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matter, new facts — or facts presented in a new way — are possible. 

 The combinations and permutations here are as great or greater 

 than they are in music or art. Do musicians or artists think that 

 the field of composition has been or ever will be exhausted? Not 

 at all : as long as there are different individuals, i.e., different 

 personalities, there can always be something new. For, is not the 

 book, the musical score, or the painting, in reality the expression 

 of the individual? 



The principal motif adopted by Mrs. Green, out of which she 

 composes her charming symphonies, is the idea of companionship. 

 The trees are our friends. They are our companions through life, 

 and hence their peculiarities, likes and dislikes, their appearances 

 at different seasons of the year, should mean something to us. 

 Thus Mrs. Green (who is, in reality, a poet equipped with the 

 requisite scientific knowledge) charmingly writes : "The dogwood 

 is the 'loveliest lady of the wood,' lifting delicate tracery of bare 

 branches tipped with silvery pearls that hold the promise of next 

 spring's white bloom. The American elm is a stately matron with 

 graceful, inviting curves and noble dignity. The beeches are the 

 Quaker ladies of the forest, wearing sedately their smooth gray 

 bark wrapped tightly about them. The sycamore is the white- 

 haired dowager among trees, still vain enough to lean over wood- 

 land pools and admire her mottled reflection in the cool water 

 beneath." 



There are some who will fling gibes at all this. But why? Are 

 there not other things in this world of ours beside cold, hard facts? 

 One of the wisest men the world has ever known once said, 

 ^'Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it."" 



One must not get the idea from this that the book doesn't have 

 the "cold, hard facts." It does, but they are treated in such a way 

 that they don't seem cold and hard. Part 1 is devoted to the tree 

 considered in a general way — its parts, its flowers, fruits, seeds 

 and economic importance. Part 2 considers the different tree 

 species by families : thus, the Willow Family, the Sweet Gale 

 Family, the Walnut Family, the Beech Family, etc. The distin- 

 guishing characters of each species are clearly explained and 

 graphically illustrated. 



2 Confucius (551-478 B.C.) Analects. 



