1? TREES IN" WINTER 



e3^es in learning our new students. The ideal toward which iden- 

 tificational studies should tend is the ability to recognize a tree 

 at a distance. Unfortunately the general appearance or ^Tiabit'^ 

 of a tree as well as the character of its bark is difficult of precise 

 descri23tion^ but if the markings on the twigs are considered chiefly 

 as first aids to the uninitiated^ progress toward this ideal will be 

 more surely made. 



Winter is the best time in which to acquire this ability to recog- 

 nize trees at a distance. They are individually more conspicuous 

 at this season. Try watching them from a car window in their 

 winter aspect and you will be surprised to find how many can be 

 thus recognized after a little practice. A tree in winter 'is far from 

 being the characterless object many believe. Freed from its cov- 

 ering of leaves, the skeleton of the tree is revealed and with the 

 method of branching thus clearly discernible, the species may gen- 

 erally be more readily identified at a distance than when in its 

 summer garb. There are many forms, moreover, that are diffi- 

 cult to distinguish by summer features alone, but which in winter 

 have twig, bud, or other characters which make their separation 

 comparatively easy. 



We have suggested as the goal of identificational study the 

 power to recognize trees by the more general features of "habit" 

 and bark. The present volume can be considered only as an intro- 

 duction toward this study. Extreme care has been taken in the 

 attempt to obtain photographs that will represent the most typ- 

 ical appearance of these features. It must be remembered, how- 

 ever, that no two trees are absolutely alike l)ut that they vary 

 more or less as shown on page 184: in response to difference in ex- 

 ternal conditions as, for example, age, soil, light (figs. 18 and 19 p. 

 39), and locality as well as to innate differences in the individual 

 trees themselves. Considerations of space forbid usually the illus- 

 tration of more than a single type and this in general, in connec- 

 tion with the descriptive text, will suffice. It is hoped, however, 

 that the present volume will stimulate similar illustrative work on 

 other more limited areas or on more limited groups where the re- 

 strictions of space for illustrations need not be so keenly felt. 



When once we have begun to acquire a resonable familiarity with 

 trees, numerous ways in which the study may be advanced will oc- 

 cur to the reader. The possibilities in Forestry and Landscape 



