86 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



ness of the birch, in lands where other trees are 

 wanting, may make us feel additionally free 

 fully to enjoy its beauty. 



The willow and the alder are particularly 

 associated with the stream-side. One oueht 

 to say the willows rather than the willow ; for 

 of no other kind of tree have we so many 

 varieties. Mr. Step says that *'even so 

 hardened a botanist as Sir J. D. Hooker, in 

 reviewing the tangle of species, varieties 

 (natural and cultivated), and hybrids, is so 

 far stirred from his ordinary composure that 

 he stigmatises it as a 'troublesome genus'." 

 We are not botanists here, but ordinary people 

 wishful to have at least a nodding acquaintance 

 with the more conspicuous trees, and some 

 appreciation of their picturesque beauty. We 

 shall not therefore venture where a Hooker 

 almost feared to tread. But before dealing 

 with the willows descriptively, it is almost im- 

 possible to refrain from some reference to their 

 association with sadness. 



There is material here for a considerable 

 essay, a reflection suggesting the remark that 

 I have timorously avoided anything like 

 systematic reference to the mention of trees 



