36 SYLVAN WINTER. 



first upwards, and then outwards and downwards. 

 On the extreme branches the twigs sometimes 

 almost touch the ground, whilst the spray, like 

 the branches, is long, fine, picturesquely twisted, 

 much divided, and very abundant, the whole 

 forming a spreading, sweeping, and very graceful 

 head every little space being filled up with bough 

 or twig, and uniformity of gradation being every- 

 where preserved and maintained between trunk, 

 limbs, branches, and spray. On the Hornbeam, 

 as on some other trees, occur occasionally* the 

 dense clusters of small twigs on the larger 

 branches, looking, at a distance, like birds' 

 nests. 



Another ' picturesque ' tree, when seen in its 

 mature form, is the Common or Field Maple, which, 

 Gilpin rightly says, is ' an uncommon tree, though 

 a common bush.' Most familiar in hedge-rows as 

 a common bush, it is not often seen of tree-size. 

 Even when a sapling its branches have a strag- 

 gling and somewhat rugged appearance, charac- 

 teristic of its mature form. Gilpin quaintly adds 

 to the sentence quoted above, * We seldom see 

 it employed in any nobler service than in 



