* In view of Mr Kelcey's kind personal acknowledgement and his charge of shocking apathy rather than due concern for trees in modern Britain, it seems pertinent to note that in July 1986 I wrote about this potentially very grave matter to the Daily Telegraph, which accorded pride of place in their correspondence columns to my letter in their issue of July 25th, though giving it the overimaginative title of‘Death in life along our highways’. To the best of my knowledge there were only two published rejoinders, of which one, on July 29th, was headed ‘Beauty along the trunk roads’, and chided me as able only to ‘seek out the gloom amidst the abundance of beauty’—which apparently engendered the other, published on August 1st, which at last was strongly supportive of my observations and expression of concern.—Ed.