PREFACE TO THE EDITION IN COLORS. v 



cloud and sky, the soft emerald of the meadow 

 broken by the lilac-blue shadow of the stately elm 

 — what can the camera tell of these ? 



We have some little record of these colors in the 

 tree pictures ; they tell how the oak differs from the 

 maple, and the tupelo from either. We must not 

 expect more ; it is a simple chromatic demonstra- 

 tion, beyond the boundary of photography. 



Regarding the scientific nomenclature which is 

 adopted for this book, one word of explanation is 

 necessary. The names are those of Dr. Asa Gray, 

 and his successors connected with the University of 

 Harvard ; the addition of Dr. Sargent's scientific 

 names I considered particularly necessary in defer- 

 ence to his magnificent work, The Silva of North 

 America, to which we must all of us go for a wider 

 knowledge of tree life. All other systems of no- 

 menclature, however popular they may seem to be, 

 seem to me both unnecessary and unreliable, as well 

 as conducive of much confusion, especially to the 

 younger generation. We certainly are in safe hands 

 if we depend upon the botanists of Harvard Univer- 

 sity. It is not necessary to say more than that. 



F. Schuyler Mathews. 



May 1, 1001. 



