TKEH FOHMS. 31 



Strictly speaking, perhaps, tlie whole of the 

 stem of a tree is its bole. Yet ordinarily the 

 thick, stout, and lowermost part of the stem 

 is commonly understood when the expression 

 ' bole ' is used. Sometimes, the stem of the 

 Birch is very upright, but, as often, it is some- 

 what bent out of the perpendicular, and thus 

 acquires what Gilpin calls a more ' picturesque ' 

 aspect. The branches, symmetrically disposed 

 around it, are long, light in form, slender, and as 

 finely and regularly graded as the trunk itself. 

 From the branches the spray, upon the same 

 principle, is symmetrically and elegantly graded, 

 but in spite of the length and fine gradation of 

 the ultimate branchlets, they share, with the 

 whole, a certain irregularity or waviness which 

 pleases the eye. It is the delicate lightness of 

 the branches and spray, and their susceptibility 

 to the slightest motion of the wind, that give to 

 the Birch its especial grace and beauty when 

 seen in its wintry form. 



A very graceful tree is the Lime. Its rich, 

 dark-brown bark hardly loses its peculiar and 

 elegant smoothness until the tree has reached a 



