96 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



and the mention of It reminds us of a chief 

 peculiarity of all the trees of this genus. 

 The leaves are broad, and are attached to 

 the branches by long leaf-stems ; hence they 

 tremble with the lightest breath of air. 

 Tennyson's "aspens shiver" has already been 

 quoted ; and we inevitably call to mind also the 

 lines in '' Mariana" : — 



Hard by a poplar shook alway, 

 All silver-green with gnarled bark : 

 For leagues no other tree did mark 



The level waste, the rounding gray. 



The great family of the conifers, to which 

 we now come, is but poorly represented in our 

 islands by trees that we can claim as indigenous. 

 We have only the Scots pine, the yew and the 

 juniper. But the Scots pine alone is a host in 

 itself However tame a countryside may be a 

 Scots pine gives it a note of wild grandeur. It 

 seems to say to us that though everything 

 about us may have been subdued by the sober 

 rule of economic agriculture, there are still 

 places, to which we can travel in swift thought, 

 where nature has not yet become a mere hand- 

 maid of man. 



The mere mention of the tree, much more 



