INTRODUCTION. 



The Author's object in preparing these little 

 Volumes, is to furnish the lover of Nature with 

 such information respecting the trees which are 

 either natives of Great Britain, or naturalized 

 in it, as will tend to impart additional interest 

 to his wanderings in the country. The reader, 

 therefore, must not expect to find the announce- 

 ment of any botanical discovery, any suggestions 

 of new methods of planting, or recommendations 

 for the improvement of timber. If he desires 

 information on these points, he is referred to the 

 numerous excellent works abeady in existence 

 which treat on these subjects. But if he be 

 merely desirous of exploring the wonders of Na- 

 ture as they are displayed in the more stately vege- 

 table productions of his native country, it is 

 hoped that he will find in the following pages, 

 not, indeed, enough to satisfy his curiosity, but to 

 stimulate him to fresh research. The Author 

 assures him that even his own slender amount of 

 scientific attainments can crowd the hedges and 

 by-ways with countless miracles, which for the 

 untrained eye have no being. 



Scarcely any country in Europe is so favour- 

 able to the general study of the trees of tem- 

 perate climates as England ; for, without going 

 so far as to assert that the number of native and 



