48 January Viburnum. 



green, derived from contrast with the scarlet berries. 

 One of the best things about the holly is the variety 

 given by the lighter color of the under-side of the leaf, 

 but it is not a very safe plant for the painter, as it offers 

 a peculiar temptation to obtrusiveness both of crude 

 color and of what may be called irritating detail, neither 

 has it any softness of mass or grace of contour. For 

 any one who enjoys the sight of red berries in the most 

 jewel-like splendor there is nothing in winter like the 

 viburnum, the species we call viorne obier (a relative 

 of the guelder-rose of gardens) ; and if you meet with a 

 fine specimen just when it is caught by the level rays 

 of a crimson sunset, you will behold a shrub that seems 

 to have come from that garden of Aladdin where the 

 fruits of the trees were jewels. The birds love these 

 splendid berries, and it is said that in Norway they are 

 served at table for dessert. I have not forgotten the 

 mountain-ash, but in January, although it still has 

 berries, the most of them are withered and have lost 

 their beautiful color ; however, they still keep a rich 

 crimson vermilion tint. Nothing in the beginning of 

 the year can be prettier than the hazel, with its thou- 

 sands of pendulous catkins, all of a very pale and tender 

 and lovely green in the sunlight ; they remind one of 

 filigree, or the work in the fringe of epaulettes. 



It is a great advantage of the winter season for the 

 study of sylvan nature that it enables us to see the 

 structure of trunks and branches so much better than 

 we ever can do when they are laden with summer foliage. 

 Of all trees at this season of the year my favorite is 



