PREFACE 



THE following pages are intended to furnish an opportunity for a more intimate 

 acquaintance with our American trees. The pictures upon the plates have in 

 all cases been taken direct from nature, and have been brought together in 

 such a way that the non-botanical reader can recognize at a glance either xne whole tree 

 or the leaves, flowers, fruits or winter twigs, and thus be able to identify with ease and 

 certainty any unknown tree to which his attention may be called. In the discussions of 

 the text especial attention has been given to the distinguishing characteristics of the 

 various species, as well as to the more interesting phases of the yearly cycle of each and 

 the special values of each for ornamental planting. 



In the making of the pictures the trees growing in a wild state have been utilized 

 wherever possible, although in the case of a number of rare or local species advantage 

 has been taken of the unrivalled collection of trees in the Arnold Arboretum, a privilege 

 for which we are indebted to the kind permission of the Director, Professor Charles Sprague 

 Sargent, and the helpful assistance of his associates, especially Messrs. C. E. Faxon, W. J. 

 Dawson, and J. G. Jack. In the case of a few trees we are also under obligations for material 

 to the authorities of the Harvard Botanic Garden, and the Boston Public Gardens. We 

 are indebted to the Forest Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture for the pic- 

 tures of the trees of the Eucalyptus and the Long-leaved Pine and to the Arnold 

 Arboretum for a few of the other pictures on the plates. 



In the sequence of the trees in the book, as well as in the mooted question of the 

 technical names, we have followed Professor Sargent's classic "Manual of the Trees of 

 North America," giving also in some cases additional names used in standard books. 



ii) 



