THE SOUL OF A TREE 15 



no bit of woodland which he visits again and 

 again, not once nor twice only, as each year 

 passes by. If he have this he will know what 

 it is to enjoy the companionship of trees. He 

 will learn to know them in their various moods, 

 and he will find also how different they are to 

 him according to his own mood. 



There is closer companionship for those who 

 have actively to watch and care for trees. I 

 who write these pages am a townsman who 

 happily, so many years ago that I cannot at 

 once tell the number, escaped into the country ; 

 and, if I am to be a good tenant, and a good 

 patriot, in the large sense of the word, must 

 take some care of oak and ash, of beech and 

 elm, of sycamore and chestnut, and many other 

 trees ; must see that the fruit-trees are pruned ; 

 that those past bearing are taken away, and 

 young ones planted in their stead. Alas that, 

 not being to the manner born, and busied with 

 other things, it may be also lacking enterprise, 

 I let most of the work be done by another! 

 But I have been enough among the trees, and 

 have planned and worked enough among them, 

 to have come to know them intimately, to 

 grieve if one must go, almost to grieve if, for 



