KNOWLEDGE A PLEASURE 59 



of spreading sideways, point almost perpen- 

 dicularly upwards. 



It has not been my intention to furnish 

 an exhaustive account of these trees. I 

 merely desired to introduce them, and to 

 indicate what a wide field for study they 

 afford. Any one who desires to become more 

 intimately acquainted with our British trees, 

 will find the materials for attaining his 

 purpose in the books named in the following 

 list, and the authorities to which these refer. 

 With the information which he has gained 

 in this chapter, the reader will find that he 

 can identify the trees which he is likely 

 to see most frequently. When he knows the 

 peculiarities of bark and leaf and trunk, 

 which distinguish the various sorts of trees, 

 he will no longer be indifferent to the com- 

 position of the groves in which he rambles. 

 He will observe and note the presence of 

 beech and oak, sycamore and elm, birch and 

 hazel. He will perceive that the trees of the 

 wayside and woodland are more varied than 

 he had supposed. His attention having been 

 once directed to this fact, he will soon 

 observe the same infinite variety in the wild 



