MOTIONS OF TREES. 



WHILE Nature, in the forms of trees, in the color of 

 their foliage and the gracefulness of their spray, has dis- 

 played a great variety of outline and tinting, and pro- 

 vided a constant entertainment for the sight, she has in- 

 creased their attractions by endowing them with a differ- 

 ent susceptibility to motion from the action of the winds. 

 In their motions we perceive no less variety than in their 

 forms. The different species differ like animals ; some 

 being graceful and easy, others stiff and awkward ; some 

 calm and intrepid, others nervous and easily agitated. 

 Perhaps with stricter analogy we might compare them to 

 human beings ; for we find trees that represent the man 

 of quiet and dignified deportment, also the man of ex- 

 cited manners and rapid gesticulations. Some trees, like 

 the fir, having stiff branches and foliage, move awkwardly 

 backward and forward in the wind, without any separate 

 motions of their leaves. While we admire the sym- 

 metrical and stately forms of such trees, we are reminded 

 of men who present a noble personal appearance, accom- 

 panied with ungainly manners. 



Some trees, having stiff branches with flexible leaves, 

 do not bend to a moderate breeze, but their foliage readily 

 yields to the motion of the wind. This habit is observed 

 in the oak and the ash, in all trees that have a pendulous 

 foliage and upright or horizontal branches. The poplars 

 possess this habit in a remarkable degree, and it is pro- 

 verbial in the aspen. It is also conspicuous in the com- 

 mon pear-tree and in the small white-birch. Other trees, 



