TREES WITH A PERSONALITY 27 



bodies is of a shade and texture which stamps it as 

 of the best. 



The ash is another handsome fellow, or more ap- 

 priately, a stately Greek goddess. More than one 

 writer has called it a woodland Venus. Its lofty 

 and well-proportioned strength is suffused with a 

 grace and beauty seen most often in classic statues 

 of the female form. It maintains a noticeable re- 

 serve and aloofness quite consistent with god-like 

 attributes. Its bark is of excellent texture with 

 fine vertical lines. The birch is the young and 

 sprightly Aphrodite. The ash is a stately and 

 mature Venus or Athena. Ruskin thought it the 

 loveliest of trees. The ancient Scandinavians con- 

 sidered their ash-tree Yggdrasill the source and up- 

 holder of the universe. 



The chestnuts are rugged gladiators. They seem 

 to be eternally on the defensive with short, heavy 

 branches spread broadly against the sky. In their 

 militant erectness they delight in sparse clumsy 

 twigs. Their great horizontal boughs sometimes 

 sweep their magnificent five-fingered, accordion- 

 pleated leaves on the ground as if to ward off creep- 

 ing attacks. The horse chestnut is the most power- 

 ful of this group and has all the nobility of its 

 animal namesake. 



The sycamore is another warrior a veritable 



