142 SYLVAN WINTER. 



than any otlier — the aid of illustrations. All have 

 been drawn by Mr. Short from the life, and are 

 really, not mere artistic sketches ' from memory,' 

 but, in a sense, facsimiles. Gilpin rightly judged 

 that in order to have a more accurate idea of the 

 ' nice peculiarities and distinctions ' of trees, it 

 was essential to examine ' their smaller parts 

 with some precision.' But he nevertheless only 

 gave descriptions — -with accompanying illustra- 

 tions from drawings of his own — of the spray of 

 four trees : the Oak, the Ash, the Elm, and the 

 Beech. 



Here we propose to greatly extend the list of 

 subjects to illustrate and describe, but we shall 

 borrow passages as we proceed from the descrip- 

 tions given by the author of ' Forest Scenery ' of 

 the four trees whose spray he described. Gilpin 

 was too keen an observer not to notice how very 

 important this study of spray was, and how much 

 upon it depended the character of the foliage. 



' Winter discovers,' he remarked, ' the nicer 

 parts of the ramification — the little tender spray, 

 on which the hanging of the foliage and the peculiar 

 character of the tree so much depend. The study,' 



