SUMMER WOOD-SCENERY. 149 



in this manner, and all the tiresome uniformity of sum- 

 mer verdure is aggravated. The only relief for the eye 

 comes from the shadows of isolated trees and small forest 

 groups as they are cast upon the ground. 



Now let us turn our eyes in an opposite direction. To 

 obtain the best view, we should look obliquely toward the 

 sun. Then do we behold a magnificent blending of light 

 and shade ; for every mass of foliage has a dark shadow 

 beneath it, forming a more appreciable contrast on ac- 

 count of the intense brilliancy, without glitter, caused 

 by the illumination of every leaf by the sunlight shining 

 through it. Under these circumstances we can once 

 more distinguish species, to some extent, by their colors. 

 We shall soon discover that trees which have a thin 

 corrugated leaf, without gloss, make the most brilliant 

 spectacle when viewed in this manner. Nothing can 

 surpass the foliage of the elm, the lime, the maple, and 

 the birch in this peculiar splendor. But trees like the 

 poplar, the tulip-tree, the oak, and the willow, having a 

 leaf of a firmer texture and less diaphanous, look com- 

 paratively dull under the same circumstances. 



I would repeat that the true summer phase of wood- 

 scenery is that which succeeds the flowering of the forest, 

 when all the different greens have faded into one dark 

 shade of verdure. There is no longer that marked and 

 beautiful variety which is displayed before the maturity 

 of the leaves. Summer is not, therefore, the painter's sea- 

 son. It is dull and tame compared even with winter, 

 when regarded as a subject for the brush or the pencil, 

 and especially when compared with spring and autumn. 

 Summer is the time for the observations of the botanist, 

 not for those of the picturesque rambler ; for beneath this 

 sylvan mass of monotonous verdure the sods are covered 

 with an endless variety of herbs and flowers, surpassing 

 in beauty those of any other season. 



