28 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



giant in stature and all covered over with the marks 

 of many conflicts. Its trunk is very smooth and 

 a sort of pale yellow in color. The serpentine 

 branches are pale grey disfigured with great 

 blotches of white, presumably wounds or rents in 

 a defensive armour. The sycamore is truly ma- 

 jestic in a pristine sort of way. Breadth almost as 

 great as height and a regular system of branching 

 create a feeling of rugged strength. The leaves 

 of the sycamore are delicately scalloped in three- 

 pointed designs. 



The poplar is an extremely slender and fairy- 

 like girl who has gathered up her skirts to get clear 

 of the mud. The upslanting character of the 

 branches reaches its culmination in the Lombardy 

 variety, where they almost parallel the main stem, 

 creating the well-known spire appearance. The 

 Lombardy poplar is more like a spouting flame or 

 water jet than anything human. It produces in 

 appearance one of the most startling effects in all 

 treedom, especially when a number of individuals 

 are growing in a line. In winter it becomes a wraith 

 of true spirit transparency. All the poplars are 

 quick growers and short livers. They prefer the 

 open spaces of the earth. 



When Tennyson represented Death as "walking 

 all alone beneath a yew," he caught the keynote 



