_By John F.M. Dovaston, Esq. A.M., of Westfelton, near Shrewsbury._
"_Hamlet._ Do you see nothing there?
_Queen._ Nothing at all; yet all that is I see."
_Hamlet._
"You cannot see the wood for trees."
_Ray's Proverbs._
It was now the middle of May; the trees had fully put forth their
bright, fresh leaves, and the green fields were luxuriant in a profusion
of flowers. We had travelled through a fine country; when, descending
the slope of a wooded valley, we were struck with delight and admiration
at a tree of extraordinary appearance. There were several of the sort,
dispersed singly, and in groups over the plains and grassy knolls. One
we shall attempt to describe, though well aware how feeble is the most
florid description to depict an idea of so magnificent an object. In
height it exceeded 50 ft., the diameter of its shade was nearly 90 ft.,
and the circumference of the bole 15 ft.: it was in full leaf and
flower, and in appearance at once united the features of strength,
majesty, and beauty; having the stateliness of the oak, in its trunk and
arms; the density of the sycamore, in its dark, deep, massy foliage;
and the graceful featheriness of the ash, in its waving branches, that
dangled in rich tresses almost to the ground. Its general character as
a tree was rich and varied, nor were its parts less attractive by their
extreme beauty when separately considered. Each leaf was about 18 in. in
length; but nature, always attentive to elegance, to obviate heaviness,
had at the end of a very strong leaf-stalk divided it into five, and
sometimes seven, leafits, of unequal length, and very long oval shape,
finely serrated. These leafits were disposed in a circular form,
radiating from the centre, like the leaves of the fan palm, though
placed in a contrary plane to those of that magnificent ornament of the
tropical forests. The central, or lower, leafits were the largest, each
of them being 10 in. in length, and 4 in. in breadth, and the whole
exterior of the foliage being disposed in an imbricated form, having a
beautifully light and palmated appearance. The flowers, in which the
tree was profuse, demand our deep admiration and attention: each group
of them rose perpendicularly from the end of the young shoot, and was in
length 14 in., like a gigantic hyacinth, and quite as beautiful, spiked
to a point, exhibiting a cone or pyramid of flowers, widely separate on
all sides, and all expanded together, principally white, finely tinted
with various colours, as red, pink, yellow, and buff, the stamina
forming a most elegant fringe amid the modest tints of the large and
copious petals. These feathery blossoms, lovely in colours and stately
in shape, stood upright on every branch all over the tree, like flowery
minarets on innumerable verdant turrets. We had thus the opportunity of
ascertaining that it belonged to that class of Linnaeus consisting
entirely of rare plants the Heptándria, and the order Monogynia; the
natural order Trihilàtae; and the _A'_cera of Jussieu.
The natives informed us that the fruit ripens early in autumn, and
consists of bunches of apples, thinly beset with sharp thorns, each when
broken producing one or two large kernels, about 2 in. in circumference,
of the finest bright mahogany colour without, and white within; that the
tree is deciduous, and just before its fall changes to the finest tints
of red, yellow, orange, and brown. When divested of its luxuriant
foliage, the buds of the next year appear like little spears, which
through the winter are covered with a fine glutinous gum, evidently
designed to protect the embryo shoots within, as an hybernaculum, from
the severe frosts of the climate, and which glisten in the cold sunshine
like diamonds. It has the strange property of performing the whole of
its vigorous shoot, nearly a yard long, in the short space of three
weeks, employing all the rest of the year in converting it into wood,
adding to its strength, and varying its beauty. The wood when sawn is
of the finest snowy whiteness. The tree is easily raised; indifferent
as to soil, climate, or situation; removed with safety, of quick growth,
thrives to a vast age and size; subject to no blight or disease; in the
earliest spring bursting its immense buds into that vigour, exuberance,
and beauty, which we have here feebly attempted to describe. The natives
said it was originally brought from the east of Asia, but grows freely
in any climate, and in their tongue its name is designated by a
combination of three words, signifying separately, a noble animal,
an elegant game, and a luscious kernel. Had Linnaeus seen this tree,
he would have assuredly contemplated it with delightful ecstacy, and
named it the _Ae'_sculus Hippocástanum.--_Magazine of Natural
History._
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