178 Second Conference 



the heart of the artist, poet, and botanist with a 

 sight that charms all lovers of the graceful and truly 

 beautiful. 



Yes, during the spring and early summer the in- 

 visible artist has been busy at work painting a scene 

 of indescribable beauty. Here he shows preference 

 for the emerald, there for a shade of brown, and 

 yonder he has dipped his brush in the yellows and 

 has blended them harmoniously with the greens. 

 The olive, too, is represented in yonder unassuming 

 ash leaves, and the sombre hue of the Scotch fir is 

 not without its effect. There is contrast, there is 

 variety, everywhere there is freshness most restful 

 and pleasing to the eye. 



In the distance behold yon aged oak-tree, that has 

 braved the storms of centuries, keeping sentinel o'er 

 an undergrowth of birch and alder and hazel mere 

 striplings whose soft sap-wood will not bear strain or 

 rough handling. 



Later on, the season of the sere and yellow leaf is 

 no less interesting. " Slight frosts take off the green- 

 ness of the leaves with a delicate touch ; warm, sunny 

 autumn days throw light and shadow on the ever- 

 changing scene." 



Study the beech and the birch and the oak at this 

 time, and notice the " indescribable mingling of gold 

 and orange and crimson and saffron, now sobering 

 into drab and maroon, now flaming up into scarlet". 



And when the winter comes, and the leaves fall off 

 one by one, we can still admire, if we have the artist's 

 instinct in us, the wonderful diversity of those naked 

 twigs, as well as those dainty little pendulous cylinders 

 of the birch and alder (as one writer poetically de- 



