48 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
they are formed. Such plants, from the cir- 
cumstance that they disappear from sight and 
generally from mind during the dead season ot 
winter, are chiefly valued for their beauty or fra- 
grance during spring, summer, or autumn. With 
the departure of their delicate tints and gorgeous 
colours, of their vernal freshness and sweet per- 
fumes, they pass from the memory. But Trees are 
ever with us. When the budding beauty of spring, 
the full glory of summer, and the mellow charm of 
autumnal colouring have all departed, the Tree 
forms remain, and we can enjoy and admire 
the noble breadth of their trunks, the beautiful 
proportions of their limbs, and the delicate tracery 
of their filmy branches, bare, it is true, of their 
charming tresses of glorious leaves, but full of a 
grace and beauty which appeal powerfully not 
merely to the eye of the artist but to the soul of 
the lover of Nature. 
An elaborate description of the chemical pro- 
perties of plants would alone require the space 
of a bulky volume—a considerable portion of 
which would be occupied by discussions concern- 
ing the yet unexplained mysteries of plant life 
