“... there stood a patriarch among oaks, one of the most magnificent
trees that I have ever seen.”
_The Musgrave Ritual_
Many delightful references to plant life may be found in the tales.
These allusions enrich the stories and add greatly to their charm and
interest. Love for inviting landscapes, for trees, for flowers, and
for shrubs appears to be innate in human beings. This would be a drab
world indeed without a variegated and a beautiful plant life. One need
not be a botanist to appreciate the beauty and fragrance of a rose or
a violet. They are different in design, but lovely in their own ways.
It is not meet that we attempt to analyze their beauty; let us merely
enjoy it. If an extravagant phrase be permitted, let us not subject the
beauty of the orchid to the flame of the analytic blowpipe or attempt
to measure the fragrance of the June rose with an olfactometer.
After Dr. Watson had lived with Sherlock Holmes a few weeks, he became
intensely interested in this quiet but unusual man. One day he sat
down and made an attempt to analyze and evaluate Holmes’ conversance
in several fields. While Dr. Watson felt that Holmes’ understanding of
anatomy was good, his knowledge of botany was “variable.” The worthy
doctor writes: “Knowledge of Botany--Variable. Well up in belladonna,
opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening” (_A
Study in Scarlet_). Thus, it appears that Holmes was more interested
in medicinal plants, and especially those from which poisons could be
extracted. This does not surprise us, because of his interest in crime
detection; we know, too, of his researches in the chemistry of the
alkaloids.
We must keep in mind that Watson wrote of Sherlock Holmes:
“Appreciation of nature found no place among his many gifts” (_The
Adventure of the Cardboard Box_). A man uninterested in nature is
not apt to take especial notice or appreciate the beauty of flowers or
vegetation. We are indebted, therefore, largely to Dr. Watson for the
many pleasing references to plant life and landscapes.
We find allusions to a botanist and to the study of botany in _The
Valley of Fear_ and in _The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge_. In the first
story, Watson likens Holmes to a botanist rapt in his admiration for
a beautiful flower; and in the latter story, Watson points out that
many instructive days can be spent in the study of botany and suggests
the use of an elementary text on the subject, a spud, and a proper box
to hold the specimens. The amateur botanist will surely appreciate
these suggestions. Such a person will find pleasure no matter where he
strays--in the forest, the plains, the mountains, or the desert. He
will never be bored.
Dr. Watson obviously loved the vegetation of early spring, for he
writes: “... the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon the
elm, and the sticky spearheads of the chestnuts were just beginning to
burst into their fivefold leaves” (_The Adventure of the Yellow Face_).
Also, we read, “The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out
their first green shoots.” (_The Adventure of the Speckled Band_).
The observant doctor was not unmindful of the autumn foliage. In _The
Hound of the Baskervilles_, he calls our attention to the melancholy
aspect of the countryside in the fall of the year, and speaks of the
yellow leaves lying on the ground, some still fluttering down from the
trees. In _The Problem of Thor Bridge_, he notes that the plane tree
in the backyard was losing its remaining leaves on a stormy October
morning. (We would call a plane tree a sycamore.) Some people claim
they become somewhat melancholic in the autumn and dislike to see the
leaves falling, the grass turning brown, and other signs associated
with the fall of the year. I am not one of these. There is much to be
said for distinct changes in seasons. The changes occurring in the
autumn are necessary so that the wonderful season of spring may be
thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed.
Several types of landscapes are pictured. In _A Study in Scarlet_,
the arid land in our great West is described:
As far as the eye can reach stretches the great flat plainland, all
dusted over with patches of alkali, and intersected by clumps of the
dwarfish chaparral bushes.
The purist might object to the term “chaparral bushes,” because
chaparral, being a nonspecific term, refers to any stunted type of
vegetation found growing on dry soil in our West. It might have been
more proper simply to have said “clumps of chaparral.” In the same
story, a prosperous, peaceful countryside landscape is depicted:
“All looked so peaceful and happy, the rustling trees and the broad
silent stretch of grainland....” In _The Adventure of the Solitary
Cyclist_, a landscape of flowering gorse is described, and attention
is called to its golden color on the heather-covered fields.
Dr. Watson obviously was impressed with landscapes of gold and bronze,
especially those which contained faded ferns, for we find him using the
description several times, for example:
The sun was beginning to sink ... and the long, sloping plain in front
of us was tinged with gold, deepening into rich, ruddy browns where
the faded ferns and brambles caught the evening light.
_Silver Blaze_
Similarly, in the same story: “... the low curves of the moor,
bronze-coloured from the fading ferns, stretched away to the sky
line....” Besides these landscapes, several references to some of
the famous forests of England are made in _The Adventure of Black
Peter_ and _The Naval Treaty_.
As might be anticipated, numerous allusions are made to trees. Dr.
Watson presents a pleasing picture: “Just beyond it is a nice little
grove of Scotch firs, and I used to be very fond of strolling down
there, for trees are always a neighborly kind of thing” (_The Yellow
Face_). The word “neighborly” strikes a sympathetic note. All of
us have experienced this feeling at one time or another. Walking in a
pleasant woodland, one can quietly commune with nature. The singular
thing is that on such occasions the creative mind is often stimulated.
New ideas and new concepts apparently rise from the subconscious to the
higher brain centers. Numerous examples could be given of this truly
remarkable phenomenon.
Dr. Watson must have had a lively interest in oak trees, for he alludes
to them on several occasions. He speaks of “ancient” oaks and “mighty”
oaks, terms surely applicable to the famous English oak trees (_The
Valley of Fear_ and _The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist_).
The prize oak, presumably, is the one described in _The Musgrave
Ritual_. Sherlock Holmes related the story to Dr. Watson one winter
night: “... there stood a patriarch among oaks, one of the most
magnificent trees that I have ever seen.” He went on to quote his
host, Reginald Musgrave: “It was there at the Norman Conquest in all
probability.... It has a girth of twenty-three feet.” Truly, it was a
mighty oak and worthy of comment. If its girth was twenty-three feet,
it had a diameter of approximately seven and one-third feet. The events
described in the story occurred in the last quarter of the nineteenth
century, so the tree must have been over nine hundred years old if it
dated from the Norman Conquest of 1066.
Probably few people appreciate the longevity of oak trees. I recall,
as a child, an oak that stood not far from my home. I have seen it
periodically for over a half-century. It still looks about the same
as when I first saw it, but presumably it has had a slow but steady
growth throughout the years. Assuming that such a tree is not ravaged
by wind and storm or struck by lightning, it probably will stand for
several centuries. This is a fascinating thought, because it staggers
the imagination to think what historical events could occur during such
a span of years.
Dr. Watson describes trees in various settings, such as parks (_The
Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist_ and _The Adventure of the Abbey
Grange_), and in several instances as borders for avenues or lanes. A
number of examples might be cited, but one will suffice: “The house ...
with a fine lime-lined avenue leading to it” (_The “Gloria Scott”_).
In _The Hound of the Baskervilles_, the Yew Alley of Baskerville Hall
played an extremely important part in the story. It will be recalled
that Sir Charles, before going to bed at night, was wont to take a walk
down the Yew Alley. One night he saw the huge hound which the evil
Stapleton had purposely let loose on the moor. Sir Charles became so
frightened that he ran headlong and dropped dead from a heart attack.
In this story, too, mention is made of trees which have been subjected
to adverse growing conditions. Dr. Watson speaks of trees which have
been stunted and nipped on the moor, and emphasizes how the oaks and
firs are bent and twisted by the furious storms throughout the years.
The bizarre shapes which such trees assume are truly fascinating. Their
irregular outlines appear ghostlike by night and weird by day. They are
the joy of the amateur photographer and the professional artist.
Various types of trees are used to create a proper setting for the
mystery stories. In _The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone_, a melancholy
grove of half-grown pines is described; and in _The Adventure of
Wisteria Lodge_, a row of chestnuts is depicted as giving the avenue a
gloomy appearance.
The fact that pine trees are used to set the note for a gloomy
landscape calls for comment. I have always felt that a clump of
evergreen trees around a house creates a distinctly depressing
atmosphere; this is especially true if the house is isolated in the
country. To me these somber trees give a sense of loneliness and gloom,
and bring to mind Anna Katherine Green’s mystery story, _The House of
Whispering Pines_. It may be that this story, which I read in my youth,
is the reason for my feeling. I am sure, in any event, that many people
enjoy evergreen trees around their home, especially in winter, as a
welcome relief from the drab, slate-gray landscape.
Besides those trees already enumerated, several other species are
mentioned throughout the tales: namely, the larch, the beech, and
the copper beech. In _The Adventure of the Copper Beeches_, this
description occurs: “The group of trees with their dark leaves shining
like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun....”
Flower beds and borders are described in several of the tales. In _The
Sign of the Four_, we find that: “... just under the window a single
foot-mark was visible in the flower bed.” Also, in _The Adventure of
the Devil’s Foot_, a flower border lying underneath the window is
noted, but it contained no trace of a footprint. Obviously, footprints
are a necessary component of mystery stories; and what better place to
look for them than in the soft earth of a flower bed under a window?
In all the stories, only a few flowers are specifically named:
crocuses, orchids, roses, and violets. In _The Hound of the
Baskervilles_, when Dr. Watson met the wife of the naturalist Stapleton
on the moor, she asked him to pick an orchid for her, and explained
that the moor was rich in them. This is supposed to have occurred in
the fall of the year. It seems singular that orchids would be in bloom
at that time.
The amateur gardener will be sympathetically interested to read of
gardens and lawns which did not live up to expectations: “A small
garden sprinkled over with a scattered eruption of sickly plants
separated each of these houses” (_A Study in Scarlet_). In _The
Adventure of the Retired Colourman_, a sorry-looking garden is
depicted. It is pictured as going to seed and bearing every evidence
of gross neglect. In _The Red-Haired League_, an ill-kept lawn is
described: “... where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded
laurel bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and uncongenial
atmosphere.”
Several welcome allusions are made to the odors of flowers or of
vegetation. The scent of flowers, gardens, greenhouses, trees, meadows,
swamps, and the decay of autumn leaves often bring back memories of
other times and places. In _The Naval Treaty_, we find “... the rich
scent of the garden ...”; and in _A Study in Scarlet_, we read of “...
the balsamic odours of the pine trees....” All of us have experienced
the refreshing and delightful odors of a flower garden, and those who
have been in the north, or in the mountains in almost any latitude,
remember with pleasure the clean smell of the evergreen trees. In _The
Adventure of the Lion’s Mane_, our attention is called to the scent of
thyme on the downs. I am sure that to many people the faintly exotic
aroma of thyme (which belongs to the mint family) is enjoyable.
Some plants have a distinctly heavy, cloying odor--for example, certain
lilies. The effect produced may actually be unpleasant. Dr. Watson, in
describing a greenhouse, brings this out (_The Adventure of Charles
Augustus Milverton_). He speaks of the heavy fragrance of certain
plants which actually causes a choking sensation. The odor of decayed
plants arising from the treacherous Grimpen Mire is emphasized in _The
Hound of the Baskervilles_. Most of us are familiar with the miasmic
vapors which often arise from swampland. Presumably, everyone has his
own favorite odor. Some people enjoy the exquisite fragrance of the
rose, some that of the carnation, and others the faint and delicate
odor of the sweet pea. The city dweller who was raised in the country
may yearn for the sweet smell of newly mown hay, and, strangely enough,
may even long for the pungent ammoniacal smell of the barnyard.
Throughout the tales, we find mention of bracken, bramble, bushes,
ferns, gorse, heather, hedges, laurel, lichens, rhododendron, shrubs,
and vines. We have already alluded to many of these. To my knowledge,
in only one instance is there a reference to blood-stained vegetation
indicating that a murder might have been committed. We find, in
_The Adventure of the Priory School_, that Holmes, to the horror of
Watson, held up some flowering gorse which was blood-stained. The
surrounding heather, too, showed evidence of old blood stains. It will
be remembered that these were found on the spot where the unfortunate
German master of the Priory School had met his death.
Everyone interested in Sherlock Holmes will vividly recall the meeting
between Holmes and Professor Moriarty on the brink of the falls of the
Reichenbach. Dr. Watson inspected the spot shortly after the meeting:
A few yards from the end the soil was all ploughed up into a patch of
mud, and the brambles and ferns which fringed the chasm were torn and
bedraggled.
_The Final Problem_
The patches of mud and torn vegetation gave clear evidence of what had
taken place on the edge of the falls. We learn later, of course--much
to our surprise and satisfaction--that Holmes had, by his superior
skill, triumphed over his arch enemy. The meeting marked the end of
Professor Moriarty, the Napoleon of crime.
Dr. Watson’s many allusions to botany give added charm to the tales,
and indicate not only his love for the flora of England but also his
zest for nature.