SPEAY. 145 



Let us begin our description and pictorial 

 account of the spray of trees with that of the Oak, 

 the rugged character of which is at once shown by 

 the illustration on page 144, which represents the 

 stout, twisted, irregular form of the spray, the 

 irregularity of the buds (which, though prominent, 

 are not large for the size of the spray that bears 

 them), and the obtuse angles at which the forking 

 is made. There is a richness, if the expression may 

 be used, about the very ruggedness, which is strik- 

 ing. The gall and the patches of lichen incrust- 

 ing the lower part of the piece here drawn, indicate 

 that the specimen was taken from a tree of some 

 size. Gilpin arguing that Nature seems to ob- 

 serve one simple principle, which is, that the mode 

 of growth in the spray corresponds exactly with 

 that of the larger branches, of which indeed the 

 spray is the origin goes on to illustrate his re- 

 marks by a reference to the Oak. He says ; 

 ' The Oak divides his boughs from the stem 

 more horizontally than most other deciduous trees. 

 The spray makes exactly in miniature the same 

 appearance. It breaks out in right angles, or in 

 angles that are nearly so ; forming its shoots 



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