Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/15

Rh that an almost tropical climate prevails through the whole of England. The air is purified from all deleterious matter by an ingenious scientific process. Salubrious showers of rain are brought whenever they are required by a force that was unknown two hundred years ago. Clouds are collected together or dispersed according as sunshine or shade is wanted.

The gardens and parks are filled with the most luxurious tropical plants, while birds of brilliant plumage flit about in the air or rest on the undulating masses of foliage. Gigantic trees of a species before unknown are seen on every side, here grouped into shady avenues, there dotted about in the parks and gardens, and surrounded by smaller but not less beautiful masses of vegetation. In some places the ground is coloured like a rainbow by the infinite variety of tropical plants, while the boughs of the trees are loaded down to the ground by the most luscious fruits. Everywhere fountains throw their refresh- 1—2