The Hazel Tree

At a show last weekend I picked up this gorgeous old book from a second-hand book stall.  Written by Gertrude Clarke Nuttall, it’s called ‘Trees And How They Grow’ and is dated 1913. Inside are 15 colour plates called ‘autochromes’ and 134 black-and-white photographs.  A total of 24 species of trees are described in detail – among them alder, hornbeam, larch, poplar, horse chestnut, willow, wayfaring-tree – and the natural history is mixed with wonderful legends and folklore. This book is in fact a natural history specimen in its own right, because someone has collected leaves from the trees and pressed them carefully in the relevant chapters.  These are now alarmingly fragile, especially the sprig of lime which still has…