264 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Voy. VIII. 
there are many beauties to be seen which cannot be observed when the 
trees are in full foliage. Gazing up at the rough or smooth barked trunks, 
we notice the spreading of the branches and those spaces between through 
which the sky silhouettes them for us. We can trace their various form 
and difference of growth. We notice the sturdy rugged branches of the 
stalwart oak or the closely placed branches of our favourite maple; we 
notice the white barked birch dividing into brown branches further up, 
finishing in string-like twigs with their pendant dried up seed bunches 
trembling at the tips. We can look into their very anatomy as it were 
and study their individuality. We follow with our eyes the long waving 
grey-barked branch of the beech to its furthest extremity, and speculate 
on the causes that make one tree rough-barked and the next smooth. 
Then the colour we notice in trees; we can run down the whole gamut 
from the paper white birch to the silvery beech and past the yellowish 
green of poplar or ash to the golden or crimson willow, to the yellow or 
black birch, to the bronzy green of the pine or the sombre blackish green ~ 
of the hemlock. And then when they are crowned with a fall of snow 
how beautiful they look, ’tis those expressions of nature we can drink in | 
as it were and cannot describe in all their grace.: At this season we notice 
the provision nature makes in the character of the twigs and branches 
for the foliage they support in summer. 
The large pointed buds on the sturdy branches of the chestnut are 
well calculated to bear the broad palmated luxuriant foliage, while the 
slender lace-like dreoping lines of the birch are suited for the small long- 
stemmed leaves that flutter and waver in every passing zephyr. The 
stubby twigs of the irregular butternut or the blunt odd-shaped twigs 
of the Kentucky coffee-tree or the walnut, the hickory or down to humble 
sumach, the character of the buds and the sturdy branches indicate that 
they bear large foliage or drooping bracts of pinnated leaves. This — 
applies to all deciduous trees—characteristics which stand out more 
clearly in the winter. 
The opposite qualities of lightness, gracefulness in foliage and branches 
are readily seen in the birch, aspen, willow, elm and others. 
At this time we can notice more distinctly the effect of too close 
planting, how dwarfed or deformed on one side is that noble oak for 
want of room; how cramped and disfigured is yonder maple from the 
close proximity of a chestnut! 
The individuality of trees in enhanced or retarded by their situation 
or association. For large spaces near public institutions of stately archi- 
tecture, the most suitable tree is the oak and next the elm. ‘The tree 
adds grace to the building and the building adds dignity to the tree. 
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