Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-12
NATURE IN AUTUMN
BY D. o. pEATTrE.

vealed as living things, with personali-
ties as individual as those Of humans.
Nature In the city when there is as
much nature as we have in Washing
toni has q very particular charm and
interest, and 90, far from becoming re-
duced to the Vanishing point IN Winter;
urban nature Is never palmer to read.
For now the tree SQUIRREL, sti1ng by the
bite and snap Of the chilling weather,
bounds in full view to keep himself
warm, or comes close to the kitchen
door for crumbs. and the street trees
stand, nude as statuary in museum
aisles.
The desolate nests Of birds who mated
and raised their broods all unsupported
by the trafiic that flowed under those
branches are discovered, and some
times even Q bees or . hornets nest
is found IN populous place when the
leaves have fallen and been carted
away. Now the drill work Of the sap
suckers Is revealed, the woodpecker's
hollow kadeySholeg and the owls abode,
Af fos. is ey b Hs stTsst unca ca
should not Be pefsecated. since they
kill rodents.
There is.a strange fascination IN the
trees Of Washington. In general, the
landscape effects have been executed
with rare thoughtfulness as to the
appropriate; there Is vastly more va
rfety in our street trees than In the
European capitals, where the plane
tree, magnificent as 1t is, has too much
prominence. The trees Of our various
streets, indeed, 60 far to impart to dh-
ferent quarters Of the city their par
has 90 much personality as tree, nor
can anything else impose its personality
noisy trees, somber trees, trees that
are forever dropping catkins or down
or insect pests onto the heads Of
passersby can easily ruin q neighbor-
hood. Fins impart dignity and are
most suitable for exclusive residential
districts. poplars impart gayety, brighten
I'D q slumnly street and Withstand the
attacks Of children and animals. Plane
trees are best for small public squares.
Tulip trees come into their own in
suburban streets. Magnoliag and other
trees with gorgeous flowers can only be
seen 70 advantage ii parks where the
| public does not swarm too much, Is on
the white House grounds
Evergreen cOnifers should be confined
to vast landscape effects while mixed
paintings Of native deciduous and ever
green trees are loveliest In wild parks,
| likc Rock Greek, while costly, sttd,
formal trees. like retinospora, box and
rhodcdendron. are appropriate only
| against the marble Of public buildings.
personality. ifs use and abuse, and IN
| no city that ever saw has 30 much
Wisdom and rood taste been displayed IA
the niarshaiing Of tree forces &c IN the
| Capital. se@
Weed Fires.
Lit my first wood fire Of the season
| and sat down with book and pipe 70
read q bit In that loyable old naturalist,
| Gilbert White. But, though thunabed
the pages Of my edition affectionately,
I found no text from which to preach
the lay sermon that contemplated on
the magical essence Of firewood.
Beyond pronouncing the name Of oak
with loving respect the rector OF Sell
bourne had little to say on the subject
| Of wood.
Where in the world are found such
wonderful patterns Is are found In
/ wood?" asks the novelist Eliot Paul
Aye, where?" echo.
| My favorite paper weight Ia q hubble
Of olive wood from the Riviera, snatchec
as o maid was about TO thrust 1t into q
/ stove; the most marvellous intricacy, the
most devious involutions in the grain
that ever I saw. I like to visit the
Smithsonian exhibit Of polished tropical
| woods, for no better or more profitable
reason than to trace the whorls Of their
CHARTERED vascular system and to chant
to myself the invoking magic OF their
nalnes-sandalwood and ebony, satin.
wood and balsa, mahogany and rose
| wood, snakewood and teak.
But presumably ! shall never roll Il
RIO such wonders to behold. So oah
and pine must. and can, content me
and as ! mingie the dry pine and thu
| ereenish oak, throwing them together
on the blazing pine-cone kindIinR. ]
like 70 think that way back In the Mid
ole Ages this bit Of domestic economy
was first discovered, namely, that Il
only dry wood be burned, It burns TOT
last ana 90 wastes money, and II onlJ
green be burned, no heat u given out
EunleSs q disproportiona amount o.
kindhng Is consumed. But a mixture Il
the cheapest and the most efficien
fuel. In buying my Winters wood (anS
how love 70 see the orderly ranks o.
1t piled against the cellar wall. ant
smell the sweet, fannie, raw aroma d
IT'D I never fan to give commands To-
blend
TO any one who loves trees tner,
viii always be pang Of regret at tn.
burning Of log. This Is natural bu
not q logical feeling. Coal also was
long ago, trees or at least tree-ferns
Even that reflection, however, does no
compensate for al inevitable regre
when stout pine log y converted mt
The real consolation that I "a 1
that In burning xhA lnN for nay h&Imcm