FASHIONABLE TREES 53 



of autumn colouring, Mother Nature allows her 

 tree charges more or less of a free hand. Acorns 

 are the same the country over, but the oaks from 

 which they fall run through a series of different 

 colour shades. Individual trees develop colour idio- 

 syncrasies. Certain branches on particular trees 

 have been known to elect some striking or unusual 

 shade of red or yellow year after year. It has been 

 suggested that some clever grafting experiments 

 might produce autumn tree-clothes which were 

 truly startling. 



It is customary to think that with the fall of the 

 leaves, beauty and charm depart from northern 

 landscapes. Only people with a very primitive idea 

 of beauty can look at it that way. Just as the 

 undraped human figure reveals grace of form and 

 line more divine than any amount of adornment 

 could give, so the trees reach their highest develop- 

 ment of beauty when divested of their leaves. There 

 is a delicacy, an airy grandeur to a winter landscape 

 which far transcends the luxuriance of summer. 

 The nude trees remind one of exquisite sculpture; 

 even the muscles and bones can be studied and ap- 

 preciated. The rich leafage and strong colouring 

 of the earlier season seem almost voluptuous when 

 compared to the esthetic classicism of the snowy 

 months. The winter woods depend for their beauty 



