PREFACE 



THE thought of writing this book came to 

 me during the preparation of a short 

 series of articles on the pictorial representation 

 of trees for the National Home Reading Union 

 Magazine, in connection with which I had to 

 consider the literature of the subject in order 

 to recommend books for reading and reference. 

 It seemed to me that there was room for an 

 unpretentious book that would bring together 

 many things definitely related to each other, 

 yet hitherto, for the most part, treated separately. 

 The publishers of this book agreed with me, 

 and so it appears. It purports to be nothing 

 more than introductory ; but by quotation and 

 reference it draws attention to some of the 

 works that deal more thoroughly with the 

 various matters discussed in it. For permission 

 to make extensive quotation from one book, to 

 which I owe much instruction and pleasure, 

 Philip Gilbert Hamerton's Landscape, my 



