SPRAY AND POLIAGB. 149 



and strength of the Oak enable it to stretch 

 out its branches horizontally to the very last 

 twig. I have seen an Oak with pendent branches, 

 but it is not common. 



The spray of the Beech observes the same kind 

 of alternacy as that of the Elm ; but it shoots in 

 angles still more acute, the distance between 

 each twig is wider, and it forms a kind of zigzag 

 course. 



We esteem the Beech, also, in some degree a 

 pendent tree as well as the Ash ; but there is a 

 wide difference between them. The Ash is a 

 light, airy tree, and its spray hangs in elegant, 

 loose foliage; but the hanging- spray of the 

 Beech, in old trees especially, is often twisted 

 and intermingled disagreeably, and has a per- 

 plexed, matted appearance. The whole tree gives 

 US something of the idea of an entangled head 

 of bushy hair, from which, here and there, hangs 

 a disorderly lock ; while the spray of the Ash, 

 like hair neither neglected nor finically nice, has 

 nothing squalid in it, and yet hangs in loose and 

 easy curls. 



The spray of trees puts on different appear- 



