PREFACE. ix 
the experience of a large number of his country- 
men. The British Islands, though, for their 
size, the most beautiful in the whole world, 
have had the area of their woodlands, in mo- 
dern times, immensely curtailed to make room 
for the progressive industry of a great nation. 
The unwisdom shown in the ruthless process of 
entirely destroying the woods over the areas 
selected for habitation has been referred to else- 
where. It is only mentioned here to furnish a 
reason for the existence, on the part, especially, of 
towns-people, of an enthusiastic love of Nature— 
a feeling inherent in the inhabitants of a country 
naturally beautiful; and intensified by depriva- 
tion—unnatural divorcement from Trees, green 
fields, and wild flowers, and unnatural existence 
in arid deserts of bricks and mortar. 
What this volume chiefly aims to do, is to 
enkindle the love of Nature, which the Author 
is convinced is—at least—latent, as he has said, 
in the hearts of his readers. At the same 
