new books on Trees--

"A medlar smells of Pimms with cucumber, hawthorn of unwashed underwear, pollarded trees are “cruelly elegant”, big trees are terribly thirsty and can drink 9,000 gallons a year, gingkos are terrifying and Sitka spruce needs as much as thirty inches of rain per annum. Sitka is exquisitely light. The Wright brothers built their Kitty Hawk with it. “Surprisingly for such a dour tree, you can strike a jolly tune from its light wood and it is used in the sounding boards of violins and guitars...”