XXXVI. THE TREES IN SUMMER 



" Under the greenwood tree 

 Who loves to lie with m&, 

 A nd tune his merry note 

 Unto the sweet bird's throat, 

 Come hither, come hither, come hither." 



Shakespeare (As You Like If). 



In summer we live nearest the trees. We exchange our 

 solid roofs for their latticed crowns, and sit beneath them in 

 the open air. They spread green canopies above us, all 

 fringed with beautifully sculptured leaves. Broad-leaved 

 trees with the densest crowns, like hard maples, we like best 

 for shade : these best exclude the sun. 



In summer, the characters of boughs and buds, which have 

 served us best for winter studies of deciduous trees (see 

 Study 9 on page 76), are somewhat obscured by the foliage; 

 but the leaves in themselves offer ample recognition marks 

 Instead. The species of tree is usually to be told from a 

 single leaf; for each kind, though variable in lesser details, 

 has a form and a structure and a texture of its own. The 

 differences are sometimes extraordinary, as in the leaf types 

 shown in figure 97 : but even when the leaves of two species 

 look very much alike, there are apt to be minor differ- 

 ences of outline, of venation, of margin, of hairiness, of 

 length of leaf -stalk, etc., by which the two may be distin- 

 guished. 



In summer, the trees are busy. Each one is increasing, 

 as much as it can, its hold upon the earth and its spread into 

 the sunlight. To every living twig it is adding new growth. 

 Until full stature is attained, it adds long leafy shoots at 

 each sunlit tip; and afterwards, and underneath in the 

 shadow, it adds enough new growth to hold a few green leaves 



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