I imagine that they are no
very distant relation of the old merry-trees that once flourished
here.
CHAPTER XVI.
TREES: ELM--OAK--BEECH--WILLOW--SCOTS-FIR.
"O flourish, hidden deep in fern,
Old oak, I love thee well;
A thousand thanks for what I learn
And what remains to tell."
--_The Talking Oak_.
Keats tells us that
"The trees
That whisper round a temple become soon
Dear as the temple's self,"
and had he included the trees around a dwelling-house, the epigram
would have been equally applicable. Sometimes, of course, it becomes
absolutely necessary to cut down an ancient tree that from its
proximity to one's home has become a part of the home itself, but it
is a matter for the gravest consideration, for one cannot foresee the
result, and to a person who has lived long with a noble tree as a near
neighbour, the place never again seems the same.
The Elm is said to be the Worcestershire weed, as the oak is in
Herefordshire; the former attains a great size, but it is not very
deeply rooted, and a heavy gale will sometimes cause many unwelcome
gaps in a stately avenue. Big branches, too, have a way of falling
without the least notice, and on the whole it is safer not to have
elms near houses or cottages.
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