WOOD-SCENERY IN WINTER. 357 



branches. But if a tree bears a large nut, with leaves 

 compound and branches opposite, like the horse-chestnut, 

 it has no spray at all. The beech-tree, however, having a 

 very small nut, has a fine and elegant spray, not sur- 

 passed by any tree of the forest. The opposite charac- 

 ter of the smaller branches of certain trees is never con- 

 tinued in the larger divisions. But the angularity of the 

 boughs of the oak is repeated in its angular spray, and 

 the gracefulness of the principal branches of the elm, the 

 birch, and the lime is traced through all their minute 

 subdivisions. 



All these phenomena are interesting subjects of obser- 

 vation in winter wood-scenery. But the geometric beauty 

 of the spray of trees is hardly less remarkable than its 

 different colors. A maple wood, for example, is gray ; a 

 poplar wood is greenish olive ; a wood consisting chiefly 

 of limes, black birches, and cherry-trees has a dark shade. 

 These differences of coloring, as seen in masses, when 

 viewing the wood from an elevated stand, often excite 

 the surprise of spectators ; for it is only the most careful 

 observers who have noticed this variety of shades. In 

 many assemblages of wood that consist of an evenly pro- 

 miscuous combination of species, we observe no such 

 picturesque marks of distinction. But in all unique as- 

 semblages, of which our land affords very frequent exam- 

 ples, the differences between a maple, a poplar, a willow, 

 and a lime grove are respectively very striking. The 

 study of these shades is of considerable importance to the 

 painter who should wish to give a true representation of 

 a winter landscape, with reference chiefly to its wood. 



Some of my most delightful wood rambles have been 

 taken in the winter, which has always seemed to me less 

 a season of melancholy than autumn. The sadness we 

 feel while the leaves are falling around us and the light 

 of/noon seems but an ominous twilight passes away after 



