TREE FORMS IN WINTER 



THE true forms of trees can be best appreciated in winter, 

 when the deciduous species are bare of leaves, and the ever- 

 greens stand out more conspicuously in the naked woods. 

 The green leaves of summer half muffle and disguise the 

 essential architecture of the trunk and boughs ; and it is 

 only in winter or early spring that we can see how one tree 

 differs from another in strength of build, and in the arrange- 

 ment of the leaf-bearing twigs. The best time for learning 

 to distinguish trees is in midwinter, after the last leaves 

 have fallen from the tall oaks, and of all the deciduous 

 foliage only a few patches of oak and beech and hornbeam 

 scrub keep a russet mantle clinging until spring. As spring 

 conies on, our attention is apt to be distracted from the per- 

 manent forms of the trunk and branches by the budding of 

 the earliest shoots and blossoms, and by the anticipation of 

 the period of awakening. In the heart of winter there is a 

 strength and endurance about the lines of forest trees which 

 suits the mood of the time. We learn to appreciate their 

 beauty, devoid of luxuriance, and find a pleasure in bare 

 boughs which is in some ways greater than the delight in the 

 full foliage of May. 



Most trees can be recognised even at a distance by the 



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