402 Directions for dra'aing Tj'ees and 



his knowledge of these details; lest, instead of making a picture 

 of the tree as it is in nature, he should portray only his own 

 ideas of how a tree ought to be drawn. We repeat, that he 

 cannot too closely copy nature, and this without reference to any 

 rules; calling to his assistance his technical knowledge of the 

 leaves, of the touch, and of the character of tufting, only where 

 he feels the want of it, to assist him where the appearance of 

 nature may be of doubtful expression. In this way a man writes 

 on any subject, without continually thinking of grammar or 

 syntax; but when he comes to read over what he has written, 

 and finds some part of it obscure, or of doubtful construction, 

 he is obliged to have recourse to his grammatical knowledge. 



It may be remarked here, that the touch of young trees is in 

 no case so powerfully marked and characteristic in nature as 

 that of old trees, for reasons familiar to every gardener, and 

 which it may be well to notice here for the sake of artists. We 

 have already said that the touch is formed by the clustering of 

 the leaves at the extremities of the shoots. Now, as the terminat- 

 ing shoots of all young trees are chiefly or entirely of one year's 

 growth, they, of course, are long, and terminate in a very few 

 leaves, placed alternately, or otherwise, round the shoot, or 

 axis, and at some distance, often an inch or more, from eiich 

 other. Such leaves can never form those striking clusters which 

 are so conspicuous in most old trees ; particularly in the oak, 

 the starry touch of which is well known to every artist. The 

 terminating shoots of old trees are generally shoots which grow 

 only an inch or two, or, perhaps, not so much, every year; and, 

 consequently, according to the manner in which trees grow, 

 what is only a single leaf in the young tree of ten years' growth, 

 is, in the spray or terminal branches of the old tree, a spur of 

 several years' growth ; that is, it is a spur or shoot of half an inch 

 or more in length, protruding from the other shoot, and ter- 

 minating in a cluster of leaves, perhaps half a dozen or a 

 dozen, all radiating from the same very short axis. These 

 radiating leaves form the touch. Any one may prove this by 

 comparing a young oak tree with an old one. Notwithstanding 

 the great difference between the touch of an old tree and a young 

 tree of the same species, there is a certain distinctive character 

 of touch even in young trees, and much more so in some species 

 than in others; a horsechestnut, for instance, whether young or 

 old, has a very distinct character of touch from the large size 

 and marked form of its leaves : so have all other trees having large 

 leaves, and most of those having compound leaves, such as the 

 robinias, ashes, elders, &c. 



It may not be irrelevant to observe that there is as great a 

 difference betw^een the character of the ramification of an old 

 tree and that of a young one, as there is between the character 

 of their touch. There is a certain degree of sameness in the 



