PREFACE. 



Trees are universal favourites. Their exhilarating 

 verdure in spring, their grateful shade in summer, 

 their gay variety in autumn, and even thS delicate 

 tracery of their branching when exposed, leafless, in 

 winter, endear them not only to the artist and the 

 poet, but to us all. Their many associations have 

 interests that appeal to the historian and the moralist, 

 to the student of literature and of folk-lore, but little 

 less than to those interested in botany. As Kobert 

 Boyle wisely saidj " Naught can be beneath the notice 

 of man that it was not beneath the dignity of the Deity 

 to create " ; so that if we have a real admiration for 

 trees we shall not grudge the pains needful at least to 

 recognise their differing kinds. The time has gone 

 by when we could be content to stand agape at the 

 wonders and beauties of the world of Nature : we 

 require now some attempt, at^ least, at an analysis of 

 the origin, purpose and significance of the objects of 

 our admiration. Knowledge, and not ignorance, is 

 the true parent of wonder. 



