292 
A COMPARISON OF THE 
from the ground. The linden tree when old, and the common 
dog-wood (Cornus florida ), have similar lines of shadows. 
If we classify trees by their surface lights and shadows alone, 
they will divide into three classes, viz: first, 
those whose lights and shadows fall in lines 
approaching the vertical; second, those which 
divide into strata horizontally ) third, those 
which break into irregular masses. The Lom¬ 
bardy poplar will be the type of the former, the 
common beech, Fig. 88, of the second; and the 
white oak of the latter. Most evergreen trees 
belong to the second group. The first class 
comprises a comparatively small number of 
trees, but many which belong to one of the last two groups at 
maturity, are members of the first when young. 
The cedar of Lebanon is the most remarkable of trees in the 
second class. It is the embodiment of majesty 
Fig. 87. in its class, as the oak of the third class. Of our 
native trees, the white pine is the grandest type 
among evergreens east of the Rocky Mountains, 
of trees with stratified shadows, as the beech is 
among deciduous trees. The pin oak is a fa¬ 
miliar example of stratified foliage. Its foliage 
layers are as distinctly marked as those of the 
beech, but its branches droop more ; and are so twiggy, thorny, and 
inter-tangled, that its expression is ruder and its shadows less noble 
than those of the pine or beech. The Nor¬ 
way spruce and the hemlock, though the 
small spray falls with plume-like grace, and 
the branches droop from the trunk, divide 
into masses of light and shadow in nearly 
horizontal lines. All the trees which main¬ 
tain this stratified character of shadows 
have more sameness of outline and monot¬ 
ony of expression than those which break 
into larger and irregular masses. The 
weeping willow, when full grown, with all its delicacy of foliage and 
Fig. 88. 
