover and even Brussels sprouts that they will consume is scarcely credible. The generalisation may be ventured that among birds the vegetarian is the enemy, and the carnivore the friend.

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A Maligned Climate

We live in a much-maligned climate. Swallows were here on November 7th. Beautiful bouquets of roses are being picked, besides a host of other flowers. The autumn-sown grain crops seldom looked better anti a bumper crop of apples is not even yet completely cleared in bitter-sweet orchards of the West. All this after. one of the worst summers and autumns in the records is not so bad for a northern clime.

W. BEACH THOMAS.