ITS TREES 113
evil, and remind them that the careless dropping
of a cigar-light, when the herbage is dry, may
irreparably destroy many acres of copse, and that
wrongdoers may be deterred by a word of caution
or by information given to the keepers.
Considerable areas of Forest land, which were
wrongfully enclosed, were cleared of trees and
cultivated for several years before they were again
thrown open. I have dealt with the subject of
planting elsewhere.
Of the thousands of Londoners who refresh them-
selves by a visit to our groves, comparatively few
do so at the two periods of the year when they are
most beautiful—early May and late October. To
the tree-lover I strongly recommend the former
month. It is then, when the first burst of spring
takes place, that the distinguishing characteristics,
and especially the colours, of each tree can be best
seen. A few weeks later the yellow of the young
oak foliage, the gray-green of the birches, and the
burnished light-reflecting quality of the beeches
are merged in one uniform dark green, lovely in its
varied shapes and play of light and deep shadow,
but monotonous as to colour. The blackthorn in
April, the hawthorn in May, a month later the
crab, and sheets of the water-violet and water-
ranunculus, supply the masses of white without
which no group either of flowers or trees is com-
plete. Again in the " fall," when our glades are
almost solitudes, who can measure the glories of
the beech groves when they put on their first
autumn touches of brown and gold, contrasting
with the dark green of the more persistent oak,
and with the saffron yellow of the birch and
maple ? No leaf-colouring can be found to surpass
these in brilliancy. And yet these beauties are
mostly wasted on the desert air. Let me then
invite the visitor to extend his migratory periods
at both ends.
In the following list I have described only
those trees which are native to the soil. There
are many others, such as the horse chestnut,
Spanish chestnut, poplar, elm, walnut, sycamore,