232 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



characteristic form of their trunk, boughs, and twigs ; and at 

 close quarters identification is helped by their bark. Except, 

 perhaps, for an occasional immature sapling, of which the 

 growth is still indeterminate, or for a warped and stunted 

 specimen growing on bad soil and in vitiated air, every tree 

 can be recognised as certainly in winter as in summer by a 

 practised eye. The strength of the oak stands out twice as 

 clearly when it is stripped of its leaves, and the contrast of 



OAK 



its stalwart lines with the feminine grace of the beech or the 

 wych-elm becomes more visible. Oak boughs traced against 

 a winter sky make one of the most beautiful sights in English 

 Nature. The peculiar attraction of the oak lies in its com- 

 bination of endlessly varied curves with essential strength of 

 structure. If we observe the lines of a well-grown oak clearly 

 silhouetted against a sunset glow, we see what a wealth of 

 design it has in its larger boughs and branches as compared 

 with the simplicity of the elm's few large limbs, or the 

 angular and uninventive structure of the black poplar. Oak 

 boughs twist and curve with almost fantastic freedom ; and 



