CHAPTER IV 



A STUDY OF WINTER BRANCHES 



TN the markets of Quebec and of Montreal, 

 -*- French Canadian farm folk sell baskets made 

 of interwoven twigs, still wrapped in their own 

 bark. Seeing these pretty baskets, we notice, 

 perhaps for the first time, how much beauty there 

 is in the colors of leafless branches. In the woven 

 strands there are many hues — brown, olive, 

 yellow, dull purple, dark leaf-green, and old rose. 

 When we look at leafless woodlands, all these 

 colors blend into a soft purplish gray. But if we 

 walk through winter fields|_wlth open eyes, we will 

 notice all manner of pretty tints in the bark of 

 bare branches. 



Low-growing willow clumps, seen against the 

 snow, are tawny gold. Blackberry tangles are 

 purple. Beech trunks are of a beautiful silver 

 gray. Many of the canoe birches look as if they 

 wore a white, semi-transparent robe over an 

 under-dress of bright orange or deep pink. 

 Under the tall trees, the moosewood maple and 

 the sassafras may show their bright-green stems. 



There are many charming colors, too, in the 



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