TREE FORMS. 27 



portion than those of the full-grown Ash ; but it 

 nevertheless has a sleek and graceful look. It is 

 not the young tree, however, but the older tree 

 of the woods (page 64) that has claimed the 

 admiration of lovers of Nature, and earned the 

 distinctive and complimentary appellation of this 

 beautiful species. Though it is in its summer 

 dress, with its delicate-looking pinnate leaves, 

 that it has been most admiredj the gracefulness 

 which is its especial character when clothed in 

 its summer verdure is sufficiently apparent in 

 what may be termed its wintry undress. The 

 height of the tree is often, and indeed generally, 

 a prominent characteristic. Frequently the bole 

 rises to a considerable distance from the ground 

 before forking. It may then give forth branches 

 so large as to appear like the first fork of the 

 trunk, so nearly do they approach the trunk's 

 diameter. Rising still higher, before what may 

 be called the actual forking takes place, the bole 

 may divide into two nearly equal limbs, and it is 

 only there that the continuity of the trunk is fairly 

 broken. Each limb will then divide again, and the 

 forking will be continued and repeated from limb 



