Mr. Evans's Address 169 



We shall thereby grow to greater perfection, intel- 

 lectually as well as physically; and, as Thoreau was 

 wont to say, we shall become more imaginative; our 

 thoughts will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal; 

 our understanding will become more comprehensive, 

 and the chords of our hearts will vibrate in truer 

 unison with the great Giver of life whose finger and 

 handiwork we can everywhere discern. 



IV. KNOWLEDGE AT FIRST HAND 



Again, it is highly important that we should acquire 

 our knowledge of nature at first liand, as it were, by 

 direct contact with nature itself. 



There is much that we can do in connection with 

 trees by the simple use of our eyes. There is a sort 

 of macroscopic or telescopic (if we may so use the term) 

 view of trees that is most necessary and useful, as well 

 as that obtained by near and closer inspection. This 

 is the view we obtain at a distance, and which we can 

 enjoy even in a train going at express speed. 



It is at a distance that we can see best 



(a) The contour, habit of growth, or general outline 



of the tree, 

 whether pyramidal, as in the spruce, larch; 



spreading and rounded, as in the oak, 



ash, elm; 



pillar-like, as in the poplar; 

 symmetrical or one-sided, as in trees that 

 grow on wind-swept uplands. 



(b) The colour of their drapery the contrast between 



the larch, spruce, Scotch fir, &c., as regards 

 the colour of their foliage. 



