FOREST TREES 
metrical. Nevertheless I have found 
it described as a tree of “ great refine- 
ment of expression” at that age. As 
soon as it begins to put on a richer 
crown of foliage and to develop a stur- 
dier stem and more elegant lines in the 
disposition of its branches, it becomes 
invested with its peculiar aspect of 
magnificence, increasing in graceful- 
ness and grandeur from year to year. 
Its bark, at first smooth and gray, grad- 
ually becomes chiseled with sharp small 
cuts; then takes on a corrugated ap- 
pearance, becomes brown, and finally 
turns into deeply furrowed ridges in 
the old tree. Now the foliage, too, 
seems to clothe the massive boughs 
more fitly, being denser and in size of 
leaves more in accordance with the 
increased dimensions of the tree. 
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