CONIFERS GROWN IN SUBURBAN GARDENS. 157
once, as probably a tradition of a dene-hole actually dated 1220
will be in vogue in the Grays neighbourhood for years to come,
and will be accepted as an article of faith by all good local pat-
riots.
The workmen stated that no relics or bones were found in
the pit when broken into; by the time the visitors inspected it
the chalk floor had been covered up by the commencement of
the process of filling in the hole.
The present is not the first dene-hole which has been discovered
in this quarry. We were informed that, some ten or twelve
years ago, another similar pit was met with, at a point over 100
feet to the south, and was destroyed by the quarrying opera-
tions. It is more than probable that others exist further to the
north, and that these will be met with as the face of the chalk
is cut back during future years.
ON CONIFERS GROWN IN SUBURBAN
GARDENS.
(Being a Presidential Address delivered to the Club at the Annual
Meeting on 27th March, 1920.)
BY GULIELMA LISTER, F.L.S.
(With Two Plates.)
THOSE who live near London and take an interest in their
own gardens may often be heard to express the view
that they detest conifers; and when we see, as we do only too-
often, an Araucaria or "Monkey-Puzzle" planted in the front
court of a small garden, yearly blocking out more light from the
house-windows and becoming more unsightly as it struggles
with adverse circumstances,—cramped space and London smoke,
or groups of lean and dingy Lawson's Cypress filling places
where light and air should be let in, and which might be made
gay with flower borders, we may well understand the wishes of
those who would like to do away with these unfortunates and
have more suitable plants.