PREFACE. 



Possibly there are some of us who may not think 

 that a leaf is a thing of beauty. We are prone to 

 use the expression " Nothing but leaves/' as though 

 leaves were the worthless, homely, and uninteresting 

 things of an otherwise beautiful creation. They cer- 

 tainly are common, but they are far from common- 

 place. If we doubt this, let us try to draw or paint 

 a single leaf. Only a great artist can depict all of 

 some one of its manifold truths ; one may draw ever 

 so carefully and well, yet he can not tell with the 

 pencil or the brush all the truth and beauty of one 

 leaf. Its color is too waxen and pure to be imitated 

 by earthy pigments ; its outline is too subtile, its 

 teeth are too finely an$ vigorously formed, and its 

 veins are too infinitely complex for one to copy with 

 absolute, lifelike accuracy. No, it is not possible to 

 portray all the beauty of a leaf with the pencil. Yet 



this work of Nature's wonderful art is common: the 



vii 



