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mE

SYLVAN WINTER

WORKS BY FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH.

“Everybody knows Mr. Heath’s fascinating books,” —Pull Mall Gazette,
FERNS. ,

1, THE FERN PORTFOLIO. Imperial Quarto. 3rd Edition ... vee ws
Illustrated by 15 Plates elaborately drawn life-size, coloured from nature,
and accompanied by descriptive text, representing all the species of British
Ferns, which themselves comprise a large proportion of the ferns of America
and of many other parts of the world. ... This work stands alone, for
it is the only one ever produced giving absolute fucsimiles in form, size, colour,
and vevation of the fronds of ferns.

“The plates are wonderful.”’—The Author of “ Lorna Doone.”

“ We need hardly praise ‘The Fern Portfolio,’ seeiug that it is one of the
productions of Mr. Heath... . The volume will be of great interest and
value.”’—Times.

“So admirably are the figures drawn and coloured as to be, for all practical
purposes of comparison, equivalent to the plants which they copy with such
minute fidelity.”’— Knowledge.

2, WHERE TO FIND FERNS. [Illustrated by Fern Plates and Pictures of
Fern Habitats, &c. With a special chapter on the Ferns round London ane

“Wonderfully cheap at Hiyhteenpence.’’— Bookseller.

3. THE FERN PARADISE. Illustrated by Fern Plates and other En-
gravings, gilt edges. 7th Edition. wa see 335 vee whe

** All lovers of ferns will be delighted.”—Saturday Review,

4, THE FERN WORLD. Illustrated by Fern Plates and other Engravings,
gilt edges. 7th Edition on a ave eo aie. eee aes su

“ Good, well-written descriptions of our native ferns.”’—Atheng@um.

FLOWERS.

6. SYLVAN SPRING. With Coloured and Wood Illustrations, gilt edges...
Pa suffuses his picture with the charm of painting.”—British Quarterly

view. p

FOREST SCENERY.

6. HEATH’S GILPIN’S FOREST SCENERY. Embellished by finely executed
Engravings. Cheaper Edition de nee ae aaa a ape ose

“Mr. Francis George Heath is an able and accomplished editor.””—Standard,

GARDENS.

7, MY GARDEN WILD. AND WHAT I GREW THERE aes ab ea

“A more exquisite picture of the felicity of horticulture has seldom been
drawn for us... . filled in with all Mr. Heath’s richness of colouring and
powers of description. . . .”—Grant ALLEN, in Academy.

LEAVES. 7

8. AUTUMNAL LEAVES. Profusely Illustrated by Coloured and Wood
Illustrations. 3rd Edition ... aa an 58 on ae

“Tn every way attractive.”’—Suturday Review.

*Charmingly illustrated. .. . Will delight many eyes.’’—Spectator.

PHASANT LIFE.

9, PEASANT LIFE IN THE WEST OF ENGLAND. 5th Edition

“‘A singularly pleasant book to read.”— Queen,

“His great art is description.””—Tablet.

we

TREES, &c.
10. OUR WOODLAND TREES. Illustrated by Coloured Plates and Wood
Engravings, gilsedges. 3rd Edition... . se

‘A work inspired by a genuine and wholesome love of nature.*>—Times,
**To dip into its pages is like taking a trip to Arcadia.”’— World.

11. BURNHAM BEECHES. Illustrated by Engravings and Map, Paper

boards, 1s, Holiday cloth Edition, with Author’s portrait ... sta sae one

“Writing with even more than his usual brilliancy, Mr. Heath here gives

the public an interesting monograph of the splendid old trees.”’— Globe.
*«The charm of style and perfection of illustration.’’—Record.

12, TREES AND FERNS. Illustrated by beautifully executed Engravings,
giltedges. 2nd Edition ... ae wai Ye as
“* A charming little volume.” —Land and Water.

13. TREE GOSSIP. Typographically ornamented, elegantly bound ... on

“‘A series of interesting notes. ... Mr. Heath isa pleasant writer whose

capacity to treat upon such topics as are here dealt with hus already been
proved.”—TZimes.

12

SYLVAN WINTER.

Frontispiece.

SYLVAN WINTER.

FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH,

EDITOR OF THE NEW EDITION OF GILPIN’S ‘FOREST SCENERY ;”

AUTHOR OF

‘AUTUMNAL LEAVES,’ ‘SYLVAN SPRING,’ ‘OUR WOODLAND TREES,’ ‘ THE FERN WORLD,’
‘ HE FERN PORTFOLIO,’ ‘THE FERN PARADISE,’ ‘WHERE TO FIND FERNS,’
‘MY GARDEN WILD,’ ‘TREES AND FERNS,’ ‘BURNHAM BEECHES,’
‘TREE GOSSIP,’ ‘THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY,’
“PEASANT LIFE,’ ETC., ETC.

WITH SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS
BY FREDERICK GOLDEN SHOR7,

ENGRAVED BY $AMES D. COOPER.

Lonpoy:
KEGAN PAUL TRENCH, & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE.
1886, ..

[The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved. |

PREFACE.

AM not surprised that
the ancients worship-
ped trees. Lakes and
mountains, however

glorious for a time, in
time weary—sylvan
scenery never palls.’
So-ran, at its conclu-
sion, a remarkable and
interesting letter, which
the late Lord Beaconsfield, in December, 1880,
a few months only before his death, wrote to the
Author of this volume. In the same letter the
distinguished statesman and littérateuwr, turning
from the subject with which he had prefaced
his communication, remarked: ‘ With regard to
trees, I passed part of my youth in the shade of

vi PREFACE.

Burnham Beeches, and have now the happiness
of living amid my own “ green retreats.” ’ To the
writer’s mind, therefore, for the moment, it was
the especial verdancy of spring and summer
which suggested the picture of ‘ sylvan scenery ;’
and sylvan scenery, to the popular mind, is an
expression which mostly implies the leafiness of
the seasons that precede the fall. Yet the ancient
worship of trees must rather have been suggested
by the stern wintry aspect of the monarchs of
the woods, than by the softer appearance of their
summer clothing—for the strength and power
and grandeur, if the idea may be allowed, of
the tree-form would be more conspicuous when
divested of foliage. Similarly the grandeur and
solemnity of the forest would more powerfully
affect the feelings when the great trunks and
huge limbs of the sylvan giants stood out-clearly
defined against the wintry sky. The ‘sacred
hunt’ for the venerated Mistletoe was a winter
rite—for that curious parasitic evergreen could not
have been discovered amongst the summer mass
of green leaves; and the ‘sacred fire’ of the
Druids, communicated from the burning Yule-log,

PREFACE. vil

gleamed amidst the sylvan scenery of the cold
season.

That Winter is a period of interest and beauty
cannot be denied by the student of the woods and
fields, though the popular mind regards, perhaps,
with little favour the ungenial characteristics of
this season.

To point out, however, the especial charm
of out-of-door Winter is the aim of the writer
of this volume; and in promoting this ob-
ject, he believes he is calling attention to a
neglected subject. “In his ‘Sylvan Spring’ he
sought to portray, by pen and pencil, the aspect
of the vernal season; in ‘ Autumnal Leaves,’ the
especial charm. of the season of the fall; and now
he hopes he may secure some measure of success
in a description of the particular beauty of
‘Sylvan Winter.’ ;

THE ILLUSTRATIONS.

ICTURES are so common
a feature, in the present

day, of every book on
‘ every subject, that
pp pitiell. Se especial reference to the
ae part they play in the
discussion of subjects
seems scarcely to be
necessary. The illus-
tration should, of course,
speak for itself; and whilst it is hoped that those
in this volume will not fail in this essential quali-
fication, some explanation of the particular object
of their introduction must be given.

In introducing for the first time (in ‘ Autumnal
Leaves’) Mr. Frederick Golden Short’s work to
the public, the present writer remarked that the
Artist, living amidst the most beautiful woodland
scenery in this country, had learnt his art from
the great book of Nature, and he predicted, from

THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 1x

an intimate knowledge of the scenes which Mr.
Short had depicted, that those who were equally
familiar with these scenes would recognize in
this young artist’s pictures ‘a touch which no
mere art-training could give.’ The verdict of
the press confirmed this estimate, one journal
remarking that Mr. Short’s graceful sketches were
‘instinct with a true feeling for Nature, and full
of delicate appreciativeness for quiet English
country life.’ Of his work for this volume the
verdict will not—the Author is convinced, if he
may venture to speak for his coadjutor—be less
favourable, though the aspect of Nature dealt with
is so different. The essential function of art in
drawing is not to improve Nature—as some
artists, with rare conceit, imagine—but to copy
her. Fidelity to the original is, therefore, the
best and surest test of artistic ability. To this
test the Author begs to submit the work of one
who cannot speak for himself.

The initial-letter designs have been made to
harmonize with the general purpose of this work,
and to exhibit scenery of different kinds, under
its wintry aspect, an aspect which, it is desired,

z THE ILLUSTRATIONS.

should be natural and not stiff or conventional
—true, that is to say, to life. Here the scenes
selected by the Artist are sometimes wild, and
sometimes instinct with what may be called a
‘feeling’ of domesticity. Yet there is no formal
intention to give especial meaning to these little
‘pits’ of scenery. They are intended to be typi-
cal, in a general way, and that is all.

In the case of the larger drawings, however,
there is a more set and immediate purpose to
subserve, for the accomplishment of which the
Author has sought the particular and painstaking
co-operation of the Artist. This purpose is essen-
tially preceptive, the design being not to intro-
duce pretty scenery, generally representative of
Winter, but to introduce—each in its own familiar
and characteristic landscape—the wintry forms
of prominent and well-known trees. The forms
mostly selected are those of deciduous trees,
because, of course, it is these which exhibit such
marked differences of aspect in summer and in
Winter ; but some evergreen forms—such as the
Cedar, the Stone Pine, and the Scotch Fir—are
also represented, just as types oftheir class. The

THY ILLUSTRATIONS. xi

deciduous forms include the Oak, the Ash, the
Beech, the Elm, the Birch, the Hornbeam, the
Willow, the Poplar, the Chestnut, the Horse Chest-
nut, the Plane, the Wild Cherry, the Apple, and
the Pear, and each has been drawn from the life.

A yet more especial and novel feature of the
volume will be found in the twig drawings.
From the general wintry form of the tree, as
shown in the landscape drawings, we descend to
the parts, in order to give, in more minute detail,
the salient characteristics of the ramification.
The drawings of twigs comprise the Oak, Beech,
Elm, Ash, Birch, Lime, Chestnut, Sycamore,
Willow, Alder, Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Hazel,
Maple, Hornbeam, Larch, Horse Chestnut, Plane,
Poplar, Mountain Ash, Apple, Cedar, Yew, and
Scotch Fir. These, it will probably be admitted,
are sufficiently wide and representative, and, in
conjunction with the other special drawings and
studies, will, it is hoped, not merely please, but
instruct the yeader and the student.

It may be accepted as sufficient evidence of
the quality of the engravings to mention that
the work has been done by Mr. Cooper.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

=
oe
3S
5

p>

DPONOAZR HANH Rae RDO}

INITIAL-LETTER DRAWINGS.

Copse . 3 3 F
Stream and Rustic Bridge
Lodge and Wood .

Stream through Copse .
Church seen through Trees

River winding through Hills .
Brawling Stream and Wood .

Owl near Wood
Old Mill
Fallen Tree .
Snow down

A Wintry Road

Moorland Stream and Bridge

Flooded Meadows .
Country Cottages .
Winiry Field-Paths
River-side Houses

Open Forest after Floods

Letter

NHM SSG w

Alder

Ash

Beech
Birch
Blackthorn
Cedar
Chestnut
Crab Apple
Elm.
Hawthorn
Hazel
Hornbeam

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

River and Bridge .
A boulder Stream .

Forest Fence

. Spire amidst Trees
Water through Trees
Open Forest by Day
Forester’s Dwelling

Open Forest at Night

TWIG DRAWINGS.

PAGE

177
. 150
. 147
. 154
. 182
. 185
. 170
. 174
. 153
. 172
. 176
. 158

Horse Chestnut
Larch

Lime

Maple .
Mountain Ash
Oak

Plane

Poplar .
Scotch Fir.
Sycamore
Willow .

Yew

PAGE

. 171
. 162
. 156
. 159

179

. 144
. 163
. 166
. 184
. 160
. 168
. 183

xiv ; LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FULL PAGE LANDSCAPE DRAWINGS.

PAGE

Sylvan Winter ; : ‘ : ; Frontispiece
Park Glade, showing Acacia . : : . facing 176
Forest Road, showing Ash and Birch : $9 64
Flooded Stream (Evening), showing Beeches . 3 48
Pastoral Scene, showing Chestnut . *5 192
Park Glade, showing Elm ; ‘ P ‘ i 80
Forest Pool, showing Hornbeam . 5 96
Lake and Mountains, showing Larch and State Pine ,, 240
Home through the Forest, showing Field Maple and

Wild Cherry . ; ; 4 112
Winding Stream, showing ia Oak. ee 53 32
Home through the Forest, showing Oak . : * 16
Frosty Morning, showing Plane, Elms, and Lom-

bardy Poplar . ‘ : Z 55 128
By the River, showing Abele Pople ‘ 3 160
In the Park, showing Black and Lombardy Poplars _,, 144
In the Forest, showing Scotch Fir and Yew ‘ 224
Underwood, showing Thorn and Ivy 53 208

SMALLER LANDSCAPES.

Cedar on the Uplands (Sun setting) ; ‘ ‘ . 70
Park Glade, showing Horse Chestnut . : ‘ . 59
Farm Enclosure, showing Pear F : : : . 62
Apple Orchard (misty Moonlight) . : 62

By the Lake-side, showing Lombardy Poplar ha Willow . 52

CONTENTS.

PART I.

SYLVAN WINTER.

CHAPTER
I. Wintry OvutiooKxs

II. Leartzess Woops
II. Trez Forms

IV. Evererren Beauty

V. Snow . :

VI. Snow-coverep Forzst
VIT. A Syowy Lanpscare .
VIII. Hoar-Frost

IX. Snow-FLoweErs anpD Icz-CrysTats

X. THawine

XI. Mist, Rary, anp Harn
XII. Winter Moonticat

XIII. Cotovur
XIV. Lire, Movement, Foros

xvi CONTENTS.

PART II.

WINTER WOOD LORE.

CHAPTER
I. Spray .

II. Uszs or Woop

TIT. Prant-SLEEp

IV. Dormant Seeps .

V. Acres or TREES

VI. Fossm Forests .
VIL. Tree-Foop .
VIII. Buvs, Bark, anp Pitre
TX. Sytvan Grants .

X. Sytvan NoMENCLATURE

InpDEx .

PART I.

SYLVAN WINTER.

SYLVAN WINTER

L
WINTRY OUTLOOKS.

INTER, as it is . pre-
sented to the mind in
its ideal form, is coms.
monly associated with
thoughts of cold and
frost; of cutting wind:
and chilling .rain; ‘of
snow - covered | fields
and ice-bound streams
and lakes; of barren-

ness, bleakness, and cheerlessness. When Shake-

speare refers to ‘The Winter of our discontent’
B 2

a) Oe

4 SYLVAN WINTER,

an idea of the dead season is conveyed in a manner
which suggests the simpler notion of desolation
in its abstract form. Barnard admirably conveys
the general idea in the lines :—

‘The dead leaves strew the forest-walk,
‘ And wither’d are the pale wild flowers ;
“The frost hangs blackening on the stalk,
The dew-drops fall in frozen showers ;
Gone are the spring’s green sprouting bowers,
Gone, summer’s rich and mantling vines ;
And autumn, with her yellow hours,
On hill and plain no longer shines.’

To those who view Nature from a distant
outlook, and regard her with cold and unsympa-
thetic eyes, Winter is doubtless presented under
an aspect like that of a desert, or of a barren
moorland ‘held under the chill grip of all-per-
vading cold—a region given up to lifelessness .
and gloom.

Thomson, in his ‘ Winter,’ expresses the same
idea when he says :~

‘Dread Winter spreads his latest glcoms,
‘And reigns tremendous o’er the conquer’d year.
How dread the vegetable kingdom lies :

How dumb the tuneful: Horror wide extends
His desolate domain.’

WINTRY OUTLOOKS. Bs)

Yet in the same poem he conveys the idea of
Winter as presented to the intellectual mind :—

‘ All Nature feels the renovating force,
Of Winter, only to the thoughtless eye
In ruin seen. The frost-contracted glebe
Draws in abundant vegetable soul,
And gathers vigour for the coming year,
A stronger glow sits on the lively cheek
Of ruddy fire; and luculent along
The purer rivers flow: their sullen deeps,
Transparent, open to the shepherd’s gaze
And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost.’

But even here it is the physical benefits con-
ferred by Winter, and not its scenic beauty, that
stress is laid upon: and our poets have mostly
waxed eloquent upon the ‘dread’ and ‘chill’
aspect of the dead season. Cowper paints a
terrible picture, yet fringes it with silver in
the last two of the following lines :-——

‘Oh, Winter! ruler of the inverted year,
Thy scatter’d hair with sleet-like ashes fll’d,
Thy breath congeal’d upon thy lips, thy cheeks
Fringed with a beard made white with other snows
Than those of age; thy forehead wrapp’d in clouds,

A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne
A sliding car indebted to no wheels,

6 SYLVAN WINTER.

But urged by storms along its slippery way ;
_ [love thee, all unlovely as thou seem’st,
' And dreaded as thou art.’

‘ All unlovely as thou seem’st’ again pictures
the popular idea, though ‘I love thee’ implies
the discernment of beauty unsuspected by the
careless passer-by. Yet the expression ‘A
leafless branch thy sceptre’ implies a severity
of opinion intended to strip the subject of any
idea of interest or beauty. To the ‘leafless
branch,” however, we shall look, in the succeeding
pages, for-a large store of the symmetry and
beauty which go to furnish the external aspect
of Sylvan Winter.

George Crabbe gives expression to the ideas
so largely prevalent amongst our poets when he
says :— .

‘When Winter stern his gloomy front uprears,
A sable void the barren earth appears ;

The meads no more their former verdure boast,
Fast bound their etreams and all their beauty lost.’

Here truth is clearly subordinated to poetical
effect. Rhymsters are far too frequently the
slaves of their rhymes. The same writer paints

WINTRY OUTLOOKS. 7

almost as black a picture as that drawn by
Thomson in the lines already quoted from his
‘Winter.’ It is in his ‘Inebriety’ that Crabbe’s
lines oecur, in which he gives the following
terrible view, and the verse succeeds the one
just given :—_

‘From snow-topp’d hills the whirlwinds keenly blow,

Howl through the woods and pierce the vale’ below,

Through the sharp air a flaky torrent flies,
Mocks the slow sight and hides the gloomy skies.’

Ably descriptive as are all these verses of the
harsher aspects of Winter, they seem to the
present writer to err only in so far as they give
a general character to particular features; but
this error is widely made by poets who con-
ceive that Winter is all black and dismal, that
it has no brighter side, and that if there be
brighter intervals they are ‘ unseasonable.’ The
popular though erroneous notion of a forest is
that of land covered uninterruptedly with trees.
Forest, in fact, is country of a mixed kind, and
may include woods, heaths, moors, mountains,
and streams. So Winter is a season of a mixed
character, and may include different kinds of

8 SYLVAN WINTER.

weather, mostly cold but not always or necessarily
so, and by no means given up to the uninter-
rupted reign of frost and snow. It would be
contrary to the purposes of Nature were all the
world held under the icy grip of cold during
the whole of the wintry season. The genial
intervals which unthinking people are in the
habit of calling ‘unseasonable,’ are a quite
necessary part of the wise economy of things,
during what to the vegetable and to the bird and
insect world is mostly a season of rest. Nature
could no more endure the constant presence of
severe cold during what are called the winter
months than it could the steadfast prevalence of
scorching sun in the summer. How often has
the clouding of the sky and the cooling of the
wind in the last-mentioned season been welcomed
as a wise and necessary relief from the solar
glare! and how often, on the beneficent prin-
‘ciple under which the coldness of the wind is
tempered to the shorn lamb, is the coldness of
what is called but is only partly—in truth—the
‘dead season,’ tempered to meet the varying re-
quirements of animated creation! Yet the sea-

WINTRY OUTLOOKS. 9

son is not changed by the changes of temperature
and aspect. Now and then there is what seems
a violent change in character. Frost and snow
will sometimes reign uninterruptedly for many
weeks with exceptional severity, and at other
times the character of the weather, during nearly
the whole of the season, is more autumnal than
winterly. But it may be said that it is not
the particular season but the cycle of seasons
which makes up Winter in its proper accep-
tation.

Wintry outlooks, therefore, in the view we here
adopt, do not mean only scenes of frost and snow
and of bleakness and barrenness, of misty air
and leaden skies. They mean also blue skies and
sunny air; scenes of beauty in the graceful leaf-
less forms—spreading over the landscapes—of
deciduous trees; and the brightness and sparkle
of the evergreen loveliness which boon Nature
displays in many a nook and angle to maintain
perpetual verdure for the comfort and happiness

of mankind.

I,
LEAFLESS WOODS.

LEAFY forest, Gilpin
remarks, in his ‘ For-
est Scenery,’ * is not
solely the object of in-
cidental beauty. ‘ The
picturesque eye,’ he
quaintly adds, ‘finds
great amusement even

in its wintry scenes,
when it has thrown its
rich mantle aside, and appears, to the common
eye, naked and deformed.’ This last expression
—‘naked and deformed ’—happily conveys the
popular idea of the forest in Winter. Bare

* * Heath’s Gilpin’s Forest Scenery,’ page 348. The subse-
quent references to ‘ Forest Scenery’ are also to the present
writer's edition.

LEAFLESS WOODS. 11

ground strewn with dead leaves, and the naked
forms of trees, are all that the unobservant
pedestrian sees in his walks through wintry
woods. Except in search of sport, and, then, gun
in hand, he does not attempt to walk through
when the ground is covered with snow, and frost
holds the air. When the air is crisp and the
ground is dry he will often do so, but in search
of exercise and not of beauty. Yet the careful
study of winter woodlands is delightful. Gilpin,
in continuing the remarks just quoted, provides
some pleasant suggestions for the early riser on a
winter day. ‘The: hazy sunshine of a frosty
morning, he says, ‘is accompanied by an indis-
tinctness peculiar to itself. The common hazi-
ness of a summer day spreads over the land-
‘scape one general grey tint; and, as we have had
occasion to remark in different circumstances, is
often the source of great beauty. But the effect
we are here observing is of adifferentkind. Itis
generally more partial—more rich—and, mixing
with streaks of different coloured clouds, which
often form behind it, produces a very pleasing
effect. The case is, the sun is lower in the

12 SYLVAN WINTER.

horizon and produces an effect which a meridian
sun cannot do.’ But it is not merely the gencral
effect of the play of sunshine—through clouds—
upon the forest as a whole that is noticeable ; for
the peculiarities of individual trees add largely to
the beauty of the scene. Gilpin does not say
very much upon the wintry aspect: of the forest,
but what he does say is well worth quoting.
‘Great beauty also,’ he remarks, ‘ arises in
Winter, from the different tints of the spray.
The dark-brown spray of the Birch for instance
has a good effect, among that of a lighter tinge ;
and, when the forest is deep, all this little
bushiness of ramification has, in some degree, the
effect of foliage.’ He adds, ‘The boles of trees
likewise, and all their larger limbs, add, at this
season, a rich variety and contrast to the forest ;
the smooth and the rough, the light and the dark,
often beautifully opposing each other. In Winter
the stem predominates, as the leaf in summer. It
is amusing in one season to see the branches
losing and discovering themselves among the
foliage; and it is amusing also, in the other, to
walk through the desolate forest, and see the

LEAFLESS WOODS. 13

various combinations of stems—the traversing of
branches across each other in so many beautiful
directions—and the pains which Nature takes in
forming a wood as well as a single tree. She
leaves no part unclosed; but pushing in the
branch or the spray as the opening allows, she
fills all vacant space and brings the heads of trees,
which grow near each other, into contact; while
every step we take presents us with some beauti-
ful variety in her mode of forming the fretted
roof under which we walk.’

Very beautiful, in its suggestiveness, is this
language of the delightful writer on ‘Forest
Scenery.’ ‘The pains which Nature takes in
forming a wood as well as a single tree’—the
italics are Gilpin’s. Those who notice such
things at all must often have remarked when
planting any little spot in a garden or park how
quickly Nature—kind Nature in this as in every-
thing—undoes the clumsy work of the planter.
Be he ever so deft in arranging the positions of
the plants he wishes to grow and the relations of
these to each other, he cannot—it is impossible—
however artistic and tasteful may be his method,

14 SYLVAN WINTER.

put them just as Nature would have them, and
as he—the planter—admits when, sometimes after
a few days, sometimes after a few weeks, and
sometimes it may be after months and years, he
looks at them arranged as Nature wills. Whether
the place planted be a little rockery of small
herbaceous plants, a garden bed, a whole garden,
or a park or wood, the eye at once detects the
hand of the planter. Branches and leaves appear
to be all awry. But Nature quickly steps in and
with exquisite grace and symmetry arranges the
whole. ‘She leaves no part unclosed.’ Here
is the secret. The expression ‘ Nature abhors
a vacuum’ has often been used. Her office is
to leave nothing unutilized; and in the woods
she is constantly seeking, as elsewhere, to fill
every space; yet in such a way as to cause no
confusion and little jostling. The season of
growth is, of course, the period. when these
symmetrical and beautiful arrangements are made.
The vigorous shoot that is to.form the limb, the
ramifications of those that are to form the
branches and twigs, all co-operate to make up the
perfect whole.

LEAFLESS WOODS. 15

Spring and summer, as we _ have said,
manufacture; but it is Winter that discloses
the work, in the deciduous forest. Then, and then
only, can we see the entire effect, because the
garment of leaves has been thrust aside and
Nature holds her exhibition—tree to all—of form ;
and its finest effect is seen in the forest which
has been untouched by the hand of the pruning
forester.

It is this close and intimate: view—which the
free exhibition of Nature discloses to the interested
and delighted student—that opens up the marvel-
lous variety conspicuous, not only in the forest as
a whole, but in individual trees even of the same
kind. Gilpin says, in his description of- what he
calls the ‘picturesque beauty’ of trees, that
‘though every animal is distinguished from its
fellow by some little variation of colour, character,
or shape, yet in all the larger parts, in the body
and limbs, the resemblance is generally exact. In
trees it is just the reverse; the smaller parts—
the spray, the leaves, the blossom, and the seed—
are the same in all trees of the same kind, while
the larger parts are wholly different. You seldom

16 SYLVAN WINTER,

see two Oaks with an equal number of limbs, the
same kind of head, and twisted in the same form :
and it is from these larger parts that the most
beautiful varieties result.’ *

Conspicuous, of course, amongst the leafless
denizens of the forest is the Oak, and its rugged-
ness and grandeur impress, alike, all who look
upon it with interest. It appears to and does hold
the ground as no other tree does. Its power is
amazing—its enormous tap-root penetrating the
ground and holding it in place so firmly as to
enable it to defy the tempest. From its great
bole—fashioned with such peculiar strength and so
admirably adapted to meet the force of hurricanes.
—spread, in their enormous amplitude, the limbs ;
from these the twisted branches, and from the
branches the contorted spray. Of the especial
stoutness of the ‘ King of the Forest’ Gilpin has
something characteristic to say.. In speaking of
this he remarks: ‘A second characteristic of
the Oak, of which Virgil takes notice, is the
stoutness of its limbs; its fortes ramos. We
know no tree, except perhaps the Cedar of

* ¢ Forest Scenery,’ page 4.

OAR.

LEAFLESS WOODS. 17

Lebanon, so remarkable in this respect. The
limbs of most trees spring from the trunk. In
the Oak they may be rather said to divide
from it; for they generally carry with them a
great share of the substance of the stem. You
often scarcely know which is stem and which is
branch ; and towards the top, the stem is entirely
lost in the branches. This gives particular pro-
priety to the epithet fortes in characterizing the
branches of the Oak; and hence its sinewy
elbows are of such peculiar use in ship-building.
Whoever, therefore, does not mark the fortes
ramos of the Oak, might as well, in painting a
Hercules, omit his muscles. But I speak only
of the hardy veterans of the forest. In the
effeminate nurslings of the grove we have not this
appearance. There, the tree is all stem, drawn up
into height. When we characterize a tree, we
consider it in its natural state, insulated, and
without any lateral pressure. In a forest trees
naturally grow in that manner. The seniors de-
press all the juniors that attempt to rise near them.
But in a planted grove all grow up together ;
and none can exert any power over another.’
0

18 SYLVAN WINTER.

Such special mention the Oak demands in our
dealing with the general wintry aspect of the
forest because it is a dominating figure. We
entirely agree with Gilpin that it is ‘the most
picturesque tree in itself, and the most accommo-
dating in composition.’ He rightly adds that
‘it refuses no subject either in natural or in
artificial landscape. It is suited to the grandest,
and may, with propriety, be introduced into the
most pastoral. It adds new dignity to the ruined
tower and Gothic arch; by stretching its wild,
moss-grown branches athwart their ivied walls it
gives them a kind of majesty coeval with itself.
At the same time its propriety is still preserved
if it throw its arms over the purling brook or
the mantling pool, where it beholds

‘“Tts reverend image in the expanse below.”’

In the leafless woods the grandeur and
robustness of the Oak, so greatly exceeding that
of other trees, serves to establish contrasts which
are all the more striking because the ‘ King of the
Forest’ forms a foil, or background, so to speak,
that establishes a basis cf comparison with the

LEAFLESS WOODS. 19

gracefulness and symmetry of the Beech, the
lightness and elegance of the Ash, the delicate
beauty of the Birch, and the contorted picturesque-
ness of the Hawthorn. Of these all, in turn, and
of many others, we shall speak in the succeeding
chapter. Here we take note only of the forest as
a whole, or of the wood or copse which forms
part of the forest. The individual tree can be
studied by itself in that detail which the interest
of the subject demands; but to get a good and
comprehensive view of the whole so as to fully
appreciate the exceeding beauty of the forms un-
clothed by the mantling foliage of summer, not
only in themselves, but in their relations to others,
it is through leafless woods that the inquirer
must direct his steps.

Il.

TREE FORMS.

EPHYRS that gently
touch the summer
leaves of the forest
give the charm of
movement to the vary-
ing shades of verdure
which spread over the
landscape and impress
the brain, through the
eye, with that sense of
beauty which lends such fascination to summer
foliage. But the still air of a frosty day, when the
atmosphere is freed from fog or mist, provides the
best condition for studying the beautiful forms of
trees.

First, by right of magnificence must come the
tree that reigns in the forest—the noble Oak.

TREE FORMS. O11 °

The saplings of most trees foreshadow the charac-
ters which become pronounced as age creeps
on. The stem of the young Oak is often twisted ;
its bark is grey in colour, and somewhat rough.
Its buds are irregularly placed along the branches,
the spray being rather abundant but stout, and
the buds not large but prominent; the smaller
branches growing from each other at obtuse angles
and, twisting picturesquely, showing thus early,
though remotely, the ruggedness of the mature
tree. These characters are continued and main-
tained during the middle age ofthe Oak, and empha-
sized as it approaches old age and decay. Mr.
Short’s drawing of the Oak, in the landscape en- -
eraving facing page 16, happily conveys the picture
of the tree in its prime. The powerful yet rugged
trunk, the stalwart limbs, the irregular forking—.
now acute, now rectangular—of its branches, the
twisting yet robustness of the spray, are all excel-
lently shown. In the picture, facing page 32, of*a
dead Oak stump,’ the artist has, with equal truth-
fulness, seized the still salient features, strong, so
to speak, in death. How well this drawing exhibits
the grim tenacity of this sylvan giant, which

22 SYLVAN WINTER.

though dead is still firmly rooted to the earth,
showing no weakness or decadence in its aspect,
but seeming to throw up its limbs with defiant
uprightness! Gilpin asks: ‘ What is more beau-
tiful on a rugged foreground than an old tree with
a hollow trunk ? or with a dead arm, a drooping
bough, or a dying branch ?? In Mr. Short’s study
from life of a dead Oak stump, the foreground is
not rugged but soft and beautiful, for it is running
water. It is the tree which is rugged, and which
at once centres upon itself the admiration of the
onlooker.

From the Oak it is natural to come to the
Beech, and, facing page 48, in the engraving repre-
senting Beeches in ‘a flooded stream—evening,’
the most prominent figure in the foreground may
be termed acharacter study. Rugged sometimes,
especially inthe contortions of its roots—charac-
ters strongly represented in the famous Burnham
Beeches—the Beech is most remarkable for the
gracefulness and symmetry of its form. The
divisions of the trunk towards the ground, some-
what like the fingers of a hand, are very peculiar,
but the furrows soon disappear as the trunk goes

TREE FORMS. 23

upwards, and enables the clear, smooth stem to
rise with the beautiful symmetry by which it is
distinguished. It is the smooth, greyish-white
skin of the Beech which has tempted visitors to
the woods to engrave their names upon the bark.
One prominent and striking character of the tree,
besides the smoothness and beauty of its bole and
limbs, is its frequent habit of forming a trunk of
double columns. Oftentimes, quite close to the
ground, the bole divides and carries far up aloft
with graceful vigour and uprightness the two
trunks, both of which, spreading outwards, form,
by their ample ramifications, a head of considerable
width. The Beech has always had a reputation
for beauty; itis a tree, as Gilpin happily described
it, ‘of picturesque fame.’ Yet, strange to say,
the author of ‘ Forest Scenery,’ with an eye so
quick to discern beauty, disliked the Beech, and
made it the subject of some very severe criticism.
He says: ‘In point of picturesque beauty I am
not inclined to rank the Beech much higher than
in point of utility. Its trunk, we allow, is often
highly picturesque. It is studded with bold knobs
and projections, and has, sometimes, a sort of

24 SYLVAN WINTER.

irregular fluting about it, which is very charactcr-
istic. It has another peculiarity also which is
sometimes pleasing—that of a number of stems
arising from the root. The bark, too, often wears
a pleasant hue. It is naturally of a dingy olive;
but it is always overspread, in patches, with a
variety of mosses and lichens, which are commonly
of a lighter tint in the upper parts and of a deep
velvet-green towards the root. Its smoothness,
also, contrasts agreeably with these rougher ap-
pendages. No bark tempts the lover so much
to make it the depository of his mistress’s name.
It conveys a happy emblem—
eS Crescent illee ; crescentis amores.” ’

‘But, having praised the trunk, we can praise
no other part of the skeleton. The branches
are fantastically wreathed and disproportioned,
twining awkwardly among each other, and run-
ning often into long, unvaried lines, without any
of that strength and firmness which we admire
in the Oak, or of that easy simplicity which
pleases in the Ash; in short we rarely see a
Beech well ramified.’ * Gilpin remarks, however,

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 65-6.

TREE FORMS. 95

that ‘contrary to the general nature of trees,
the Beech is most pleasing in its juvenile state,
as it has not yet acquired that heaviness which
is its most faulty distinction. A light, airy
young Beech with its spiry branches, hanging, as
I have just described them, in easy forms, is
often beautiful. I have also seen the forest
Beech, in a dry, hungry soil, preserve the lightness
of youth in the maturity of age.’

In the editorial remarks in ‘ Forest Scenery,’
the present writer has expressed the opinion that
for some reason Gilpin entertained a prejudice
against the Beech. In some points that author’s
criticism is incorrect, and his deductions from
his admissions are not, in the present writer’s
opinion, consistent. The ‘dingy olive’ hue, is
not the natural hue of the Beech bark, but is
imparted to it, more or less, by the lichens which
stain it, so to speak. The ‘ fantastical’ wreath-
ing of the branches, too, adds, we think, to its
‘picturesque beauty,’ and few who have seen a
fine and characteristic Beech wood in Winter
would be inclined, we believe, to deny that the
scene was one of singular beauty. The grooved

26 SYLVAN WINTER.

and pillared columns—moulded, in their softness
of contour, like human limbs—rising amidst the
wreathed contortions of their roots, from the
brown, leaf-strewn floor of the forest, now singly,
and now in double and treble lines, and forking
into branches, which, bending and curving and
twisting, fling out against the sky a fretwork
roof of myriads of boughs and spray, present a
sight not easily forgotten by those who have
seen these delightful trees in all their native free-
dom, untouched by the hand of the pruning wood-
man.

‘The Venus of the Woods,’ as the Ash has
been called, next claims, we think, some notice.
‘Ashen-grey’ is an expression sufficiently
familiar to denote the peculiar tint of the bark,
which is more clear and conspicuous in young,
than in old trees. The smoothness of the young
ashen bark is also another feature, and a mark,
too, as in the case of the skin of the Beech, of
beauty. But the Ash sapling has less beauty
in its form than the mature tree, because of the
thickness and scarcity of the spray, and the
prominence of the buds, which are larger in pro-

TREE FORMS. 27

portion than those of the full-grown Ash; but it
nevertheless has a sleek and graceful look. It is
not the young tree, however, but the older tree
of the woods (page 64) that has claimed the
admiration of lovers of Nature, and earned the
distinctive and complimentary appellation of this
beautiful species. Though it is in its summer
dress, with its delicate-looking pinnate leaves,
that it has been most admired, the gracefulness
which is its especial character when clothed in
its summer verdure is sufficiently apparent in
what may be termed its wintry undress. The
height of the tree is often, and indeed generally,
a prominent characteristic. Frequently the bole
rises to a considerable distance from the ground
before forking. Jt may then give forth branches
so large as to. appear like the first fork of the
trunk, so nearly do they approach the trunk’s
diameter. Rising still higher, before: what may
be called the actual forking takes place, the bole
may divide into two nearly equal limbs, and it is
only there that the continuity of the trunk is fairly
broken. Each limb will then divide again, and the
forking will be continued and repeated from limb

28 SYLVAN WINTER.

and branch, and twig and spray. The continuity of
the subdivision occasions considerable length, and
as with length there is necessarily weight, there
is a consequent drooping, which gives a very
graceful character to the tree. Yet the central
and upper branches stand erect with considerable
vigour, and the spray, in consequence of the
length and slenderness of the shoots, is curved
oftentimes by the effort to keep an upright position
after drooping. Probably it is the combination of
acute angles and curves that helps to give to the
Ash its easy and graceful aspect. It is in the
lower part of the tree that the branching makes
the most acute angles. As the limbs and
branches become lengthened, however, they
spread outward and commence to droop, and
it is this character which, observable throughout
all the ramification, gives its peculiar gracefulness
to the ‘ Venus of the Woods.’

If the boy be father to the man, the sapling
may also be said to be the parent of the tree, and,
with few exceptions, to exhibit those peculiarities,
though softened by youth, that make the maturer
growth characteristic. As with other trees, so

TRER FORMS. 29

with the Elm. The young tree exhibits the
uprightness of growth, and the peculiar angular
ramification, together with the shortness of the
spray, so especially characteristic of the full-
grown Elm. Very beautiful is the form of: the
mature tree, (page 80), as seen growing naturally.
with all its limbs, and without the lopped or
maimed appearance too frequently noticeable in
our hedge-row Elms. The main stem is sometimes
divided near the bole, and sometimes nearly half-
way towards the top, but the division is irregular.
When the division takes place higher up, the
superior length of bole gives to the tree a
degree of dignity, which, combined with the
rugged bark and the bold angles made by the
limbs and branches, serves to make it a striking
object. If the bole be short, enormous limbs
parting from it stand out from the trunk at,
sometimes, a broad angle and with an expansive
spread upwards and outwards, almost suggestive
of the Oak, with the ruggedness and _ pictu-
resqueness of which old Elms frequently vie—the
branches, twigs, and spray twining and twisting
in a zigzag fashion, very much after the manner

30 SYLVAN WINTER.

of the Oak, whilst the bark not only on the bole
limbs and larger branches, but upon the smaller
ones, is split and cracked and flaked in a way
that gives it an eminently picturesque appearance.
We must add to our own remarks Gilpin’s
opinion of the tree. He says that ‘the Elm
naturally grows upright, and when it meets with
a soil it loves, rises higher than the generality of
trees; and after it has assumed the dignity and
hoary roughness of age, few of its forest brethren
(though, properly speaking, it is not a forester)
excel it in grandeur and beauty.’

The beauty and gracefulness of the Birch,
(page 64), are very striking, and in the whole
forest there is probably no tree whose delicacy
of form is equal to that of Betula alba. The
purple spray and the curious whiteness (accom-
panied sometimes by splashes of golden lichen
and spots of brown) of the bole are at once the
most striking peculiarity of this tree, though bole
the Birch can scarcely be said to have; for the
entire stem, from base to apex, is so evenly
graded as to leave no line where the bole may be
said to end, and the upper part of the stem to begin.

TREE FORMS. 31

Strictly speaking, perhaps, the whole of the
stem of a tree is its bole. Yet ordinarily the
thick, stout, and lowermost part of the stem
is commonly understood when the expression
‘bole’ is used. Sometimes, the stem of the
Birch is very upright, but, as often, it is some-
what bent out of the perpendicular, and thus
acquires what Gilpin calls a more ‘ picturesque’
aspect. The branches, symmetrically disposed’
around it, are long, light in form, slender, and as
finely and regularly graded as the trunk itself.
From the branches the spray, upon the same
principle, is symmetrically and elegantly graded,
but in spite of the length and fine gradation of
the ultimate branchlets, they share, with the.
whole, a certain irregularity or waviness which
pleases the eye. It is the delicate lightness of
the branches and spray, and their susceptibility
to the slightest motion of the wind, that give to.
the Birch its especial grace and beauty when
seen in its wintry form.

A very graceful tree is the Lime. Its rich,
dark-brown bark hardly loses its peculiar and
elegant smoothness until the tree has reached a

32 SYLVAN WINTER.

considerable age. All trees, as their age increases,
become more subject to accidents, which affect the
proportion and symmetry of their forms. A
certain brittleness in the wood of the Lime renders
this tree peculiarly subject to injury, and hence
certain disfigurements are not unfrequently
noticeable in large and full-grown specimens ;
but when it has emerged from the sapling stage
to that of the tree, and before it has acquired a
stem of more than three feet or so in girth, it is
an object of great beauty. Its branches, symme-
trically placed around its trunk, are thrown out
with a graceful sweep (rising, bending, falling)
from all sides. From the branches the abundant
spray proceeds in the same symmetrical manner,
giving an elegant aspect to the whole tree. In
larger trees the bark is more rugged, and some-
times a double stem, rising from a junction with
the bole commencing within two or three feet from
the ground, gives a variation from the normal form
of the single. trunk. In larger and older trees
there is observable a ruggedness both of trunk
and of ramification; and twists and bends and
angles are observable both in the large limbs and

A DEAD OAK STUMr.

TREE FORMS. 33

in the smaller branches. The ramification itself
is considerable and abundant. Equally, from all
sides of the trunk, proceed the main limbs ; from
these a second set of stout branches, making
broad angles with the former; then the twigs,
standing out at similar angles; and finally the
bud-pointed spray, divided off on the same plan,
—the whole combining to give an _ aspect
of subdivision that is most complex and beau-
tiful.

Like many trees in the case of large specimens,
the base of the Lime bole is channelled, and
appears, so to speak, to claw the earth. The ab-
sence of low side-branches, owing to the accidents
already referred to, arising from the brittleness of
the wood, detract, as this tree gains age, from its
appearance ; and often, for a considerable distance
up, this tree’s branches are scanty and irregular, if
not absent altogether. But compensation in such
cases is afforded by the head, where the branches,
too small oftentimes to be called limbs, are thrown
out with much grace, not in curves or flowing lines,
yet not ruggedly, but with a certain picturesque
irregularity—the wealth of twigs and spray, grace-

D

384 SYLVAN WINTER.

fully displayed, giving a striking and beautiful —
aspect to the tree-head.

But when large trees, as is sometimes the case,
have grown up free from accidents causing
deformities, they present forms of great beauty.
We have seen trees forking at eight feet from
the ground, and forking again eight feet further
up into solid limbs three feet in diameter at their
base. These, spreading away from the main stems,
arch gradually upwards and outwards, the forking
continuing on the same plan by gradation to the
ultimate spray, until a head of great breadth and
beauty is produced. Giulpin’s opinion of the
Lime is that it is ‘an elegant tree where it is
suffered to grow at large; but,’ he adds, ‘we
generally see it in straight bondage, clipped into
shape, and forming the sides of avenues and
vistas.’

However, he thinks that ‘in its best state it
is not very interesting. It has a uniformity of
surface, without any of those breaks and hollows
which the most picturesque trees present, and
which give their foliage so much beauty.’ The
author of ‘Forest Scenery’ is here alluding to

TREE FORMS. 35

the summer aspect of the tree; but though we do
not agree with his judgment, even of the foliaged
Lime, and believe that the trees he had seen had
probably been clipped at some time without his
knowledge, it will be easily understood that,
whilst the fullness of the ramification would give
a greater density to the Lime when in leaf, the
beauty of the wintry form would be perfectly
transparent and all the greater for the abundance
of the spray.

In its young and in its full-grown state, the
Hornbeam (page 96) has a rugged, horny, and
singularly picturesque aspect. Possibly the tough-
ness of its wood has given rise to its common
name, which, popularly rendered, would be ‘ horny
tree ;’ but another reason for its designation might
be found in its peculiar ramification, which is
very suggestive of the branching of horns. In
appearance as well as in reality, it is hard and
tough.

The trunk of the Hornbeam is mostly striated,
the bark being’ raised in ridges which look like
swollen veins. The limbs are stout in proportion
to the bole, and are twisted and wide-spreading,

p 2

36 SYLVAN WINTER.

first upwards, and then outwards and downwards.
On the extreme branches the twigs sometimes
almost touch the ground, whilst the spray, like
the branches, is long, fine, picturesquely twisted,
much divided, and very abundant,—the whole
forming a spreading, sweeping, and very graceful
head—every little space being filled up with bough
or twig, and uniformity of gradation being every-
where preserved and maintained between trunk,
limbs, branches, and spray. On the Hornbeam,
as on some other trees, occur occasionally the
dense clusters of small twigs on the larger
branches, looking, at a distance, like birds’
nests.

Another ‘ picturesque’ tree, when seen in its
mature form, is the Common or Field Maple, which,
Gilpin rightly says, is ‘an uncommon tree, though
a common bush.’ Most familiar in hedge-rows as
a common bush, it is not often seen of tree-size.
Even when a sapling its branches have a strag-
gling and somewhat rugged appearance, charac-
teristic of its mature form. Gilpin quaintly adds
to the sentence quoted above, ‘We seldom see
it employed in any nobler service than in

TREE FORMS. 37

filling up its part in a hedge, in company with
thorns and briars and other ditch trumpery.’
Yet the ancients, he admits, held it in great
repute, Pliny speaking as highly of the knobs
and excrescences of this tree, called the brusca
and mollusca, as Dr. Plot (in his ‘ Natural History
of Oxfordshire’) did of those of the Ash. Of
the size and character of the Maple, Gilpin
expresses himself as follows: ‘In the few
instances I have met with of this tree in a state
of maturity its form has appeared picturesque.
It is not unlike the Oak, but is more bushy, and
its branches are closer and more compact. One of
the largest Maples I have seen stands in the church-
-yard of Boldre in New Forest ; but I have not met
with specimens enough of this tree to form an
opinion of its general character.’ The Maple in
Boldre Churchyard is still living, and is larger than
in Gilpin’s time. A drawing of it by Mrs. Lister
Kay appears in the view of the church and
churchyard of Boldre published in the present
writer’s edition of ‘Forest Scenery.’ Under-
neath this famous tree lie the mortal remains of
Gilpin and of his wife.

38 SYLVAN WINTER.

The ramification of a finely-grown Field Maple
(page 112) is very complex, and the whole tree is
exceedingly picturesque. The rough-barked trunk,
widened at its base, where it holds the ground,
rises, gradually tapering, by a series of twists like
the meandering of ariver through rocky country.
It commences to branch ordinarily at some six
feet from the ground, and the branches (some-
times large enough to be called limbs) take
different directions. Ifof large size, and partaking
of the character and substance of the trunk, the
limbs will take an upward direction; if branches
only, they will often shoot out, like those of the
Oak, almost at right angles from the stem; but
whether the direction be parallel or horizontal,
the branches are always of considerable length by
comparison with the trunk, and proceed with
twists and forks and contortions. From the
larger branches, smaller ones, equally twisted and
bent, are given off; and from these, twigs of varying
length, which in turn break into small short spray
half an inch to two or three inches in length—the
spray, like the rest of the ramification, being bent,
twisted, and contorted. Thus the whole of the

TREE FORMS. 39

spreading head of the Maple is filled with a most
beautiful, elaborate, and complex network. The
tree is not high, but often spreads considerably,
and in this, as in its zigzag, contorted aspect, very
much resembles the Oak.

Its near relative, the Sycamore, ought to be
mentioned next to the Maple. A well-grown
specimen is round and handsome in form, clawing
the ground by the peculiar channelling of the
trunk which is common to many trees. The bark
is tolerably smooth and often rendered green by
the presence upon it of lichen-growths. Often-
times the trunk rises to a considerable height
before it loses its continuity and commences to
divide into limbs. In instances where the forking
commences at a half or at one-third of the total
height of the tree, the branches which form the
division are disposed so regularly around the
stem, and are so moderate in thickness, that they
give a handsome and symmetrical appearance to
the tree. The direction upwards of the branches
of the Sycamore exhibits that slight irregularity
which especially occasions what is termed pictu-
resqueness. There is no twisting or contortion,

40 SYLVAN WINTER.

but just the slight irregularity which gives interest
and variety to natural forms. The limbs are
thrown outwards and upwards at a somewhat
acute angle from the trunk, and extend oftentimes
to a considerable distance from it, sweeping and
spreading in a manner that adds dignity to the tree,
though sometimes the branches and boughs are
so slender in proportion to their length that
they immediately begin to droop—thus giving
gracefulness and beauty of another kind. The
limbs are disposed irregularly around the trunk,
and the branches around the limbs in the same
manner, and the angles and directions of each to,
and in relation to, each aid that variety which
pleases the eye. There is not much subdivision
of the ramification of the Sycamore, the general
character of the twigs and spray being robust,
and the contrast not so great as to give the
peculiar beauty incident to abundant spray.
Gilpin’s opinion of ‘the Great Maple, commonly
called the Sycamore,’ 1s that it ‘is a grander and
nobler tree than the Smaller Maple,’ just men-
tioned; but he thinks that ‘it wants the
elegance’ of the Field Maple, and is ‘coarse in

TREE FORMS. 41

proportion to its bulk.’ He adds, that ‘its bark
has not the furrowed roughness of the Oak, but
it has a species of roughness very picturesque.’

A sort of deciduous Cedar the Larch (page 240)
might be termed, if regard were had, in its relation-
ship to other trees, to its leaves. Itis, of course,
a not distant relative of the Cedar, because, like
it, it is a conifer. The ramification of the Larch
is very peculiar and picturesque—the branches
spreading so regularly around the straight, up-
right bole as to present a strongly-marked conical
appearance. In comparison with the trunk the
branches are thin—there are no limbs properly
so called—and they are long and sweeping. On
leaving the stem they rise slightly for the space
of an inch or two, and then dip, the lowest part
of this dip being at a considerable proportional
distance from the stem. Rising again, the
branches take a long sweep upwards and out-
wards. The gradation in thickness of both stem
and branches is very gradual. Each branch is
divided on very much the same principle, but as
the twigs grow horizontally with relation to the
branch, a flat appearance is given to the latter.

42 SYLVAN WINTER.

From the branches the spray depends grace-
fully, and produces an appearance which may be
likened to water streaming over arock. Perhaps
the expression ‘spray’ may have had its origin
in some fancied resemblance of the smaller
ramification of a tree to the showers of water at:
a waterfall. Attached to each twig on the Larch,
like beads strung sparsely upon string, are the
small protuberances which indicate the position
of the buds; whilst hung here and there in the
meshes of the spray are the pretty cones, some-
times dependent, and sometimes erect, or nearly
so. Itis the droop in a species of festoons of
the Larch spray that gives the flat appearance to
the upper side of each branch; for though the
smaller branches grow all around the larger
ones, their length and weight make them droop,
especially as they are also weighted by the twigs
that grow out from them. It is, of course,
the slenderness in proportion to the length
of the branches and twigs which causes the
droop. The entire aspect of this tree is
graceful, beautiful, and striking. To our own
account of this elegant tree we must add an

TREE YORMS. 43

extract from Gilpin’s description. He says :* ‘I
shall conclude my account of deciduous trees with
the Larch, which is a kind of connecting species
between them and the race of evergreens.
Though it sheds its leaf with the former, it bears a
cone, is resinous, and ramifies like the latter.’
(He means like the conifers.) ‘It claims the Alps
and Apennines for its native country, where it
thrives in higher regions of the air than any tree
of its consequence is known to do—hanging over
rocks and precipices which have never been
visited by human feet. Often it is felled by the
Alpine peasant, and thrown athwart some
yawning chasm, where it affords a tremendous
passage from cliff to cliff, while the cataract,
roaring many fathoms below, is seen only in
surges of rising vapour.’ Permeated with his
sometimes quaint, occasionally peculiar, but
always charming notions of the ‘picturesque,’
Gilpin considers that the Larch is only ‘fully
picturesque when the storms of many a century
have shattered its equal sides and given contrast
and variety to its boughs.’
* ‘Forest Scenery,’ page 97.

44: SYLVAN WINTER.

But if we would consider next a really ‘ pic-
turesque’ tree, and one that has not obtained,
so far as, we know, any reputation for winter
beauty, we should select the Plane (page 128), the
leafless aspect of which is singularly and excep-
tionally beautiful and striking, on account mainly
of the zigzag character of its ramification. The
bole is oftentimes very long, and it tapers
gradually with a series of gentle turns. From
irregular points all round it, the branches are
given off. They may be called limbs, but they
are not large ones. As they ascend, they become
twisted, proceed in curves, and then, continuing,
droop alternately in rounded and also in angular
form ; rise again, dip once more, and finally rise
and droop and rise again. The branches give off
zigzag boughs, which proceed in the same manner,
turning, twisting, bending,and rounding. Twigs
and spray follow a similar course, and the final
result is that the whole space occupied by the
outline (enclosed, that is to say, within the ont-
lines) of the tree is well filled by its ramification,
which, though irregular and picturesque, is never-
theless symmetrical; for there is systematic

TREE FORMS. 45

gradation from bole to limbs, from these to their
branches, and from branches to twigs and spray.
The peculiar and well-known peeling from the
trunk, and from the larger limbs, of the bark
further adds to the striking and interesting aspect
of this tree. The author of ‘Forest Scenery,’
speaking of the two species of Plane with which
he was familiar—the Occidental and Oriental
Planes, describes them as ‘noble trees; of the
first named he says: ‘Its stem is very
picturesque. It is smooth and of a light ash
colour, and has the property of throwing off its
bark in scales, thus naturally cleansing itself—
at least, its larger boughs—from moss and other
parasitical incumbrances. This would be no
recommendation of it in a picturesque light, if
the removal of these incumbrances did not
substitute as great a beauty intheirroom. These
scales are very irregular, falling off sometimes in
one part and sometimes in another; and as the
underbark immediately after its excoriation is of
a lighter hue than the upper, it offers to the pencil
those smart touches which have so much effect
in painting. These flakes, however, would be

46 SYLVAN WINTER.

more beautiful if they fell off more in semicircular
lamine. They would correspond and _ unite
better with the semicircular form of the bole.’
Gilpin further says: ‘Its lower branches,
shooting horizontally, soon take a direction to
the ground; and the spray seems more sedulous
than that of any tree we have by twisting about
in various forms to fill up every little vacuity
with shade.’ This refers to its summer procli-
vity. We do not agree with the author of
‘Forest Scenery’ in our opinion of the result
as shown in Winter, for he says: ‘At the
same time it must be owned the twisting of its
branches is a disadvantage to this tree, as we
have observed it is to the Beech, when it is
stripped of its leaves and reduced to a skeleton.
It has not,’ he continues, ‘the natural appear-
ance which the spray of the Oak and that of
many other trees discovers in Winter; though I
have heard that in America, where it grows
naturally, it grows more freely and does not
exhibite that twisting in its branches.’ It is
strange that Gilpin should here object to that
twisting of the branches of the Plane that in other

TREE FORMS. A?

cases he considers to be an element in a picturesque
effect ; but this feature cannot possibly be other
than a ‘ natural appearance.’

The Poplars are an interesting group, well
worthy of some attention. Amongst the family
no individual is more deserving of notice than
the Lombardy Poplar (pages 52, 128, and 144).
Its tall, straight, and pointed stem, and its ac-
companiment of branches closely attached to, and
abundantly produced all around it, give it a coni-
cal figure, which is strikingly and conspicuously
prominent. Oftentimes the branches commence
to grow almost from the very base of the stem,
and it is their clustering habit and their habit of
growing at so sharp an angle from the trunk of the
trec that gives the Lombardy Poplar so remarkable
an appearance. The clothing of branches is con-
tinued from the base to the very apex of the stem,
but they never atiain to a size which warrants
their being called limbs; and as it is seldom the
habit of the tree to fork, and each branch is
invested, on the same principle as the stem is
clothed, with smaller branches, all of which make
sharp angles with the trunk, the denseness and

48 SYLVAN WINTER.

peculiarity of the ramification are very striking.
‘Its conic form,’ Gilpin says, ‘is peculiar.’
‘Among evergreens, he adds, ‘we find the
same character in the Cypress, and both trees in
many situations have a good effect. The Cypress
often, among the ruins of ancient Rome, breaks
the regularity of a wall or a pediment by its conic
form; and the Poplar on the banks of the Po, no
doubt has the same effect among its deciduous
brethren, by forming the apex of aclump ; though
I have been told that, in its age, it loses its
shape in some degree and spreads more into a
head.’ Of course in Winter the figure of this
handsome tree is less prominent, and makes a less
noticeable figure as seen outlined against the sky,
than when clothed in its heavy garb of leaves;
but the wintry aspect, though more light and
elegant, is not less interesting and remarkable.
Very nearly related to the Lombardy Poplar,
the Black Italian Poplar (page 144) is noticeable
from it by its wide-spreading branches. Similar
in many ofits characters to the tree just described,
it differs in the essential one, that its branches
grow more sparsely, are stouter in proportion to

yl ni

eee
ne
AMD

(A FLOODED STREAM— EVENING.)

BRECIIKS,

TREE FORMS. 49

the stem, and start from the latter at much broader
angles ; but when finely grown and unbroken by
the wind or by the lopping woodman, its ramifica-
tion is beautiful and symmetrical. Frequently
the stem is tapered from the base to the apex
with striking regularity and uniformity, and
scarcely makes the slighest curve from a vertical
position. The branching commences very low
down on the trunk; but in the case of a tree of
any size, such, for instance, as one with a bole
three feet in girth, all branches within six feet of
the ground will have dropped away. The branches
of the Black Italian Poplar are produced
equally around the stem, and though sometimes
slightly waved, are often equally straight; but
they curve upwards at their points with a
graceful sweep. The angle of distance from the
trunk is about forty-five degrees. A distinctly
conical shape (though a much broader cone is
formed than is the case with the Lombardy Pop-
lar) is produced by the incidence of the branches,
the lowermost being longest and the length being
lessened gradually towards the apex of the stem.
The twigs start from the branches at the same
E

50 SYLVAN WINTER.

angle as that of the latter from the stem, and
the spray is given off at a similar angle from
the twigs, and all—branches, twigs, and spray
growing from all sides of stem, branches, and
twigs with uniform regularity—produces a round-
ness of form which gives an especial aspect of
symmetry and grace to this tree.

A handsome and striking object, when seen as
a full-grown tree, is the Abele Poplar (page 160).
Itstrunk, oftentimes rising to a considerable height,
almost erect, or bent but slightly from the perpen-
dicular, occasionally reaches a height of fifty feet
before commencing to branch. Takingalong sweep
upwards and outwards, the limbs fork irregularly
in opposite directions, divide into stout branches
and these into long, pendant spray. The limbs,
after forking, stretch away from each other at
wide angles, branches parting from these on the
same principle, and the length of the resulting
twigs and spray causing the drooping of the
latter. The spray from the lower branches often
droops considerably, giving a weeping character
to this part of the tree, not always shown to
quite the same extent in the upper branches.

TREE FORMS. ol:

The parting of limbs, branches, and spray is
almost rectangular in many parts of the tree, and
this, combined with the length of the branches,
and the weight of their complement of twigs and
spray, is the cause of the drooping which is a
noticeable feature of large specimens of the
Abele Poplar. When the tree is old and the bole
large, the bark, as in the case of most old trees,
is deeply grooved and wrinkled, and the abundant
presence of green lichen in the moist grooves
gives a rich colour to the trunk. The bark of
the young spray is naturally an olive-green.

Of the Willows, whose name is legion, only one,
whose fame has gone far and wide, can be men-
tioned—the beautiful Weeping Willow. Even of
Weeping Willows the varieties are innumerable,
but all we shall attempt to do will be to indicate
a few characters especially applicable to these
trees in general. Ordinarily the bole is not
long and oftentimes it is massive, and at a
short distance from the ground it parts at wide
angles into two or more large limbs, which take
many twists and picturesque turns that give

a rugged appearance to the tree. The limbs
2

2, SYLVAN WINTER.

Cr

divide into long branches, these into long boughs,
and the latter into long, fine spray. The smaller

Lombardy Poplars. Willow.

boughs and the spray droop
= in graceful festoons, and it is

perhaps the contrast afforded by the twisting and
somewhat contorted character of the larger limbs

‘REE FORMS. 53

and the fine depending branches and spray, that
gives so peculiarly graceful a character to the latter.
The bark of the trunk and limbs is seamed and
scarred in fine old specimens, and is green with the
incrustation of lichen, whilst the bark of the boughs
and spray is smooth, shining, and olive-green in
colour. tis the wide angles at which the ramifica-
tion is produced that gives its spreading habit to
the tree. Very much the same in general character,
with the exception of the pendulous habit, is the
ordinary Willow; but in its case, when it grows
close to the water’s edge, as in the specimen
drawn in the engraving on page 52, there is
more or less of drooping in its habit, especially
when, as is frequently the case, the trunk leans
over the stream or lake by which it is situated.
Then there isa general inclination towards the
water of trunk, limbs, boughs, and spray. This
position is doubtless often caused by the softening
of the earthy habitat on the side next the water,
through the washing of the stream or the motion
of it by the agency of wind—if the water bea
lake. Less support to the trunk being furnished
on that particular side, the weight of the tree,

oA SYLVAN WINTER.

and not unfrequently the force of the wind,
carries it gradually, as its age and weight increase,
towards the water and gives to it the pendulous
habit it would not otherwise have.

‘The Weeping Willow,’ the author of ‘Forest
Scenery’ thinks, ‘is a very picturesque tree,’
but he does not consider it (he was doubtless
referring to it in its summer dress) ‘adapted
to sublime subjects. He, however, considers
that ‘ the Weeping Willow is the only one of its
tribe that is beautiful.’

Very handsome, but with a peculiar and
decided character in its ramification, is the Wild
Cherry Tree (page 112). The lower part of the
bole is channelled and appears, as is the case with
trees already mentioned and others, to hold the
ground as if by claws. Its stem rises erect and
tapers gradually, giving off equally all around it,
with perfect regularity, branches which are first
arched and then droop. The tree would thus
assume a weeping form, but. for the turning up,
more or less, at the ends of the boughs, of the
twigs and spray. The angles made by the
branches with the trunk are very broad, nearly, in

TREE FORMS. a8)

most cases, and in some cases quite, rectangular.
Being abundant and parting from the branches
on the same principle, the twigs and spray form
a complete canopy of interlacement, and when the
tree is looked up into from underneath, a very
elegant appearance is produced, which has a
beautiful effect. The bark on the trunk, even of
large Cherry Trees, 1s smooth, except in places
where it has peeled off, though by a curious
arrangement the splitting of the bark takes place
not longitudinally but horizontally, and looks ata
distance like a number of rings investing the trunk.
The roots near the trunk often, for a distance
of several feet, rise above the ground, and thus
serve to increase the especial picturesqueness of
this tree. Sometimes the trunk, as in the speci-
men facing page 112, parts in two at a very
acute angle, and each fork rises so erect—each
giving off branches from time to time—from the
point of division as not, in the smallest degree, to
detract from the very symmetrical appearance of
the tree.

Ruggedness and picturesqueness are the cha-
racteristics of a well-grown Acacia. The bole,

56 SYLVAN WINTER.

spreading out at the bottom into rugged claws, rises
straight, though gnarled and twisted, showing upon
its surface many hard-looking knobs and protuber-
ances, whilst the bark is rough, grooved, and con-
torted (page 176). Sometimes at about ten feet
from the ground the stem forks into limbs, which
again branch—the branches dividing into smaller
ones and these into spray on the same plan—one of
twisting angularity and contortion, rising, twining,
bending, drooping, and rising again. Yet though
rugged, all is symmetrical—there is no irregu-
larity or inconsistency, and all spaces are well
filled by twisted limb, branch, or spray. The
spread of the tree is not great, yet it is enough to
give an ample character to the head, and its height
—including trunk and superimposed branches—is
not meagre. From the sides of the trunk, beneath
the first principal fork, branches are not un-
frequently given off, and these rise, bend, droop
and twist in the same picturesque manner as is
noticeable in the entire ramification. So curious
is the twisting of the bark on the bole and limbs,
that the ridges stand out like a network of ropes
wound upon the trunk. Here and there the

TREE FORMS. 57

brittleness of the wood, a recognized charac-
teristic of this tree, is shown ‘by snapped-off
branches—not the larger, as a rule, but the smaller
ones; but the absence of these scarcely detracts
from the symmetry of the Acacia as seen at a
distance. The torn and rugged appearance of
the bark may be likened to what the trunk would
look like had it been dragged over huge, sharp
rocks. Its dark-brown colour is set off by the
green lichen which spreads in patches over it.
In the case of this tree, as in that of the Lime,
some of the apparent angularity of the rami-
fication is not real; for branches snapped off at
their junction with a limb give an idea of contortion
when in reality there is none; but, nevertheless,
twisting and sudden bending are real charac-
teristics of the tree. Sometimes in the process
of twisting, the branches double on themselves
and double back again, thus approaching occa-
sionally a form that may be likened to that of
the letter S.

The appellation of ‘a noble tree,’ which Gilpin
gave to the Chestnut when ‘in maturity and _per-
fection,’ is not too high praise ; and that its wintry

08 SYLVAN WINTER.

form is not less grand in its degree than its form
in the season of leafage will, we think, be ad-
mitted by the reader who glances at the faithful
figure given in the drawing, which our artist has
made, facing page 192. The rugged trunk clawing
the ground, the twisted, contorted, and stalwart
limbs, the rugged and drooping boughs and spray
—all twining, arching, twisting, and bending—are
happily shown in Mr. Short’s sketch. Guilpin’s
remark that it grows like the Oak is not inappro-
priate, though the Chestnut falls short of the Oak
in the immense proportions and in the strong
rectangular growth of the limbs. He says, ‘ Its
ramification is more straggling, but it is easy.’
This is very true, as our drawing will show, for
the form delineated has not the stern grandeur of
the Oak.

Of the Horse Chestnut in its wintry form
(page 59) the author of ‘Forest Scenery’ does
not speak, but under its rich garb of Summer
leaves he calls it ‘a heavy, disagreeable tree,’ an
opinion from which we have elsewhere dissented.*
Stripped of its leaves it presents one particular

* “Forest Scenery,’ page 88,

TREE FORMS. 09

feature which is peculiar and noticeable. Its
lower limbs, which start from the part where the
bole ends, and, in a somewhat less prominent
degree, its upper ones, first rise, then arch, and

Horse Chestnut.

then droop and rise again. It is doubtless the
rapidity.of its growth and its remarkable vigour
that give to young trees of this species their

a

60 SYLVAN WINTER.

striking robustness and uprightness. There is
then no spray, for all the shoots are stout, and
the ramification is simple and not abundant. At
the base of each branch and twig the skin is
curiously wrinkled, like the cast skin of a silk-
worm, and immediately under each branch and
offshoot is the strange-looking mark so strikingly
like the figure of a horse-shoe, namely, a half.
disc with a row around its curved edge of spots
like the nails placed in the shoe of a horse. It is
doubtless this very peculiar appearance which has
obtained for this tree the otherwise inappropriate
name of the Horse Chestnut.

The contorted, picturesque Hawthorn, with its
twisted trunk and its twisted, spreading head,
must not be forgotten in our examination of
wintry trees that denude themselyes of foliage to
exhibit the beauty of their form. As a bush or
shrub the Hawthorn is very familiar to everybody,
but usually in a form clipped out of its natural
and normal shape to meet the exigencies of a field
or garden fence. In the forest alone does it grow
in full freedom and assume its tree-form, and then
it may boast a bole nine feet in circumference,

TREE FORMS. 61

though specimens have been found with a circum-
ference of twelve feet. Gilpin, so quick to discern
picturesque beauty, was strangely oblivious of
that of the Hawthorn. He says: ‘The Haw-
thorn should not entirely be passed over amidst
the minuter plants of the forest, though it has
little claim to picturesque beauty,’ and he con-
siders, oddly enough, that ‘its shape is bad.’
Possibly he may only have been familiar with the
disfigured shrub (whose shape is bad indeed), Xe)
unmercifully clipped out of all naturalness; but
if he never saw the full-grown, perfect tree, he
should, at least, in the surroundings of his forest
home, have seen such gnarled and twisted and
pre-eminently picturesque forms of Hawthorn as
that showr, with Ivy, facing page 208. We
must defend a beautiful and striking shrub even
against the candid opinion of the genial author
of ‘ Forest Scenery.’

Let us now briefly speak, in the enumeration
of the forms of tree beauty, of the familiar
Pear and the not less familiar Apple (page 62).
The curious arching of the branches of the Pear,
‘as they rise from the rugged trunk, bend, dip,

62 SYLVAN WINTER.

and rise again,
mustoften have
been observed
by those who note such things,
and the strangely picturesque
Pear. Apple orchard 7

(misty moonlight). form of the. Apple, too—with
itsstrageling, twisted trunk, andits wide-spreading,

TREE FORMS. 63

contorted arms, covered, all, by the splashes of
golden and silver-grey lichen, is equally familiar.
Beautiful as, in each case, these useful trees are
when covered by spring blossom, summer leaf,
or mellow autumn fruit, they are interesting and
beautiful, too, when all the especial charm of the
sunny seasons has left them, and they stand in
the simple, unclothed guise of wintry form.

IV.
EVERGREEN BEAUTY.

EW, Cedar, Pine, Fir,
Holly, Ivy, and Box
may, perhaps, be
called the most typi-
cal and prominent
of the EHvergreens,
which add so much
brightness to what

a 2a is nevertheless called

the ‘dead _ season.’

These do not by any means stand alone as the

verdant ornaments of Winter, but they have the
first claim to notice.

The Yew, quite unjustly, has fallen under the
displeasure of the poets. Blair, in his ‘Grave,’
says,—

‘ Cheerless, unsocial plant! that loves to dwell
’Midst skulls and coffins, epitaphs and worms ;

UVERGREEN BEAUTY. 65

Where light-heel’d ghosts and visionary shades,
Beneath the wan, cold moon (as fame reports)
Embodied thick, perform their mystic rounds.
No other merriment, dull tree! is thine.’

There is, however, a gleam of admiration in
some lines of Wordsworth :—

‘Of vast circumference and gloom profound,
This solitary tree! A living thing
Produced too slowly ever to decay ;

Of form and aspect too magnificent
To be destroyed.’

The popular idea seems to associate the Yew with
death and the graveyard, and ‘no other merri-
ment, dull tree, is thine,’ in the lines just quoted,
appears to imply that only ‘’midst skulls and
coffins, epitaphs and worms,’ is this tree to be
found, just as the carrion crow is associated
with death and putrefaction. But it is forgot-
ten that it is the hand of man which has placed
the Yew in the midst of its surroundings of
mournfulness and gloom, and that it is naturally
a forest tree. In its praise we could write a very
long chapter, but we can only give to it its pro-
portionate space in this brief history of the ever-
¥

66 SYLVAN WINTER.

green beauty of sylvan Winter. Very beautiful
indeed we consider the dark-green, glossy foliage
of the Yew. The leaves themselves are quite as
beautiful as those of the much-praised Silver Fir,
and, like them, are flat, but are pointed instead of
round at their apices. They are produced in
double rows along the twigs, are slightly stalked,
dark-green above (except when newly produced),
lighter underneath, and curved upwards from the
back of the twigs. How brightly they shine when
the earth is bound by frost and snow, gleaming
forth from the chillest surroundings with a de-
lightful freshness, suggestive of their enduring
life and vigour: how patiently they bear over-
shadowing of foliage above, that would kill many
other plants, looking vigorous and green and
beautiful under the most depressing circumstances:
and how persistently they adorn the branches of
the noble tree which bears them—pervading em-
blems of verdancy—must be fully known by those
who would fairly appreciate the sylvan beauties
of the Yew.

Dear old Gilpin comes warmly to the rescue of
this tree from aspersion. ‘As to its picturesque

EVERGREEN BEAUTY. 67 |

perfections, I profess myself (contrary, I suppose,
to general opinion) a great admirer of its form
and foliage. The Yew is, of all other trees, the.
most tonsile. Hence all the indignities it suffers.
We everywhere see it cut and metamorphosed
into such a variety of deformities, that we are
hardly brought to conceive it has a natural shape,
or the power, which other trees have, of hanging:
with ease. Yet it has this power in a great degree,
and in a state of nature, except in exposed situa-
tions, is perhaps one of the most beautiful ever-
greens we have.’ Writing about the Yew, the:
author of ‘Forest Scenery’ puts in a sensible
plea for the colour of this tree’s foliage. He
says, ‘ But though we should be able to establish |
its beauty with respect to form and foliage, there
remains one point still which we should find it
hard to combat. Its colour, unfortunately, gives
offence. Its dingy, funereal hue, people say,
makes it only fit for a churchyard. This objec-
tion, I hope, I have already answered in defending
the colour of the Scotch Fir.* An attachment to
colour, a8 such, seems to me an indication. of |

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ page 116.
F 2

68 SYLVAN WINTER.

false taste. Hence arise the numerous absurdities
of gaudy decoration. In the same manner a dis-
like to any particular colour shows a squeamish-
ness which should as little be encouraged.
Indeed, when you have only one colour to deal
with, as in painting the wainscot of your room,
the eye, properly enough, gives a preference to
some soft, pleasant tint, in opposition to a glaring,
bold one; but when colours act in concert (as is
the case in all scenery), red, blue, yellow, light
green, or dingy green, are all alike, the virtue
of each consists solely in its agreement with its
neighbours.’ *

One little extract from the charming writings
of Mr. Leo Grindon must be given in support of
the theme of praise which has been here attempted
of the beautiful Yew. In his ‘Trees of Old Eng-
land’ Mr. Grindon says, ‘ Nature gives the Yew a
very different abiding-place from the cemetery;
and rightly viewed and understood, perhaps, the
Yew may prove, after all, notwithstanding its
possession of deadly sap, to be a tree that should
contribute ideas rather of cheerfulness than of

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 128-9.

EVERGREEN BEAUTY. 69

mourning. Upon rugged limestone scars and
cliffs, where nothing else, save a little Ivy, can
establish anchorage, the Yew is often seen cling-
ing, as if bound to the rocks with clamps of iron.
Well-nigh flattened against the perpendicular face
of the stone, and with the merest ledge or crevice
for its feet, it holds itself unchanged for centuries,
and is the most imposing picture nature affords of
imperturbable endurance. So, too, upon many a
remote hillside, beaten and ravaged by tempests,
exposure to the wrath of the elements seems con-
genial, and life in the midst of perils to be joy and
strength.’

No tree, perhaps, adds so much grandeur to
the sylvan aspect of Winter as the Cedar of
Lebanon (page 70), though there are: many that
add as much beauty. It is a tree that at once
arrests the attention, and perhaps the peculiar
sombreness of its foliage, and the striking manner
in which it is arranged, are the particular features
which interest and attract. The broad spread
and droop of the branches, the expansiveness of
the top, and the remarkable arrangement in
layers (which catch and absorb the light) of. the

70 SYLVAN WINTER..

branches, give to the Cedar an aspect which, once
‘seen, is not easily forgotten. When, as is some-

Cedar of Lebanon.

times the case, this noble tree is
seen standing alone on the face
of some stretch of greensward,
the bright green of the grass,
shining through the spaces be-
tween the branches, brings out
in strongly contrasting colours the sombreness
of the evergreen Cedar foliage. The massive

EVERGREEN BEAUTY. 71

character of the solid trunk is another feature
of importance. Sometimes the trunk rises erect
to a height, it may be, of nearly twenty feet
before branching, and then it divides into enor-
mous limbs, partaking of. the- character of trunks
in their massiveness and ‘solidity. From the
points of division of these, two or three other
enormous limbs may rise erect, whilst others,
leading off all round at nearly right angles, again
divide into large branches, and these into stout
offsets, the whole stretching far away from the
trunk and preserving the spreading and noble
habit of the tree. Looking up under a large
Cedar, one is impressed by the sight of the
interlacing network of limbs and branches, and
of the shadowy spread of the leafage above and
beyond.

Nearly related to the Cedar of Lebanon and to
the other beautiful species of the genus Cedrus
(the Indian and the Mount Atlas Cedars), the
Pines ‘afford, by the evergreen character of their
needle-shaped leaves, bright and delightful ex-
amples of the perennial verdancy of Nature. Their
number and variety preclude anything like a

Ve. SYLVAN WINTER.

detailed description of them in these pages, but
two must be mentioned as in some sort repre-
sentatives of the others. Let us take the Scotch
Fir or Pine, as it really is, as typical of many
others in so far as its general characters are
concerned. There ig a peculiar beauty and
symmetry in this tree in its early form. The
somewhat rough, reddish-brown bark already
foreshadows the richness of colour of the mature
tree. The branches are produced in whorls,
usually of five in each whorl, upon the upright
stem. Upon these grow the needle-shaped leaves,
each pair of leaves sheathed at their bases. The
leaves are produced all round the branches which
bear them, and are from two to three inches long,
narrow, bluish-green, striated. By this method
of arrangement on the branches the latter have
a cylindrical appearance, so regularly are the
leaves disposed. From the base to the apex the
stem is gradually and elegantly tapered, and this
circumstance, taken in conjunction with the
regular and systematic arrangement of the
branches, gives a strikingly symmetrical appear-
ance to the young tree. Later in its life it loses

iad

EVERGREEN BUAUTY. 73

this symmetrical beauty, From the full-grown
trees (page 224) the side branches mostly fall,
leaving a trunk still more or less erect, and
marked by its reddish hue, and with spreading
heads formed by twisted branches and irregularity
of boughs and leaves. Mr. Short has admirably
portrayed the Scotch Pine as it ig mostly seen.
in the forest. His drawing is a picture, the
central beauty of which consists of the figures of
two specimens of Pinus sylvestris. One glance
will suffice to show that these trees are eminently
calculated to please, as Gilpin expresses it, ‘the
picturesque eye.’ Of the Scotch Fir he says,
‘For myself, I admire its foliage, both the colour
of the leaf and its mode of growth. Its ramifica-
tion, too, is irregular and beautiful, and not unlike
that of the Stone Pine, which it resembles also in
the easy sweep of its stem, and likewise in the
colour of the bark, which is commonly, as it
attains age, of a rich reddish-brown. The Scotch
Fir, indeed, in its stripling state, is less an object
of beauty. Its pointed and spiry shoots, during
the first years of its growth, are formal; and yet
I have sometimes seen a good contrast produced

74 ‘ SYLVAN WINTER.

between its spiry points and the round-headed
Oaks and Elms in its neighbourhood. When I
speak, however, of the Scotch Fir as a beautiful
individual, I conceive it when it has outgrown all
the more unpleasant circumstances of its youth,
when it has completed its full age, and when, like
Ezekiel’s Cedar, it has formed its head among the
thick branches. I may be singular in my attach-
ment to the Scotch Fir; I know it has many
enemies, and that may perhaps induce me to be
more compassionate to it; however, I wish my
opinion in its favour may weigh no more than the
reasons I give to support it.’

Umbrageousness is the distinguishing character
of the Stone Pine (page 240). Indeed, the name
of Umbrella Pine is particularly well earned, for
not only the expansive and sheltering spread
of its sombre-green foliage, but the direction
taken by its limbs resemble strongly the head-
covering and framework of an umbrella. The
trunk is short and stout, and the limbs are given
off from it at very wide angles, and, from the
point of intersection with the top of the bole,
proceed at once in curves outwards and upwards.

EVERGREEN BEAUTY. 75

The lowest limbs are the longest, as they have
further to go to reach the level of the others, for
the head of this Pine is nearly flat, and the
branching and arrangements are very similar to the
umbellate form of inflorescence. The whole form
of the tree is more or less round, and the limbs
are divided on the same plan as the trunk, and
the branches on the same plan as the limbs.
The bark is seamed and very rugged, and the
whole aspect of the treeishandsome. The elegant
appearance of the long, fleshy, needle-shaped
leaves, inserted, in twos, in short, brown sheaths,
adds to the beauty of the Stone Pine. Another
peculiarity is that the leaves are produced not all
along the sides of the twigs, but‘in tufts at the
end of the spray. The trunk, after giving off
large and even ponderous limbs, sometimes con-
tinues to rise in a more or less erect manner,
dividing finally into limbs, branches, twigs, and
spray, in the same manner as before. Gilpin has
much to say of the Stone Pine. He takes it into
consideration next the Cedar of Lebanon. ‘The
Stone Pine,’ he remarks, ‘ promises little in its
infancy in point of picturesque beauty. It does

76 SYLVAN WINTER.

not, like most of the Fir species, give an early
indication of its future form. In its youth it is
dwarfish and round-headed, with a stout stem, and
has rather the shape of a full-grown bush than
of an increasing tree. As it grows older, it does
not soon deposit its formal shape. But as it
attains maturity, its picturesque form increases
fast, Its lengthening stem assumes commonly
an easy sweep. It seldom, indeed, deviates much
from a straight line, but that gentie deviation is
very graceful, though, above all other lines, diffi-
cult to trace. If accidentally either the stem or
any of the larger branches take a larger sweep
than usual, that sweep seldom fails to be graceful.
It is also among the beauties of the Stone Pine
that, as the lateral branches decay, they generally
leave stumps which, standing out in various
parts of the stem, break the continuity of its
lines.’

Of its foliage Gilpin says, it ‘is as beautiful as
the stem. Its colour is a deep, warm green, and
its form, instead of breaking into acute angles,
like many of the Pine race, is moulded into a
flowing line by an assemblage of small masses.

EVERGREEN BEAUTY. V7

As age comes on, its round, clump head becomes
more flat, spreading itself into a canopy, which
is a form equally becoming. And yet I doubt
whether any resinous tree ever attains that
picturesque beauty in age which we admire so
much in the Oak, The Oakcontinues long vigorous
in his branches, though his trunk decays; but
the resinous tree, I believe, decays more equally
through all its parts ; and in age, oftener presents
the idea of vegetable decrepitude than of the stout
remains of a vigorous constitution. And yet in
many circumstances, even in this state it may be
an object of picturesque notice. Thus we see in
the form of the Stone Pine, what beauty may
result from a tree with a round head and without
lateral branches, which require indeed a good
example to prove. When we look at an Ash or
an Elm, from which the lateral branches have
been stripped, as is the practice in some countries,
we are apt to think that no tree with a head
placed on a long stem can be beautiful; yet in
Nature’s hands (which can mould so many forms
of beauty) it may easily be effected. Nature her-
self, however, does not always follow the rules

78 SYLVAN WINTER.

of picturesque beauty in the production of this
kind of object. The Cabbage Tree, I suppose, is
as ugly as the Stone Pine is picturesque.’

Of the many other beautiful species of Pine,
mention must be briefly made of one or two.
And first ‘the Remarkable Pine’—Pinus in-
signis—claims notice, whose foliage is produced
in beautiful tufts of leaves of four and five inches.
long, the tufts produced symmetrically at the ends.
of the whorled branches, and looking like elegant.
tassels. The Austrian Pine—Pinus austriaca—is.
another species, with long, deep-green leaves:
which, preduced all round the stems, give a:
handsome and bushy appearance to its branches,
whilst for the beauty of its long and drooping
foliage, nothing excels the splendid Pinus excelsa, .
whose name speaks for its qualities.

Amongst the Firs which are distinct and beau-
tiful in their characteristics, the Silver Fir and
two of its varieties demand first mention. The
dark-green glossy leaves of the normal species,
with their white-lined undersides—streaks of
‘silver ’—the leaves disposed in double rows.
along the sides of the twigs that bear them; .

EVERGREEN BEAUTY. 79

Picea nordmamniana with pyramidal form, whorled
branches, and leaves upon them, ornamentally
twisted, and produced all round the stems, but
showing by their twisting habit the white, silvery
streaks of the undersides against the rich, bright
golden-green of the upper sides, and against the
reddish-brown colour of the branches, thé normal
green of the foliage being occasionally tipped with
a golden hue—beautiful, crowded, and much-divided
branches sweeping outward and curving down-
wards: Picea nobilis, equally beautiful, and not
unlike the one just referred to, but with a tint of
darkish green ; and the Spruce Fir—Abies eacelsa
—whose remarkably symmetrical form, upright
stem, and round branches, thickly covered by its
verdant foliage, the leaves evenly disposed all
round the irregularly whorled branches, fine-
pointed and needle-shaped—these are some of
the more prominent species of the beautiful Firs.
There are none who need be told how much
the beauty of Winter is enhanced by the charming
Holly, whose. brilliancy lights up the darkest:
corners of the woods; by the deep green of the
perennial Ivy, and by the delightful foliage, where.

80 SYLVAN WINTER,

seen in its wild state, ofthe Box. Things of beauty,
too, are the opening leaves of Primroses, which in
sheltered corners of the woodland, even when the
thermometer is at zero, are oftentimes fresh and
delightful. Looked at casually, primrose-leaves in
mid-Winter are refreshingly suggestive of light
verdancy ; but examined more closely, we can dis-
cern the beautiful and appropriate fashioning of the
leafy covering. The white, or faintly-green-white of
the thick and fleshy leaf-stalk, and the crumpled
surface of the leafy portion—as yet, in the inci-
pient leaves we are examining, not fully expanded
—would be noticed by the least observant: but
the tiny leaf deserves a closer examination.
Looking at it with a glass, one is struck by the
symmetrical regularity of the entire under-surface
of stalk and stem, or midvein, and of the veins
which branch from it. he crumpled, leafy edge
is bent under, all round. What is especially
noticeable, is the prominent way in which, in the
under-surfaces of the leaves, the veins stand out,
and, crossing and interlacing each other, leave
distinct hollows or depressions, the spaces between
which are densely clothed, as well as are the rib-

EVERGREEN BEAUTY. _ 81

like veins and veinlets, with white downy hairs, It
is this hair which gives the white and mealy or
cottony appearance to the underside of the leaf
of the Primrose. The spaces between the veins
and veinlets, concave on the underside of the leaf
are convex on the upper side, and serve to give
its crumpled appearance to the upper surface of
the leaf. ‘The down glistens as the light catches
it. Down is also spread along the upper side
of the midstem, and shorter and smaller downy
hairs are spread upon the upper leafy side. Even
a tiny, incipient leaf of Primrose, no more than
three-quarters of an inch long, is, in mid-Winter,
a thing of beauty.

Too wide in its wealth of verdancy is the world
of wintry greenness to have detailed. mention in
these pages. How many of the plants that in
spring and summer display the gorgeousness
of blossom have persistent foliage of freshest
green during the ‘ dead’ season, only those
know who know the wintry lanes and meads and
moors and woods ; and, descending to the world
of cryptogamic vegetation, there are regions on
regions clothed with graceful ferns and moss and

@

82 SYLVAN WINTER.

lichen. Earth-bank, rock and wall, stream-side,
foot path, roadway, the woody forest, the open
moor or heath, cliffs and beach by the seaside, the
rocky valley, the mountain, the level field, nay,
the water itself, both the briny sea and the fresh
river, stream, or brooklet,—all furnish their quota
of perennial greenness to brighten the aspect of
Winter.

Vi
snow.

EEN though the wind
may blow, and desolate
as may be the out-
look from warm habit-
able rooms upon
fallen snow, there is,
nevertheless, more
than a charm, there is

a strange fascination,
inasnow-storm. Who
has not felt this charm and experienced this fasci-
nation when looking at the operation of one of the
most silent, yet one of the most beautiful of the.
forces of Nature? In the sownds of Nature, there
is much to impress our sense of hearing. There
are few amongst us, probably, who do not ex-
perience a feeling of awe at the sudden crash of
thunder with its. accompanying reverberations ;
G2

84, SYLVAN WINTER.

at the mighty roar of a cataract; or at the heavy
impact of a furious sea upon a rock-bound coast.
Other sounds there are in Nature which impress
or charm us in a degree determined by the force
of the operations which give rise to them. The
impetuous rush of flood-water along the bed of a
mountain stream; the whistling and moaning of
the wind as it moves with a strength which sways
to and fro the giant forms of trees; the beating
of heavy rain, and the hiss of a hail-storm. Or the
dreamy gurgle of a trickling stream ; the summer
breeze discoursing leafy music amidst the foliage
of a wood, and the soft sounds of bird and insect
life. In her sights, too, Nature can appal or
charm, as the mood befits her—appal by the lurid
outburst of a voleano carrying death far and wide
to the animal and to the plant world; by the flash
of the electric fluid charged with death to all
living things which may lie in its irresistible path
to the earth, and by the blaze of fire which has
won the mastery over human efforts at repression
—and she can charm by the golden or silvery
light of sun or moon; by the beauty of form and
by the wealth of varying colour.

SNOW. 85

With falling snow there is no audible sound,
and perhaps one of the greatest charms of this
especial operation of Nature is its noiselessness.
There is something indescribably beautiful and
graceful in the descent of the feathery flakes of
purest white as they come, thick and fast, upon
every level surface and upon every ‘coign of
vantage.’ The process begins and continues in
silence—continuing oftentimes with such per-
sistence as to suspend human operations by
blocking up the artificial channels of communi-
cation established by industrial populations ; and
the smallness, the lightness,-and the adhesiveness
of the individual particles which compose a snow-
storm, enable fallen snow to assume the pictu-
resqueness which lends so attractive an aspect to
our Winters. But irregularity of the surface
on which the snow falls is essential, in order to
produce this picturesqueness—produced by the
presence of snow on the landscape—picturesque-
ness, we mean, in an external degree, for as we
shall see anon, apart from their effect as a whole,
individual snowflakes have each an intrinsic
beauty and interest. A level ground is soon

86 SYLVAN WINTER.

covered with a white mantle by rapidly-falling
flakes. But on a broken surface the points and
angles presented by jutting corners of earth,
stone, or rock, and by the stems and twigs of
the leafless shrubs which may be growing around,
first catch the airy, feathery particles of crystal-
lized moisture, and display the beauty of their
whiteness by contrasts of colour-—the sombre
colour of rock and earth, of the brown bark of
leafless shrubs, or of Winter evergreens. Hre
long, however, the persistence of a snow-storm
will cover all lowly objects, and drape the earth,
with a thick and level carpet of white. But
above this level uniformity of whiteness, trees will
still lift their beautiful heads and present the
especial charm and picturesqueness of snow-clad
sylvan Winter.

And how softly and gracefully is the sylvan,
panorama produced, and how deftly the work is
done! If the wind stirs not to spoil the process,
what marvellous fabrics of beauty are built upon
every twig! In ten thousand corners and angles,
produced by the extensive ramification of a tree,
the white crystalline objects are piled in profusion.

SNOW. 87

It has all the appearance of veritable fairy-work.
Upon the substantial basis afforded by the fork,
where the limbs first part from the trunk, or,
above, where thick branches and boughs divide
from the limbs, it is not surprising to find snow
crystals piled in abundance. But the process is.
continued by gradation upwards—higher and
higher—for the tiniest sprigs and the tiniegt of
sprays support their burdens of flakes, rajged
upon the most slender of foundations, each snqw-
crystal clinging to each and forming structuyes
of singular delicacy and beauty, the countle ae
_ variations of which render detailed description
impossible, but give the mind impressions that,
stimulate the sense of wonder and arouse admi-
ration in the least emotional beings.

The picturesque and beautiful effects of fallen
snow vary with the variation in the arboreal forms
on which it is displayed, and when different
species of trees and shrubs grow side by side,
the contrast is most marked and striking. EHver-
greens strike the eye most by contrast of colour ;
deciduous trees, stripped, as they are in winter,
of their leafy appendages, by the beauty of form.

88 SYLVAN WINTER.

In the rigid Holly the snow is caught at a thou-
sand points by the curled and prickly leaves, and
though the freight be heavy, the tree stands erect
and firm, its dark-green colour showing vividly
out from the folds of its crystalline mantle. In
the broader-leaved Laurel, a larger, yet softer and
more pliant foundation is provided, and the stems
are often bent to the ground under their superin-
cumbent weight. Yet still some spots of green
are left to set off in contrast the white, enveloping
shroud; and numberless evergreens, ranging in
the size and texture of their leaves from extremes
to intermediate forms, give rise to almost count-
less variations in their snow-storm spectacle.

But itis upon the naked forms of trees that the
snow-crystals are displayed with the most striking
effects; for the flakes adhere more readily to
the rougher surfaces of the leafless twigs and
branches than to the more or less smooth and
glossy sides of leaves. The absence of foliage
exposes to the influence of the white, fairy-like
enchantment tens of thousands of little points of
vantage; and beautiful as at all times is the
ramification of a tree when seen in its full per-

SNOW. 89

fection, as it is in the Winter, it is exceptionally
beautiful when the numberless and elegantly
disposed limbs, branches, twigs and spray are
emphasized, so to speak, by the presence of the
pure and brilliant substance that sets them off.

From our brief and hasty consideration of the
beauty of snow, let us pass to its utility. How
often, before the advent of frost—hard biting, all-
destroying frost—that, unchecked and unresisted,
would press life out of the vegetable world, has
Nature gently and softly and noiselessly sent the
white, all-enveloping mantle of snow to keep
warmth, and, with warmth, life, in the atmosphere
which most closely and immediately invests the
plant regions. Cold and icy as it is to the touch,
it is nevertheless a most effectual garment; for,
as we know, our clothes do not actually warm
us, but only keep in close contact with our bodies
the warmth which the latter radiate; so the snow,
intensely cold as, in itself, it is, keeps in and
around the plants it covers, both thé heat which
they themselves give off, and the heat which is
radiated from the ground beneath them.

‘VI.

SNOW-COVERED FOREST.

} ‘

TRANGELY _ beautiful
was the prospect we

looked out upon in
the morning from our
forest lodging! Snow
had silently fallen
durmg the night,
and had flung its
fairy mantle far and
wide upon the land-:
scape. For a moment the nearer view engrossed
our attention. By our window rose an_ivy-
mantled Spruce, whose sweeping, pendant,outward
branches alone had caught the snow, which hung
from them like large, white hands, with fingers
spread and pointing downwards. Below it on the
right spread and drooped the twisted, picturesque

SNOW-COVERED FOREST. 91

branches of an Apple-tree, on the upper side of
which—on every limb, bough, and twig—was
strewn the crystal whiteness. The air was
motionless, no wind having stirred to shake the
marvellous fabric. And hence the reason why.
_the clustered snow-flakes had poised themselves
upon the highest, upright points of twigs, gathering
there into small white balls. a
But now, lifting our eyes forest-wards, we take.
in, as the vision ranges over the distant stretch of
spreading woods, a scene of gathering splendour.
The foreground forms of Oak and Beech for a
moment attract attention to the rimy beauty of
their wintry boughs and twigs; but looking on-
wards and outwards, where the woods rise one
over the other, our admiration culminates in the
magnificent prospect which is afforded by the mass
of snow-covered branches, presenting—though so
distant—not a confused glare of white, but an
appearance as of a vast sheet of fairy-like fret-
work, like that which would be produced if a
mist which had been hanging in the air and
obscuring the tree-heads from view had suddenly
been: condensed and precipitated on the forest,

92 SYLVAN WINTER.

leaving clear the atmosphere above it, so that the
eye might, without impediment to the vision, take
in the whole of the beautiful prospect.

As we have been looking, however, the sky has
darkened threateningly, and a shadow has crept
over the forest, obscuring the beauty of the dis-
tant fretwork. The reason of this change soon
becomes manifest, for the air is presently filled
with great, falling flakes, floating with silent beauty
to the earth, and, though obscuring the sylvan
prospect on which the eye had been delightedly
looking, giving new loveliness to the nearer
scene,

VII.
A SNOWY LANDSCAPE.

HE next scene is a city
and suburban one; the
city is London, and the
suburbs and environs
the country towards
Boxhill. Passing over
London Bridge after a
snow-storm, the short

period since the fall
had sufficed to turn the crowded roadway and
footways into mud, so enormous was the
noisy traffic of vehicles and foot-passengers.
The big river, too, beneath the arches of the
bridge was busy with traffic, but wharf-roofs
lining its banks and many a boat and other
vessel were white with vestiges of the storm.
Taking train from London Bridge station for

94, SYLVAN WINTER.

Boxhill, we are soon out of the hurly-burly.
On many housetops, in the six-foot ways, and in
many a suburban garden, as we rapidly pass on-
wards, the precipitated whiteness is conspicuous.
The snow gradually gains ground as we come
upon meadows and trees outside the great city.
By Champion Hill, Tulse Hill, and Streatham,
passing in alternation level stretches of line and
snow-covered embankments, the white expanse of
meadows, the picturesque forms of snow-clad
Oaks, and undulating enclosures of fields and
trees. From Streatham to Mitcham Junction by
the leafless forms of Elms bordering meadows,
the delicate branches of the trees prettily whitened
here and there. Then along the edge of a grassy,
furzy common, and on to Hackbridge. From
Hackbridge to Carshalton, whose houses are scat-
tered amidst its snow-tipped trees; on, by lime-
stone cuttings, to Sutton. From Sutton by snowy,
spreading fields to Cheam. Here let us pause a
moment to remark that the genial: author of
‘Forest Scenery’ lived at Cheam from 1752 to
1777. He became, first, principal assistant, and
then master, at a school in that village. It was

A SNOWY LANDSCAPE. 95

there that he married, and from that: starting-
place that he made those tours through England,
Scotland, and Wales that formed the foundation
for his various books on ‘ Picturesque Beauty,’
which were all written and published during his
residence ‘there, except ‘ Forest Scenery,’ which
was conceived, written, and published during his
residence at Boldre, in the New Forest. “We shall,
we trust, be forgiven for this digression! Past
Cheam the route is through undulating country—
cultivated, but now snow-covered, fields, studded
here and there with the wintry, snowy forms of trees
—to Ewell. From thence it is not a long journey
to Epsom, partly embowered in trees, by a furze-
covered embankment and through a furzy com-
mon, and away to Ashstead. Through more
undulating country, with distant views of snow-
clad hills, to Leatherhead. The way now becomes
bolder, the tree-covered hills take rounder sweeps ;
we are hurried from the snowy landscape into the.
dark depths of a tunnel, and, reaching anon its
other side, emerge amidst the beautiful scenery of
Boxhill. :

From the station we take a turn round to the

96 SYLVAN WINTER.

right into a road which, as we follow it, winds
round to the left, and then takes a sweep round
to the right. Here, just above us, now away to
our right, looms the steep height of Boxhill,
covered with its dark mantle of foliage. To get
to the foot of the hill and commence its toilsome
ascent we must cross a bridge, a peep over which
induces a momentary halt. The water below is
muddy and troubled by a flood, and the noise of
its course is heightened by its impact against the
trunk of a tree which has fallen across its course
from side to side, and thus impedes the hurrying
waters. <A little way in front the stream is lost
from view as it bends round to the right. Its
right bank is margined by trees which observe
no regular mode of growth, but whose mossy and
lichen-covered boles are bent in different ways,
some back over the stream-side meadow on the
right, and some forward over the water. One
tree, rooted in the bank on the right, whose roots
have doubtless been loosened by the wash of the
stream, has fallen forward so far that its topmost
branches overhang the opposite stream-bank;
another in front has its trunk wrapped in a dense

HORNBEAM,

A SNOWY TANDSCAPE. 97

mantle of ivy. Through the leafless branches of
these trees—through the interstices between
sturdy boles, twisted limbs, and the fretwork of
branches, we see the dark-green and steep sides
of Boxhill, flung into relief here and there by
patches of snow, not melted by the sun, which is
now shining brightly. But what can there be in
the bridge itself worth notice on this mid-Winter
day? lLetus see. Looking down over one of
its sides at the flowing water, there is, neverthe-
less, a picture to admire. The red brick bridge-
side is, in places, covered with deep-green moss
in varying shades from olive to brightest emerald,
and dappled with gold and crimson and orange
from clustering lichen. Crossing the bridge and
bending round to the right, we commence the
ascent of the hill. Itis a steep climb. But the
climber.is soon rewarded for the effort. Hre he
has gone fifty yards upwards, he may turn and
feel the charm of that mysterious feeling which
overspreads the mind and gives a buoyant sense
of nameless pleasure, as one mounts to a height
from whence a view of sylvan beauty can be had
over a wide-spreading landscape. If we follow
H

98 SYLVAN WINTER.

the: rough pathway worn by visitors on the turf
which clothes Boxhill until we come to a point
where the spreading Box-forest touches the path,
we may then turn round and enjoy a fine sight,
although the leaflessness of sylvan Winter is,
from this spot, almost everywhere apparent.
In the- depths of the valley below, near the
railway station, are a few clustered houses, the
smoke from which, as we look down towards
them, is slowly rising into the air. Amidst the
stillness which prevails, the crow of a cock reaches
us, and furnishes an audible indication of village
life. Away beyond the houses, undulating country
stretches—hills, with their sombre garniture of
trees, rising to the right and to the left, whilst
away to the west the sun is descending to the
horizon formed by the crests of distant elevations.
Away on.the opposite side the eye can follow,
in the depressions between the hills, the spreading
sylvan, wintry landscape, which roils away until
it melts into a thin haze of colour. The valley
between, rich with verdant beauty when held
under the sway of leafy summer, is still beauti-
ful, leafless though the trees are; and the sounds

A SNOWY LANDSCAPE. 99

which are thrown into especial relief by the
general stillness prevailing—the sound of a
passing train down below, the songs of birds,
above which the blackbird and the thrush carol
melodiously—are striking and impressive. But
the wild Box, the line of which on. the hill we
have now reached, is not suggestive of mid-Win-
ter, for it is still fresh and verdant and glossy,
and in the axils of its leaves are little golden-
green bunches of buds—floral precursers. Still
gradually ascending we wind round over the hill
to the right, and look down from that point
upon the spreading country.

It is not far to the crest of the hill; but just
before we reach its summit, where a seat is placed
to afford both a resting-place and a point of view,
we pass under the wide-extending boughs of
Beeches which surround a glade on the hill-top ;
and here we may get a peep of. sylvan beauty,
rarely to be obtained. The ground on which we
stand is white with snow, which covers the steeply-
sloping hill-side. Just in front are shrubs of
Box and Yew. On both sides of us and in front
are scattered Beeches, whose trunks, limbs and

H 2

100 SYLVAN WINTER.

boughs are whitened by snow. The Beech-boles
are gracefully and beautifully twisted and turned,
and through a snowy, sylvan fretwork of branches
we look down upon the country below.

The sun, near its setting, is tipping the clouds
with fiery glory. The scattered snow throws
out into relief the green of the meadows and
the darker forms of leafless trees. A few
steps further on and a view from another point
over hill and valley is obtained; and then,
dipping under a green tunnel formed by over-
arching, evergreen foliage, and passing between
a Yew on one side, and a mossy-boled, mossy-
limbed and beautiful Oak on the other, with
gnarled and twisted limbs and boughs, we come
the next instant upon another outlook upon the
landscape beneath us, succeeded by yet another
through a screen formed by the wintry branches
of Beech trees, which raise their leafless heads
aloft over the dwarfer forms of Box and Yew.
By our side an Oak claims attention by the vivid
greenness and beauty of its mossy bole, silvered
by incrusting patches of lichen—by its seamed and ~
rugged bark, and its gnarled and twisted limbs.

A SNOWY LANDSCAPE. 101

Emerging now from the dense thicket of
Box and of clustering trees, our path commences
a descent on the other side of the hill. At this
point a splendid view bursts upon us over a
wide-spreading landscape; from the valley of
meadow and tree down below, away to hills in
the distance beyond, silvered all, far and near,
by its beautiful garment of snow.

VIII.
HOAR-FROST.

UIESCENCE absolutely
of the atmosphere is the
condition precedent of
the maintenance of the
marvellously beautiful
manifestation of nature
called hoar-frost. The
sudden succession of

sharp frost to thick per-
meating fog or mist, hap-
pening in such aperfectly motionless state of the air,
occasions what, but for the easy explanation of its
origin, would be regarded as a curious phenome-
non. We remember one such manifestation that
impressed us by its singular beauty, and we took
careful note of all the circumstances connected
with it. The occasion was the 27th of December,

HUAR-FROST, 103

1879. <A thick fog the day before had, in this
case, precipitated moisture on every prominént
object, on walls, on railings, on branches and.
twigs, on the tiniest sprays of the ramification
of trees and shrubs, on blades of grass, and on
the' gossamer threads’ of spiders. The evening
before, though frosty, had: not been, very cold,
but the cold must have become greatly intensified
towards the morning, and its first severe period
of duration had evidently been detérmined by the
arrival of a keen easterly wind, for everything of
which the frost had taken hold, showed the hoar
onits easterly side. The appearance had, there-
fore, a more remarkable aspect than that which
usually accompanies hoar-frost, because it was
more or less one-sided. It depended upon the
general position of an object how the moisture
had congealed upon it. One Elm tree we noted
was a marvellous spectacle. Every twig was
lined with a thick incrustation of ice, but in this
case the icicles were on the eastern side only.
Each one, too, instead of depending from or being
superposed on the twig, stood out horizontally
from it, and was considerably broader at its base

104 SYLVAN WINTER.

than at its apex, the length from base to apex
being from a half to three-quarters of an inch,
and giving to each twig the general appearance
of a small comb. The crystals were ranged,
(taking the horizontal direction from base to
apex already mentioned) in parallel lines. The
horizontal direction of these icicles was what
gave them their peculiarity, and the general effect
produced by the covering of every twig of this
large Elm in the manner described was singularly
beautiful. It was curious to note that the hoar
on each leaf or stem of the evergreens affected
by this frost took the form of the leaf or stem.
The leaf-margins of Holly and Box, for instance,
and of other evergreens were incrusted with ice
in such a way as to extend the peculiar formation
of each; and here also in some of the large
leaves of Holly the incrustation of ice was from
a half to three-quarters of an inch in breadth,
and the curious effect was witnessed of an indented
margin of ice, which, contrasting with the dark-
green colour of the Holly, looked singularly pretty.
The leaves of Box, being much smaller and more
numerous, though not serrated on their edges

HOAR-FROST, 105

and though hanging in a larger mass from the
shrub, gave a greater variety of surfaces and
presented a curiously interesting sight. The
icicles clung not only to the leaf-edges, but to
leaf-stems and twigs, and when there was any
protuberance on the stems or stalks, such as those
caused by knots from whence the buds spring,
the hoar continued the same protuberant appear-
ance, and this fact showed the evenness and
regularity with which the process of addition by
congelation was continued. Although a good
many shrubs, both of deciduous plants and of
evergreens, were frosted all over their stems
and twigs, the majority of them were covered
with the hoar on their eastern side only. Even
the borders of turf showed the same appearance
on the side towards the east.

Here and there a large expanse of turf would
be found whitened in places where the taller
spikes of grass had been depositories of the pre-
cipitated moisture frozen on them by the keen
east wind; but along the eastern borders of such
turf the blades to a depth of some six inches
from the outer edges (next gravelled walks)

106 SYLVAN WINTER.

were whitened as if flour had been thickly
sprinkled on them. Scotch Firs presented a very
peculiar and striking appearance on account of
the partial action of the frost. Whilst the
greater portion of their foliage wore its normal
hue of dark, bluish-green, here and there little
patches of the needle-shaped leaves were frosted
all over, giving an appearance like that of the
silvering of the human head as years creep on.
Spiders’ webs everywhere were also whitened and
hanging in festoons, and looked like the special
decorations of a festive occasion, affording, in
this instance at least, a warning to unwary flies
who might, otherwise, have been entangled in the
silky toils.

Of the general effect of hoar-frost, the author
of ‘Forest Scenery’ has something tosay. He
remarks :—‘In a light hoar-frost, before the sun
and air begin to shake the powder from the
trees, the wintry forest is often beautiful, and
almost exhibits the effect of tufted foliage. As
single objects also, trees, under this circumstance,
are curious. The black branches, whose under-
sides are not covered’ with rime, often make a

HOAR-FROST. 107

singular contrast with the whitened spray. Trees
of minuter ramification and foliage—as the Beech,
the Elm, and the Fir—appear under the circum-
stance to most advantage. The Ash, the Horse-
Chestnut, and other plants of coarser form have
no great beauty. Trees also, thus covered with
hoar-frost, have sometimes, if not a picturesque,
at least an uncommon effect when they appear
against a lurid cloud; especially when the sun
shines strongly upon them.’

IX.
SNOW=FLOWERS AND [CE-CRYSTALS.

ANIFESTATIONS of
Nature such as those
described in the last
chapter may well be
termed ‘festive oc-
casions.’ Yet splen-
did as the displays
are, on account of the
exquisite arrangement

of the parts which
produce such striking effects, the particles which
provide the elements of the general display
themselves possess a beauty which cannot be
seen by him ‘who runs,’ but needs careful exa-
mination to properly appreciate. Beautiful as
are the mere whiteness and purity of the snowy
particles, their form, revealed to the curious and

SNOW-FLOWERS AND 1CE-CRYSTALS. 109

inquiring eye of the student of Nature, is ex-
quisitely fashioned. To the careless observer of
a snow-storm, or of a hoar-frost, nothing but
white, and to him shapeless, particles are falling.
Yet every particle is a crystal of definite shape,
and, various as these shapes are, they all have
one feature in common, for each is divided into
six parts, each part proportioned with wonderful
symmetry to each. Six-sided spires, each with
six angles; six-sided pyramids, and six-pointed
stars of varying points, some angular, some
rounded. The shapes, indeed, are multitudinous,
but the parts of each are exquisitely proportioned,
and all are placed in exactly the same relation to
each other. Of all sizes, they are some single,
some double; but, whether single or double, the
parts forming the additions which make up the
difference of size are all added in exactly the
same proportion.

A snow-flake! What is that, some reader may
exclaim, but a tiny portion, shapeless and unin-
teresting, of snow? It is not so, however. A
snow-flake is a fabric of exquisite beauty, con-
sisting, it maybe, of one or two snow-crystals,

110 SYLVAN WINTER.

or, it may be, of a number, of marvellous diversity
of shape, as we have just shown, but all related
to each other by six-sided symmetry—each part
of each marvellously and accurately related.

Ice, too, whether the transparent substance
that covers clear water, the heavy, semi-opaque-
looking material presented to us in huge blocks,
or the frail and beautiful material of which hoar-
frost is made, is not a shapeless mass, but a
beautiful fabric consisting of floral shapes of ex-
quisite beauty and diversity. The same quies-
cence of the atmosphere needed for the most
perfect form of hoar-frost must be present for
the preservation of the perfection of form in snow-
crystals. Should the winds roughly stir the
snowy particles, and should these, when fallen,
be roughly trodden under foot, their individual
beauty departs, and they become shapeless masses.
It is as Nature forms them that they assume the
exquisitely beautiful shapes which are the admira-
tion of all who have studied them.

Look at the ice which forms upon a pane of
glass in a bedroom or sitting-room window
when the frosty keenness of the external air has

SNOW-FLOWERS AND ICE-CRYSTALS. 111

cooled the moisture precipitated from the interior
of the room upon the glass. How exquisitely
beautiful are the shapes which the crystallized
icicles have assumed! Disposed are they not
merely with kaleidoscopic symmetry, but with such
definite and general order as to produce an
appearance as of ferns or flowers. Nay, more, it
is not imagination merely, but actual vision
which shows these forms arrayed as trees and
even as woods. There is to be found the trunk,
the boughs, and the ramification of a tree, and
the ‘disposition of trees in the form of woods.
Thus, therefore, microscopically, are represented
much of the glory and the beauty of sylvan
Winter.

X.
THAWING.

NE of the most curious and
interesting—for the atten-
tive student of Nature—
of the climatic influences
which change the varied
aspects of our sylvan
landscapes, is the sudden
accession of warmth, which

oftentimes, in frosty mid-
Winter, causes the almost
magical disappearance from hill and meadow,
from woodland, plain, and river-bank, and—in our
towns and villages—from house-top, street, and
garden, of their enveloping mantle of snow. If
there be an absorbing attractiveness in the silent
grandeur of the process by which Nature covers
every visible object with a garment fashioned—in

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FIELD MAPLE.

THAWING. 1138

resplendent whiteness—of myriads of crystalline
forms of exquisite beauty, it is scarcely less
interesting to watch the sudden withdrawal of the
force which gives so great a charm to the frigid
cohesiveness of particles of moisture. Yet the
especial charm with which the two operations of
Nature to which we have referred are invested,
would be lost if it were not for the existence of
the plant world—of spreading tree and clustering
shrub, and of the grass and other evergreen plants
that cover the ground.

How beautiful is the provision for the needs of
the plant world made by the presence of snow!
When a period of frost, which would kill by its
biting severity all growing things, is about to
ensue, then the white and beautiful mantle of
snow is flung over the ground to protect them
from the fierceness of the cold. The cold has its
mission as well as the snow, and both are neces-
sary and actin unison. There is little warmth in
the snow itself—heat in some degree there is in
every body—but the looseness of the crystals as
they lie together in masses renders the aggregated
body of snow a bad conductor of heat, and hence

I

114 SYLVAN WINTER.

the warmth which is always radiating from the
earth becomes entangled in the mass, and the
needful protection is afforded to living plants.
But, as we have seen, it is not a coarse white
mantle that is thrown over the earth, but a fabric
wrought in the most exquisite form.

So soon, however, as external warmth is no
longer needed, the crystalline garment is with-
drawn. Its existence being dependent upon the
maintenance of the degree of cold known as the
freezing-point, the moment that point is passed
by the slightest addition of heat to the atmo-
sphere, at that moment the magic forms disappear,
and the six-sided icy stars and other figures of
beauty are resolved into the aqueous form from
which, by almost a magical process, they were
evolved. ‘T'he process is more or less gradual.
The necessary heat does not affect each individual
amidst the mass of crystals at the same moment,
but it is often very rapid, and the refreshing water
pouring over the glistening sides of leaves which
have borne the protecting crystals, cleanses them
from the dust and other impurities which—depo-
sited upon them during, perhaps, a long preceding

THAWING. 115

period of dryness—would choke up their breath-
ing pores and injure their health and vitality and
vigour. Asa washing, and consequently cleansing
process only, the action of a thaw is oftentimes
more thorough than the action of rain. From
the varying angles at which leaves and stems lie,
rain, even of the most persistent, kind, cannot
reach every point; but the moisture which pre-
cedes a hoar-frost or a snow-storm is most
penetrating, and precipitates upon every exposed
part of plants—trunk, branches, and twigs,
Snow intervening and frost, the moisture is fixed
by the formation of ice and snow crystals, and
thus, when the thaw comes suddenly, every part
is washed in a more effective way than could. be
the case by the action of rain. The earth, too,
which may have been dry and parched previous
to the snowfall, receives invigoration and refresh-
ment for the roots it has to nourish by the watet
carried into it by the melting of snow. The plant
world seems as if placed under a spell during the
existence and continuance of frost and snow, and
there is relief and rejoicing under the genial
influence of a thaw. For those who delight, in
I 2

116 SYLVAN WINTER.

Winter, in that exquisite verdancy and gloss which
mark evergreens, there is perhaps no greater
enjoyment than a visit to a lane or wood, or to
any place where green life exists, immediately
after a thaw. Hverything is so delightfully fresh.
The glistening of the green foliage is like a smile
of satisfaction. The earth and all upon it seems
to rejoice at the change. A refreshing beverage
has been drunk: roots, stems, and leaves have
been invigorated; drying winds follow, to remove
all unnecessary moisture, and the plant world is
obviously and very materially stimulated for the
remainder of what may yet prove a trying season.
It is quite erroneous to suppose that the vegetable
world is insensible to the operations of Nature
during Winter. Though buds swell not, and leaves
do not grow, there is an existence which is very
real, though not very obvious. There is rest in
a large measure, but nothing at all approaching
lifelessness. Roots are full of life and vigour,
though they may not be growing. The subterra-
nean world of stem, root, rootlets, and root-fibres
is not subject to the same influences as the life
above ground. ‘T’o them the Winter season is by

THAWING. 117

no means dead; for them, mainly, is the snowy
mantle of warmth thrown over the world, to keep
them in health and security, and they feel more

powerfully than the parts exposed to the light the
genial influence of thawing.

AI.
MIST, RAIN, AND HAIL.

AIN and hail, like snow,
have for many people
a fascination. There
is indeed no operation

. of Nature that has not
its interest; but the
interest is doubtless
proportioned to the

degree of the mani-
festation. At its mi-
nimum, doubtless, during the progress of a slow,
drizzling shower, the interest in rain—unless it
chances to interfere with our pleasures or our
business plans—culminates with the heavy and
sudden downpour of athunderstorm. The inter-
ference which the incident makes with human
operations is probably largely accountable for the

MIST, RAIN, AND HAIL. 119

immediate attention which it secures; but apart
altogether from such a personal reason for our
interest, there can be no doubt that the spectacle
itself is wonder-moving, when it is manifested with
force. The sudden rattle of a violent hail-storm
similarly excites not only wonder, but admi-
ration: and this wonder and admiration are
mainly, we think, attributable to the conscious or
unconscious reverence which man feels for the
works of the Almighty.

The least educated, following the commonest
instincts of Nature, are attracted and their at-
tention riveted by the violence of the elements;
but mist, that noiselessly creeps over the land-
scape and makes its presence felt gently and
insensibly, seldom occasions any wonder by its
manifestations, and it requires an artistic eye and
artistic feeling to appreciate the delicacy, beauty,
and suggestiveness which accompany the advent
of mist. Fog, which is mist intensified, has its
beauty; but it is in the earlier stage of what
may be called transparency that the greatest
beauty is discoverable. The origin of both are
well understood. Yet to many persons it would

120 SYLVAN WINTER.

scarcely occur that fog is, in reality, nothing more
than cloud, and that cloud is nothing more than
fog. Those who ascend high enough on moun-
tains to enter the region of cloud, know that the
appearance is exactly the same as that of a fog.
Both are fog, and both cloud—the different name
‘merely indicating the difference of origin; cloud
originating in the higher regions of the air, and
fog in the lower, close against the earth. The
condensation by contact of cold air currents
with the moisture which is always, more or less,
invisibly floating in the atmosphere, causes it to
become visible, and, according to its abundance,
to more or less obscure our perception of the
objects between which and our sight it occurs.
The beauty caused by cloud is universally
admired. The varied forms of the aerial fog,
and the play of light upon it, give rise to ever-
changing loveliness. The grovelling mist, how-
ever, has features of beauty which require to be
seen under varying circumstances to be fully
appreciated. The veil of suggestive mystery
which it throws over the landscape is often
delightful. The softening of glaring light, the

MIST, RAIN, AND HAIN. 121

partial obscuration of sun and moon, the hiding
of detail in the larger and grander scenes of
Nature where mountains and seas play their
part, the soft mystery which hangs over the
rush of water when hidden partially by a thin veil
of obscuring moisture,—these are some of what
artists call the ‘ effects’ produced by wintry mists.
As Gilpin truly says: ‘Many a form and many a
hue, which in the full glare of sunshine would be
harsh and discordant, are melted together in har-
mony ’—that is, under the influence of mistiness
of the atmosphere. He continues: ‘ We often see
the effects of this mode of atmosphere in various
species of landscape, but it has nowhere a better
effect than in the woods of a forest. Nothing
appears, through mist, more beautiful than trees
a little removed from the eye when they are
opposed to trees at hand; for as the foliage of a
tree consists of a great number of parts, the
contrast is very pleasing between the varied
surface of the tree at hand, and the dead, unvaried
appearance of the removed one. Very often a
picture in part unfinished pleases the eye more
from contrast, than when every part is fully made

122 SYLVAN WINTER.

out. Such, often, is the effect of the hazy medium.
The light mist is only a greater degree of hazi-
ness. Its object is a nearer distance, as a remote
one is totally obscured by it. In this situation
of the atmosphere, not only all the strong tints of
Nature are obscured, but all the smaller variations
of form are lost. We look only for a general
mass of softened harmony and sober colouring,
unmarked by any strength of effect. Sometimes
these mists are partial; and if they happen to
coincide with the composition of the landscape,
this partiality is attended with peculiar beauty.’
Gilpin adds: ‘When some huge promontory
emerges from a spreading mist which hangs over
one part of it, it not only receives the advantage
of contrast, but it also becomes an object: of double
grandeur. We often see the woods of the forest
also with peculiar advantage emerging through a
mist in the same style of greatness.’ *

The rapidly-moving mist, as the vapours are
chased by the wind, has also oftentimes a powerful
effect in bringing out into vivid relief certain parts
of a scene, and obscuring others, and revealing

* “Forest Scenery,’ pages 316-8.

MIST, RAIN, AND HAIL. 123

and obscuring in alternation. Then, as Gilpin
has been at pains to indicate, the contrasts are
forcible between strong light illumining with
brilliancy all objects it rests upon, and the indefi-
niteness of mistiness in parts of the same scene.
In the delightful manner which makes his writings
so pleasant, he describes what he indicates in the
following passages. ‘The effect is often pleasing
when the sun rises in unsullied brightness, diffusing
its ruddy light over the upper parts of objects,
which is contrasted by the deeper shadows below ;
yet the effect is then only transcendant when he
rises, accompanied by a train of vapours, in a
misty atmosphere. Among lakes and mountains
this happy accompaniment often forms the most
astonishing visions; and yet, in the forest, it is
nearly as great. With what delightful effect do
we sometimes see the sun’s discjust appear above
a woody hill, or, in Shakespeare’s language,—

“Stand tiptoe on the misty mountain’s top,”
and dart his diverging rays through the rising

vapour! The radiance, catching the tops of the
trees as they hang midway upon the shaggy steep,

124: SYLVAN WINTER.

and touching here and there a few other pro-
minent objects, imperceptibly mixes its ruddy
tint with the surrounding mists, setting on fire,
as it were, their upper parts, while their lower
skirts are lost in a dark mass of varied confusion,
in which trees and ground and radiance and
obscurity are all blended together. When the eye
is fortunate enough to catch the glowing instant
(for it is always a vanishing scene), it furnishes
an idea worth treasuring amongst the choicest
appearances of Nature. Mistiness alone, we
have observed, occasions a confusion in objects,
which is often picturesque; but the glory of the
vision depends on the glowing lights which are
mingled with it.’

In a thunderstorm, rain doubtless produces
its finest effect. One element of the impression
it makes is its suddenness and impetuosity. The
heavily-rushing downpour is itself picturesque,
and its accompanying incidents are striking—the
most important being the rapid accumulation of
flood-water and the powerful effect which is often
produced by it in a brief space of time. But
the silent fall has its interest and beauty. Part

MIST, RAIN, AND HAIL. 125

of the feeling excited by gentle rain arises from
associative and mental, rather than spectacular—
if the expression may be used—causes. The
knowledge that it is intended for a wise pur-
pose, that it exercises a cleansing and purifying
influence, that it promotes the great objects of
Nature in numberless ways, produces an effect
which, by insensible association of ideas, gives
pleasure. Of the sensuous effects of rainfall,
the freshness and coolness of the air and the
temporary gloss imparted to evergreen vege-
tation are amongst the most’ important. The
picturesque effects, however, are often important.
Like the improvement of a drawing by a few
strokes of the pencil, introducing incidents not
previously existing, rain not unfrequently appears
to emphasize the salient features of the landscape.
As incidents of the rain itself worth notice, are
the moderation, the acceleration, or the inter-
mittent stopping of the storm; the parting, the
brightening, or the lowering and darkening of
the clouds.

Hail is much less frequent, but even more
striking in its effects, though these effects are less

126 SYLVAN WINTER.

numerous than those caused by rain. Rain
attracts usually, but hail always commands atten-
tion. Both, however, are worth notice as amongst
the most interesting of the features which relieve
the ‘dead’ season from its undeserved reputation

for monotony.

XII.
WINTER MOONLIGHT.

OVELY, almost beyond
expression, is moonlight.
Yet there are widely
differing degrees in the
quality of the soft, sil-
very rays of the Queen of
the Night as they reach
us through the varying

medium of the atmo-
sphere. ‘heir quality,
indeed, is wholly determined by atmospheric
conditions. Moonlight is always pleasant, sug-
gestive, fanciful, and picturesque—whether the
moon is shining with a rich red glow of colour
through abounding fog: whether surrounded—as
it appears to be—by a halo of glory when the air
is filled with thin vapoury mists; whether sailing

128 SYLVAN WINTER.

—as it seems to do to our vision—through a
sea of silver-tipped clouds, or standing out un-
relieved against the clear blue vault of the sky.
But of all the aspects under which moonlight can
be seen, there is none, we think, which has the
especial splendour of display in the same degree
as that which is produced by the .moon in a spot-
less sky, with atmospheric conditions of absolute
clearness and purity. Such conditions exist in
many seasons of the year, but perhaps seldom does
the moon shine with such exceptional brilliancy as
into the clear, frosty atmosphere of a Winter
night. It is probably the greater steadfastness of
the light in Winter that gives the impression of
greater beauty or of a greater extreme of inten-
sity. In the summer woodlands there is always
more or less of motion; for breezes, imperceptible
to the keenest sense of touch, move the fragile,
mobile leaves of deciduous trees. If we do not
see the leaves move, we can see the motion of
their shadows, whether cast by sun or moon; and
with motion there is sownd—it may be barely
audible, but there is sound. If the nightingale is
not pouring forth his melody into the woods, there

‘aVId0d AGUVAKOT ‘sW1a (‘ONINYOR ALsoua v) *‘aNVIa

WINTER MOONLIGHT. 129

are other sounds of bird or insect. Night moths,
too, though their flitting be noiseless, attract
attention by their motion, and distract the eye
sensibly, though it may be unconsciously, from the
brilliancy of light. But in Winter the birds are
silent ; no insect form flits between the eye and
the landscape; leaves, even of evergreens, in the
stillness of the frosty air, make no audible sound ;
even the shadows of boughs and spray move not,
and the brilliant moon, shining in full-orbed
splendour in a.cloudless sky, sheds a brilliancy
which absorbs attention. Hence it is that Winter
moonlight gives impressions of exceptional beauty.
when the orb of night rules in silent majesty.

But clouds, sound, and motion—as incidents—
vive their varying interest to Winter moonlight.
Perhaps a railway journey affords one of the
most rapid means of estimating the changes of
moonlight, and the variety of the circumstances
which promote or are promoted by these changes.
Here is a typical scene.

The journey is commenced in darkness, relieved
only by lights twinkling amongst trees from cot-
tages by the way.. Then the full moon first peeps

K

130 SYLVAN WINTER.

above the horizon, and soon emerges into full
view, casting as yet but a feeble light. Anon, it
struggles through fleecy clouds, now appearing,
now obscured. Then at length it rises clear into
the blue arc, throwing the full flood of its silvery
radiance upon meadow and hedge and tree. The
wintry trees have an appearance of singular still-
ness, of desolateness and abandonment—for in
summer, when clothed with their delightful dress
of green leaves, there is about them an air of
comfort, a sort of restful fullness.

Here and there meadows which receive: the
full light of the moon are thrown into relief
by the shadows which lurk in trenches that
cross and intersect them. Presently the vision
momentarily changes as the train runs into
a station. The red, blue, and white lights;
the sheen of the worn and polished rails as the
moonbeams are reflected from them; the rush
of passengers for refreshment; the hurry,
bustle, and general excitement; the lights of the
town, sometimes houses only, and sometimes
houses and trees—sometimes level, and sometimes
undulated or hilly. Then away again into a

WINTER MOONLIGHT. 131

country, it may be of moonlit fields and woods, or
of a sparsely-inhabited region, where the twinkle of
scattered lights gives a human interest to the scene.

Now the eye is attracted by the different
forms of the spray, whether of tree or bush,
exposed in its wintry beauty; now by the white
walls of house or farm building; now by the still
forms of cattle or sheep, in harmony both with
the scene and with its silence. The shadows of
the taller trees, thrown by the moon in its early
rising, are so long that they stretch almost across
the meadows—shadows broad or narrow, according
to the size of the tree-heads. Whenever clear
water is passed, it brilliantly reflects the moonlight,
and flashes like molten silver; when it fills the
intersecting trenches of meadows, its effect is
often striking—the grassy swards being thrown
up in strong relief against the silver flash of the
water. The effect is greatest where the streams
of water are broad; and when these are running,
the appearance is like that of liquid silver in
motion. A great solemnity seems to rest upon
the Elms, standing in the hedges in silent leafless

rows or in groups.
K 2

132 . SYLVAN WINTER.

~ As it approaches the zenith, the moon gains in
impressiveness, growing more bright, paling the
blue of the sky, and giving beautiful and striking
effects to great banks of floating cloud, which,
dark in its centre, is brilliant in its silver lining.
The variety in the: size of clouds, too, and the
various distribution of cloud masses, help to give
effects of great beauty.

XII.
COLOUR.

ERY beautiful are the
tints of sylvan Win-
ter. Those who say
the season is ‘ dead’
have. no eyes for its
colour, life; move-

ment, and force.
‘Where is it8 co-
lour?’ we fancy

‘ some reader may
exclaim, There is green, he will admit. How
many are the shades of green? There is the
dark, glistening verdancy of the Holly, and the
rich depth of the Ivy. Look at Ivy glistening even
from the gloom of afog! Is it one monotonous
shade of colour? No, indeed. The dark, deep
glossiness of the leafy epidermis is contrasted by

134 SYLVAN WINTER.

the lighter (it may be almost golden) shade of
the veins and veinlets, and by the purple sheen of
the stem. Tree Ivy, with its bright and with its
golden-green, mantles upon dark-brown boles and
twines along bare and wintry boughs. Gorse,
too, stands out in verdant lightness, Scotch Fir in
its rich tinge of bluish-green, and the branches of
the Yew in darker shades. Far and wide, too,
spreads the mantling grass, with shades on
shades of varying hue. For blue, there is the
wide vault of heaven and the restless expanse of
the glorious sea; for gold, the glint of sunlight,
sometimes the sparkle of gorse blossoms, and
always the rich colouring of incrusting lichen.
Silver we look for on the Birch; crimson amidst
the Holly, whose berries cling to its branches ;
purple in the spray of Birch and of Beech, and in
the leaves and stems of the Brambles; gold and
brown together in the Bracken, and brown in the
Oak and Elm, and many another stem, all varying
in their shades of colour. The clouds seem to catch
and gather up the glowing tints, for though we
have no green in the fleecy or piled-up masses of
vapour that float under the eye of the sun, we

COLOUR. 1385

have the elemental rays of green in blue and
yellow, and we have, too, in the clouds, fiery red,
and purple, and orange, and gold.

Rich, indeed, are the wintry hues of the forest
—bole, branch, spray, and foliage. Even the
ground is brilliantly dyed with the deep green, the
golden-green, or the purple and red, and pink
and orange, and brown of moss; the red and
brown of fallen leaves; and the reddish-brown of
the Bracken. In meadow and lane, too, are many
rich colours, unsuspected sometimes by those who
have never looked for them, but often plain to the
most heedless eyes. And by the sea-shore there
is a wealth of beauty. Here is one little glimpse
obtained during a rapid railway journey. Against
the red pebbly surface of the sandstone rocks we
noticed the contrast of deép green grass, and the
golden blossoms of wild camomile. There had
been a recent thaw, and all the colours were of
the freshest. Passing meadows and trees ard
houses, we noted the rich colouring given on tree-
trunks and walls by moss and lichen—green, and
gold, and orange. Then some Scotch Firs lighted
up the scene, contrasting with the bare boughs

136 SYLVAN WINTER.

and twigs of deciduous trees by the peculiar
beauty of their glaucous foliage. Even the float-
ing weed in stagnant water seemed peculiarly
rich in its vivid greenness. Upon green patches
of turf peeping out of flooded meadows rooks
were perched, giving relief again by their sable
plumage to the colours around them.

It is the sun, however, which is the power that
gives life to all the colours of forest, sea-shore,
lane, or meadow. Under its inspiriting rays,
gold and purple, and red and orange, the shades
of brown and the shades of green, exhibit the
‘hues which charm us by their intrinsic beauty and
by the loveliness of contrast. In its absence a
uniform dullness overspreads the tints we have
admired; but even when the orb of day retires
for a period behind masses of cloud, we often
have almost a repetition of the tints momentarily
withdrawn from the earth. We may not wait
long for the return of the golden beams, and the
intermittent play of light is in itself beautiful,
for it brings in its train the variety which

charms.

XIV.
LIFE, MOVEMENT, FORCE.

EAD to a sense of things
existent must be the
wanderer . by stream,
lane, or mead, by
sea-shore or through
forest, who does not
come back from his
rambles with the feel-
ing that there is life
in Winter, though the

season be ‘dead.’ There is much that sleeps

and rests, but the pulse of life beats steadily,

though somewhat less vigorously than in spring,
autumn, and summer. Let -him look amidst the
furrowed bark of tree-boles, under the cover of
evergreen leaves, amidst the blades of grass, or
just under the surface of the earth, and he will

138 SYLVAN WINTER.

find in their silk-lined cases, or suspended in
their protecting hammocks, a thousand forms of
insect beauty, nursed by Nature through the in-
clemency of the Winter; and he will find—awake
and active—animal, bird, and insect life, in
greater force than he ever suspected.

Movement only there is in the ever-moving
breeze, giving life to stillness, moving responsive
boughs and twigs, and carrying many-hued clouds
across the sky. Then there is the motion down-
wards, downwards, of rain and hail and snow,
the plash or roar of the river or torrent, the hurry
of the flood, and the rush of the cataract.

Force is shown in the resistless passage of
lightning, the impetuous power of stream and
flood, the impact of the sea, and the overwhelming
violence, or, it may be, only the gentle pressure of
the wind. In all these is life, movement, and force ;
in all their aspects, in all their phases and degrees,
in all the moods or forms in which Nature exhibits
them, there is beauty.

PART IL.

WINTER WOOD LORE.

PART II.

WINTER WOOD LORE.
I.

SPRAY.

URIOUS, indeed, and -.beau-
r ~— tiful is the almost infinite
variety of that part of a
tree’s ramification which is
called ‘spray. Of the
general character of the
ramification of particular
and individual trees, we
riws have discoursed in a pre-
vious chapter when treating of ‘Tree Forms.’

Here it is our object to enter into more detail,
and to give to our notes and descriptions,
in the text. itself, that aid which is better

142 SYLVAN WINTER.

than any other—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,’

SPRAY. 143

he continued, ‘is certainly useful. It is true it
has none of the larger parts of painting for its
object—composition—or the massing of light and
shade ; but we consider it as necessary for those
to understand who wish either to be acquainted
with the particular character of each tree, or its
general effect. Nor,’ he adds, ‘is it an unpleas-
ing study. There is much variety in the ramifi-
cation of each species ; and much also in that of
each individual. We see everywhere so many
elegant lines, so much opposition, and rich inter-
section among them, that there are few more
beautiful objects in Nature than the ramification
ofa tree. For myself, I am in doubt whether an
old, rough, interwoven Oak, merely as a single
object, has not as much beauty in Winter as in
summer. In summer it has unquestionably
more effect; but in point of simple beauty and
amusement, I think I should almost prefer it in
Winter. If a man were disposed to moralize,
the ramification and spray of a thriving tree afford
a good theme. Nothing gives a happier idea of
busy life. Industry and activity pervade every
part. Wherever an opening, how minute soever,

144 SYLVAN WINTER.

appears, there some little knot of busy adventurers
push in and form a settlement; so that the whole
ig everywhere full and complete. There, too, as

Oak.

is common in all communities, are many little
elbowings, justlings, thwartings, and oppositions,
in which some gain and others lose.’ *

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 136-7.

BLACK POPLAR. LOMBARDY POPLAR.

SPRAY. 145

Let us begin our description and pictorial
account of the spray of trees with that of the Oak,
the rugged character of which is at once shown by
the illustration on page 144, which represents the
stout, twisted, irregular form of the spray, the
irregularity of the buds (which, though prominent,
are not large for the size of the spray that bears
them), and the obtuse angles at which the forking
ismade. There isa richness, if the expression may
be used, about the very ruggedness, which is strik-
ing. The gall and the patches of lichen incrust-
ing the lower part of the piece here drawn, indicate
that the specimen was taken from a tree of some
size. Gilpin—arguing that Nature seems to ob-
serve one simple principle, which is, that the mode
of growth in the spray corresponds exactly with
that of the larger branches, of which indeed the
spray is the origin—goes on to illustrate his re-
marks by a reference to the Oak. He says ;—
‘The Oak divides his boughs from the stem
more horizontally than most other deciduous trees.
The spray makes exactly in miniature the same
appearance. It breaks out in right angles, or in
angles that are nearly so; forming its shoots

L

146 SYLVAN WINTER.

commonly in short lines, the second year’s shoot
usually taking some direction contrary to that of
the first. Thus the rudiments are laid of that
abrupt mode of ramification for which the Oak
is remarkable. When two shoots spring, from
the same knot, they are commonly of unequal
length ; and one with large strides generally takes
the lead. Very. often also three ‘shoots,:; and
sometimes four, spring from. the same knot:
Hence the spray of the Oak becomes thick, close,
and interwoven; so that, at a little distance, it
has a full, rich appearance, and more of the pic-
turesque roughness than we observe in the ‘spray
of any other tree. The spray of the Oak also
generally springs in such directions ‘as give. its
branches that pOnnge appearance me they:
generally assume.’

The rich, purplish-brown. ee of the bark of
the .Beech twigs is at. once noticeable on
examining the spray of this tree. Its gloss is
another feature observable. The buds are
irregularly produced on alternate sides of. the
twigs, and the stems that produce them are of
varying lengths. The peculiar wrinkling of’ the ©

SPRAY... 147

skin ‘of the spray in places is another noticeable
feature... But the most conspicuous is the long,
slender, pointed buds in which the embryo-:of

6 *
Pe ie Anse

* Beech.

twig and leaf are‘carefully wrapped in their’ silky

cover and protected from the frosts of’ Winter.

The opened aut-case and the’ piece of lichen-
L 2

148 SYLVAN WINTER.

incrusted spray will be noted in our illustration.
Very pretty is the spray of the Beech, but there
is a certain angularity about the method of its
production ; the twig in continuing its course from
each node, or point of leaf-origin, does so at a
slight (very broad) angle, so that a twisting or
symmetrically zigzag appearance is given to the
spray, looked at as a whole. Gilpin remarks
that, ‘ 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
perplexed, 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,

SPRAY. | 149

has nothing squalid in it, and yet hangs in loose
and easy curls.’ Here, as in Gilpin’s general
description of the Beech, creeps in his prejudice—
for less than such we cannot, as we have already
said, regard it—against the Beech. We hold an
opinion wholly different, both as regards the tree
and its spray.

Very distinct and peculiar in its character is
the spray of the ‘ Venus of the Woods.’ It is
the graceful aspect of the tree in its full foliage
that has especially won the admiration of the
poets, though, as we have previously in this volume
shown, it is also graceful in its Winter undress ;
and its spray, too, is interesting and beautiful.
More stout and rigid in aspect than that of many
trees, it may not so easily win approval of those
who admire graceful curves ; and the prominence
of its big buds may also similarly take from its
appreciation. But surely the skin of a ‘ Venus’
is an important element of beauty, and the ashen-
grey skin of the Ash is very beautiful, and there
is a rich rotundity in what may be called its
‘mouldings,’ which must please the ‘picturesque

-eye.’ Gilpin, in comparing the spray of the Ash

150 SYLVAN WINTER.

next after that of the Oak, says: ‘The spray of
the Ash is very different... As the boughs of the
Ash are less complex, so is its spray. . Instead of
the thick intermingled bushiness which the spray

Ash.

of the Oak. exhibits, that of the Ash is much more
simple, running in:a kind of irregular parallels.
The main stem holds its course, forming at the
same time:a beautiful sweep; but the spray does

SPRAY. 151

not divide, like that of the Oak, from ‘the ex:
tremity of the last year’s shoot, but springs from
the sides of it. ‘Two shoots spring out opposite
to each other, and each pair. in a contrary
direction. Rarely, however, both the shoots of
either side come to maturity; one of them is
commonly lost as the tree increases, or at least
makes, no, appearance In comparison with the
other, which takes the lead. So that, notwith-
standing this natural regularity of growth’ (so
injurious to the beauty of the Spruce Fir and
some other trees), the Ash never contracts the
least disgusting formality. from it. It may even
receive great picturesque beauty, for sometimes
the whole branch is lost as far as one of the
lateral shoots, .and this occasions a kind of
rectangular junction, which forms a beautiful
contrast with the other spray, and’ gives an
elegant mode of hanging to. the tree. This
points out another difference between the spray
of the Oak and that of the Ash. The spray of
the Oak seldom shoots from the undersides of the
branches ; and it is this chiefly which keeps the
branches in a horizontal form, But the spray

152 SYLVAN WINTER.

of the Ash, often breaking out on the underside of
the branch, forms very elegant pendent boughs.’ *

An elegant mode of twisting distinguishes the
spray of the Elm. It is stout, but abundant, the
smaller shoots being short and starting some-
times at nearly right angles from the stems. The
Winter buds are conical, reddish in colour, and are
terminal as well as lateral on the shoots, along
which they are placed in alternation.

‘The branch of the Elm,’ says Gilpin, ‘has
neither the strength nor the various abrupt
twistings of the Oak, nor does it shoot so much
in horizontal directions. Such also is the spray ;
it has a more regular appearance, not starting off
at right angles, but forming its shoots more
acutely with the parent branch. Neither does
the spray of the Elm shoot, like that of the Ash,
in regular pairs from the same knot, but in a
kind of alternacy. It has generally at first a flat
appearance; but as one year’s shoot is added to
another, it has not strength to support itself;
and as the tree grows old, it often becomes
pendent also, like the Ash; whereas the tough-

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 145-6.

SPRAY. 153

ness and strength of the Oak enable it to stretch
out its branches horizontally to the very last twig.

Elm.

I have seen an Oak with pendent branches, but
it is not common.’ *

- * ¢ Forest Scenery,’. page 146.:

154 SYLVAN WINTER,

“Delicacy of form and beauty are, as we: have
already: pointed out, the distinguishing’ features

Birch.

sida is
ve

of the spray of the Birch, which.is abundant, fine,
and tapering. The purplish bark is smooth and

SPRAY.’ 155

freckled with white blotches or spots, suggestive
of, and doubtless originating, the white patches
that in-the maturer tree adorn the trunk. : The
buds are conical in shape, pointed, and elegant,
and from the diversion from straight lines of the
shoots at each node an elegant sort of undulation
is giventothem. The terminal buds are very con-
spicuous, though small, in their dormant winter
form; but their general disposition on each side
in alternation occasions the elegant symmetrical
appearance of the tree itself, for the graceful
dependency of the branches around the trunk is
arranged upon the same principle as that of the
spray around the branches—for, as Gilpin remarks,
‘Nature seems to observe one simple principle,
which is, that the mode of growth in the spray
corresponds exactly with that of the larger
branches, of which, indeed, the spray is the
origin.’

Lime-tree twigs in mid-Winter are lightly and
gracefully displayed, and are plentifully furnished
with their red and green buds. There is a
slight zigzag arrangement-in the Lime ‘twigs,
which gives elegant contrast and variety to the

156 SYLVAN WINTER.

ramification of this tree. When a bud is formed,
the progressing shoot, in growing beyond it,
grows away from it. Sometimes a newly-formed

Lime.

bud developes into a small twig, which may be
from: half an inch to six inches or more in length.

SPRAY. 157

Sometimes it may only come into a leaf, and it
is the variation in length of the shoots that
gives a beautiful irregularity to the ramification.
Even in icy mid-Winter the buds are beautifully
bright and glossy and fresh—green oftentimes on
one side, and red on the other. The ends of the
previous year’s twigs are often of a green or of
an olive-green colour. A cut across such twigs
exhibits the soft green inner bark surrounding
the cylindrical ¢column of white tissue, which, in
its turn, surrounds the long cylinder of white
pith. A magnifying-glass will show that there
is plenty of sap in the twig, for the tissue glistens
as the light falls upon it. If we cut across the
red-green bud, we shall see inside its scales the
incipient verdant leaf, enfolded within the covering
in such a way as to exemplify the greatest pos--
sible economy of space. There the tender em-
bryo leaf waits only for the first touch of spring
to start into vigorous life. Though appearing
to be wrapped in only a single scale, the Lime-bud
envelope really consists of several scales, and
by the side of each bud appears a smaller one,
ensconced in the same covering.

158 SYLVAN “WINTER.

In the Hornbeam it is noticeable that the buds
of the spray are produced, not on alternate sides,

ta Hornbeam. '

but all-around the shoots. ‘They are conical in
shape, the shoots are ‘small, and the bark with
which they are clothed-is of a reddish- colour.

SPRAY:. 159

The ‘gerieral aspect of the spray is, like: that of
the tree as a whole, contorted and horny.— ‘
The bark of the shoots of the Field Maple'is

= : oe eee . oe os eee ee K 2 % Neo AR
Me eo .

brown. in colour and.,striated, dull and rough:
The shoots are somewhat stout, and the. branches
which produce them twisted and ‘irregular... Tha

160 SYLVAN WINTER.

nodes appear at irregular distances along the
stems or twigs, and are blunt-shaped and some-
what conical, as well as being terminal. The
shoots are produced, mostly, nearly at right

Sycamore.

angles from the stems ‘which bear them. In
colour the bark is reddish, but the general appear-
ance of the ramification is rugged.

dines

H POPLAR.

ABEL

SPRAY. 161

Sycamore shoots show the same winter lite
as those of the Lime and of some other trees;
but the buds are larger and are wrapped in
several somewhat oval-shaped, over-lapping scales.
Within these, fresh and green and full of vigour,
though sleeping, is the beautiful, incipient form
of the future green leaf, wrapped round and round
upon itself. The bark of the Sycamore shoots
may be described as being reddish-grey in colour.
The buds on the shoots are produced in pairs
along them, and they are also terminal, large, and
conical. Beneath each bud the bark is curiously
wrinkled, and the general character of the shoots
is robust.

On the smaller branches of the Larch the bark
is a very light shade of brown; on the larger ones,
such as that shown in the accompanying illus-
tration, itis darker in its hue of brown. In his
drawing of the spray of the Larch our artist has
given us some rugged bits of shoots, with a
couple of empty cones and some incrusting lichen.
The buds are numerous and rounded, and are
produced all round the stems. The branching
of the shoots from the main stem is at obtuse

M

162 SYLVAN WINTER.

angles. When first produced, the spray of the
Juarch is very symmetrical, the shoots being ar-
ranged all round the stem in alternation in a

Larch,

very symmetrical manner, as we have shown in

discussing the tree as a whole.
Of the zigzag and eminently picturesque

SPRAY. 1638

character of the ramification of the Plane we
have spoken in a previous chapter, when dealing
with the forms of trees. The same character, it

Plane.

will be seen, distinguishes the spray of this tree,

as shown in the drawing. The bark of the shoots

of the Plane is greyish, with white freckles. The
M2

164 SYLVAN WINTER.

buds are produced irregularly along the twigs,
but mostly in opposite alternation. It is this
arrangement which occasions the picturesqueness
of growth of this tree, taken in connection with
the manner of growth of the shoot from node
to node. Sometimes, as will be noticed by our
drawing, the shoot in growing beyond the node
grows straight, and sometimes it grows at a more
or less sharp angle from it, thus causing the
turns—which aremore or less sharp in degree—and
the angles, which are sometimes acute and some-
times broad. The buds of the spray are not very
prominent, though sufficiently conspicuous both
at the nodes and at the ends of the shoots. They
would be more conspicuous but for a beautiful
provision of Nature by which the tender embryo
leaf, enclosed within the outer covering, is pro-
tected from frost and cold. The leaf-stalk of
the Plane is hollow at its base, and under this
hollow part is found the new bud. When the
leaf drops in the fall of the year, the bud for the
next season is revealed, but the covering it loses
by the fall of the protecting hollow of the old leaf-
stalk has been very beautifully provided for.

SPRAY. 165

Over the bud itself there is a silky covering; upon
this, soft, hairy scales; and over all a resinous
case, perfectly wet-proof. Discoloured by exposure
to the air, one would naturally regard this external
appearance as the bud; but the bud, composed of
delicate and tender tissue, lies within, safe against
all the bleakness of the wintry season.

Almost every winter bud has some such provi-
sion as this for its safety, but there is an especially
elaborate and beautiful provision made for the
safety of the Plane bud. Nature works in a more
or less elaborate manner, according to the more
or less important objects she has to secure, and
the purpose of the especial provision made for
the leaf of the Plane may be readily divined by
remembering the large size and the exquisite
beauty of the summer foliage of this delightful
tree.

The spray of the Poplar differs in the various
species of that most abundant tree, but in the
spray of all the species the bark is more or less
brown in colour, and there is much straightness
and symmetry in the growth of the shoots, thus
marking the absence of the zigzag angularity

166 SYLVAN WINTER.

which gives so peculiar a feature to some other
trees. Taking four of the species we may indi-
cate the distinguishing characters. In the Black

Poplar.

Poplar (Populus nigra) the spray is greyish-brown,
stout, somewhat rough, and furrowed or ridged;
the branching intermediate and irregular ; the buds

SPRAY. 167

numerous, produced all round the stems, conical,
and pale red in colour—the little shoots of the
spray being from half an inch to an inch in length.
In the Grey Poplar (Populus canescens) the bark is
smooth to the touch, and brownish-grey in colour ;
the buds are small, terminal, conical, and reddish-
coloured; and the spray stout, and much-divided,
the ends pointing upwards symmetrically, and the
conical form of the whole resembling that of the
Lombardy Poplar. The bark of the spray of the
Abele Poplar (Populus alba) is smooth, and light
grey incolour; the buds are all round the shoots,
conical and red-tipped, terminal, and small in size;
and finally, in the Lombardy Poplar, the bark of
the spray is smooth in texture and light brownish-
grey in colour, and the spray is much inclined
upwards, the angle at which it leaves the shoots
being very acute, and the buds small, abundant,
and blunt in form.

Their wintry greenness is perhaps, joined to the
smoothness and glossiness of the bark, the most
noticeable feature of the spray of the Willow.
Upon the bark is also, oftentimes, found splashes
of reddish-brown. In all the Willows the grading

168 SYLVAN WINTER.

of the shoots from base to apex is very symme-
trical, and the buds are noticeable by their tongue-
shaped form and by their cleaving to the shoots,

though they are generally small and inconspicuous.
They are produced all around the shoots, and thus
it is with this tree, as in the case of others whose |

SPRAY. 169

buds are produced in this way, that a very regular
appearance is given to the ramification as a whole,
because that bushiness is produced which Gilpin
admired, the fillings up and jostlings of the twigs
one with another, that give so good an emblem
of ‘busy life.’ In the Willow, in what in respect
to other trees we regard as mid-Winter, we shall
notice that sign of life which is exhibited by the
flowering. Though a wintry manifestation, the
spectacle really indicates the ‘ Willow’s’ spring ;
but, howsoever we regard it, the appearance is a
beautiful one.

There is decided ‘character,’ it will be ad-
mitted, in the shoots of the Chestnut. The bark
is arich, dark, glossy brown, prettily freckled with
white, suggestive of the handsome Hazel skin.
The buds are irregular, as is also the spray, and
those which terminate the shoots are very pro-
minent and large, as indeed is necessary, regard
being had to the ample size of the handsome leaf
which is folded up within this close and frost-
-proof covering. The reader with some imagina-
tion, in looking at our illustration of Chestnut
spray, will perhaps fancy he sees some resemblance

170 SYLVAN WINTER.

to the foreleg and hoof of a horse, and will, we
think, admit at any rate that this spray does, as
we have premised, exhibit ‘ character.’

Chestnut.

From the Chestnut to the Horse Chestnut,
though the trees are not related, may perhaps,
regard being had for popular fancy and associa-

SPRAY. 171

tion, be considered a fitting succession. Especi-
ally stout and vigorous is the spray, whilst the
buds are very large. Our artist has well shown

Horse Chestnut.

both the stoutness of the shoots and the largeness
of the buds of the Horse Chestnut, whilst else-
where we have shown the peculiar character of

172 SYLVAN WINTER.

the ramification. That the winter buds should be
so large will not occasion any surprise, when it is
stated that each bud contains in embryo, not

\

Lichen-covered Hawthorn.

merely one large leaf of the following season,
but a whole shoot, with several leaves and flowers.
A lichen-incrusted, thorny, and picturesque speci-

SPRAY. 173

men of the spray of the Hawthorn will give an idea
of the picturesque, contorted beauty of this delight-
ful shrub or tree, as it frequently becomes, when
fully grown. ‘Twisted and picturesque, even the
youngest spray becomes, and then it is overspread
by a purple hue, which produces a fine effect of
colour when masses of it are seen in Winter; but
when it has reached maturity, it becomes striking
and grand in the contortion of its beauty. The
bright red berries, too, clinging to the shoots
long after the leaves have fallen, give a charm
to its Winter form, which, empurpled by the per-
vading colour of the spray, stands out in great
richness.

The ruggedness of the spray of the Apple is its
most prominent and picturesque characteristic.
Stout, thick, and rough, the bark wrinkled and
lichen-covered, the ramification proceeding at all
sorts of angles and producing shoots of all sorts
of lengths, tipped each with the substantial-look-
ing bud, that, embrowned and dead-looking, never-
theless encloses branch, leaf, and fruit for the
succeeding season, the twig of Apple is a thing of
interest. Our artist’s illustration is taken from the

174 SYLVAN WINTER.

spray of the wild species, the well-known ‘ Crab
Apple,’ whose fruit, though sour to the taste, is
beautiful to the eye; and whose form is full of

Crab Apple.

interest and picturesqueness. The art of the
gardener has transformed the descendants of this
forest inhabitant into a thousand forms of utility,

SPRAY. 175

which are curious departures from the parental
or ancestral form, so far as their fruit is con-
cerned; but the spray, whose wintry character
we are now considering, has in all the varieties,
through all modifications, preserved much of the
especial interest and charm which distinguish the
hereditary ‘ Crab.’

Lost as it would otherwise be amidst the
tangled growths of the wood and the hedge, the
Hazel is noticeable by the splashed and freckled
character of its smooth and shining bark, as well
as by its mid-Winter show of ‘catkins.’ The
spray in its mode of ramification is not unlike
that of the Elm, the buds being placed on
alternate sides of the shoots, and the continuation
of the latter diverging. at each node out of a
straight line, and at what may be called a broad
angle; the buds also in form suggesting those
of the Elm. But there is much greater irregu-
larity in the spray of the Hazel than in that
of the Elm, a disposition to proceed on the prin-
ciple of ‘ filling up’ every little vacuity, without
regard to symmetry. Hence it is, doubtless, that
the shade of the Hazel in summer is so dense, as

176 SYLVAN WINTER.

the leafy shroud, following the lead of the rami-
fication, fills every space,

Hazel.

The never-ceasing brook goes singing on in
Winter as in summer, and far louder oftentimes

ACACIA.

SPRAY. 177

4

in the former season, so that its music will attract
us to the presence of the wintry Alder. Gilpin
loved the Alder, though his praise of it had chiefly’

Alder,

reference to its foliaged condition. Comparing’

another waterside tree—the Willow—with’ the:

Alder, he thought. that the latter was ‘ tle more
N

178 SYLVAN WINTER.

picturesque tree, both in its ramification and in
its foliage. Perhaps,’ he added, ‘it is the most
picturesque of any of the aquatic tribe, except
the Weeping Willow. He who would see the
Alder in perfection,’ he continued,‘ must follow
the banks of the Mole in Surrey, through the
sweet vales of Dorking and Mickleham, into the
groves of Esher. The Mole indeed is far from
being a beautiful river; it is a silent and sluggish
stream. But what beauty it has it owes greatly
to the Alder, which everywhere fringes its
meadows, and in many places forms pleasing
scenes, especially. in the vale between Box Hill
and the high ground of Norbury Park.’ There
is a ruggedness about the spray, as our illustra-
tion will show, that quite accounts for the pic-
turesqueness of the shrub or tree—for the Alder
is both, according to its more or less favourable
conditions of growth. The winter buds are pro-
minent, and the shoots are irregularly produced,
and grow irregularly, thus giving rise to that
‘picturesqueness’ which inequality of growth
often causes.

‘Character’ we may again claim for the form

SPRAY. 179

of spray in the case of the Mountain Ash. Its
young shoots add to the smoothness and sym-

cn

[ o Mountain Ash.

metry of their form a_ beautiful, purplish and.
freckled condition. Buds are produced all around
nee , ed

180 SYLVAN WINTER.

the’ shoots, and are conical and prominent, dark-
coloured and terminal. As the tree acquires size
and age, there supervenes arich, crumpled appear-
ance, which, as our engraving shows, gives to it
the ‘character’ we have already claimed for it.
Without, there is a smoothness of bark suggestive
of the Beech, and a lightness of hue in the‘ larger
parts,’ which, combined with the smoothness, is
beautiful.

‘In ancient days, when superstition held that
place in society which dissipation and impiety
now hold,’ sternly remarked Gilpin, ‘the Moun-
tain Ash was considered an object of great
veneration. Often at this day a stump of it is
found in some old burying-place, or near the
circle of a Druid temple, whose rites it formerly
invested with its sacred shade. Its chief merit
now consists in being the ornament of land-
scape. He continues, ‘In the Scottish islands
it becomes a considerable tree. There are some
rocky mountains covered with dark Pines and
waving Birch, which cast a solemn gloom over
the lake below ; a few Mountain Ashes joining: in
a clump, and mixing with them, have a fine effect.

SPRAY. 181

In summer the light-green ‘tint of their foliage,
and in autumn the. glowing berries which hang
clustering upon them, contrast: beautifully with
the deeper green of the Pines; and if they are
happily blended, and not in too large a proportion,
they add some of the most picturesque furniture
with which the sides of these rugged mountains
are invested.’ *

The lightness of the pinnate foliage of the
Mountain Ash does not adorn the wintry land-
scape, but another contrast with the dark-green hue
of the Pine is furnished by the absence of leaves
and the presence oftentimes of red berries, which
enkindle the twigs, bared of their summer dress—
so that still the tree is beautiful and striking.

The prickly Blackthorn must not be forgotten
in our enumeration of the spray of trees. Com-
monly seen as a bush, it often becomes a not
inconsiderable tree. Twisted, bent, irregular in
its growth and sharply spined, the spray of this
common but interesting plant is worth notice.
Cultivation and domestication have largely: de-

: * ‘Forest Scenery,’ page 59.

182 SYLVAN WINTER,

prived the Plum, which is the descendant of the
Sloe, of its thorny mail. In the rougher habitats
of the forest it is armed to the teeth, as our en-

Blackthorn.

graving will show—so stoutly armed indeed is it,
that the thorn often continues in a straight line the
twig which bears it and gives the appearance of a
spear, whilst the lichen-incrusted stems and the

SPRAY. 183

purplish bark combine to invest it in a high

degree with the character of picturesqueness.
Beautiful unquestionably in its mid-Winter guise

is the spray of the Yew, with the reddish-brown

Yew.

tinge of the shoots and the dark-green glossy
leaves. But of this tree and of its characteristics
we have spoken amply elsewhere, as we also have
of the Scotch Pine. So let us merely be content

184 SYLVAN WINTER.

to give two little sketches of the spray of each as
a suggestion to those who may wish to give more
detailed attention to the study of the ‘ minuter

Scotch Fir.

parts’ of these two interesting and delightful
trees.

SPRAY. 185

With an engraving of, and a brief reference to;
the spray of the Cedar’of Lebanon, our illustra-
tions of ‘spray’ will be concluded. Pretty and

Cedar of Lebanon.

striking in its bunchiness, if the expression may
be used, is the needle foliage of this beautiful
evergreen. The leaves, like those of the Larch,

186 SYLVAN WINTER,

which has been called a deciduous Cedar, are pro-
duced in tufts, or little bunches, from the shoots,
and even in winter are very beautiful in their
verdant freshness. ‘There is a roughness and
ruggedness about the bark of the twigs which, in
conjunction with the colour of the foliage, givesa
very picturesque character to the spray of this
noble tree.

IT.

USES OF WOOD.

TILITY is, in reality,
too negative an ex-
pression to apply to
the purposes to which
the wood of trees is
devoted. ‘Indispen-
sability’ would be a
far more appropriate
word. A moment’s

reflection will show
us the entire dependency of the world upon the
products of the forest’; and it is impossible to
imagine what would have become of mankind but
for the aid, sustenance, and support, the comfort,
well-being, and happiness promoted by the ex-
istence of timber. The fact, however, that we
daily and hourly walk in it, take shelter under it,

188 SYLVAN WINTER.

and handle it in some form or another, does not of
itself explain much as to the nature and particular
purposes of particular kinds. The universally
generic. expression ‘wood,’ or ‘timber,’ goes
a long way towards satisfaction; but the dis-
crimination of the different kinds used for the
varying purposes of civilization is not a general
possession; it is mostly the possession of experts.
Yet the subject is one, we think, of interest, and
in the immediately succeeding pages we shall en-
deavour to furnish some data which may, and we
trust will, prove entertaining and valuable to the
general reader. It is in this spirit that we
give the facts contained in this chapter, merely
premising that we write not for the learned
expert, but for the unlearned, and for those
anxious to be informed upon a subject, informa-
tion on which has been hitherto too widely scattered
through various works to be available for ready
use. To make the arrangement of the contents
of this chapter as convenient as -possible, an
alphabetical arrangement will be followed.

Much difference .of opinion exists as to the
value of the wood of the Acacia (Robinia pseud-

USES OF woop. 189

acacia). Atone time it was very highly esteemed,
but of late years it has somewhat fallen into
disrepute. It is very probable that the brittleness
frequently noticeable in the wood of this tree is’
due to imperfect conditions of growth; and when
grown under natural circumstances in- soil not
rich, it progresses more slowly, and does produce
valuable timber. Its general colour is a greenish-
yellow, but it has brown veins. Its qualities are
hardness (which makes it susceptible of a high
polish) and durability ; but it is, as we have said,
brittle, owirig to a lack of elasticity. Its hardness
and durability, however, make it suitable for orna-
ments and wooden pins, for which it is largely
used, for fastening planks to beams or to the ribs
of vessels. The name tree-nail (corrupted into
trenail, and pronounced ‘trunnel) is a descriptive
designation of these wood-pins. For other pur-
poses, when its particular qualities are desirable
—such as for fences, posts, and axle-trees—it 1 is
much used.

Its waterside habitats usefully fit the Alder
(Alnus glutinosa) for purposes for which resistance
to dampness and the effects of wet is essential.

190 SYLVAN WINTER.

Hence for the woodwork of all structures that are
continually immersed in water, such as bridges,
the foundations of wharves, pumps, water-works,
&ec., it is invaluable. For exposure to the weather
only (which means an alternation of the wet and the
dry state) it is not suitable. But for any wood
that is required to be continually buried in the
earth, such as the lower parts of posts, it does
well; also for wooden apparatus used for wet
operations—-such as bowls, kneading-troughs,
sabots, clogs, and pattens—it is very serviceable.
It is also used for broom-handles. Cabinet-
makers, too, employ it for manufacturing various
articles of furniture. When dyed black it is used
to imitate ebony. It makes one of the best of
charcoals for the manufacture of gunpowder; and
for some kinds of turning and sculpture it is also
employed. Occasionally it has fine veins, and
then it is-suitable for manufacturing into orna-
mental tables and boxes. .

The familiarand useful Appletree (Pyrus malus),
though abounding with beautiful fruit, also pro-
duces wood which is hard and fine-grained, and,
being susceptible of a high polish, can be used for

USES OF WOOD. 191

articles of fancy—walking-sticks, boxes, cases,
tablets, and for things innumerable which are
manufactured by the lathe for purposes of use
and ornamentation. The wood of the Crab, the
original stock, in its wild state has this quality of
hardness and fineness of grain, and the innumer-
able cultivated varieties which have sprung from
it retain the same qualities, a circumstance which
is unusual with the wood of other trees brought
into cultivation, for as cultivation generally in-
duces a greater rapidity of growth, there is, conse-
quently, a looseness of fibre induced that promotes:
softness of texture and prevents the closeness of
grain which makes the most valuable quality of.
all timber.

From the remarkable slowness of its growth,
the Araucaria (Araucaria imbricata) produces
wood of singular solidity and hardness; but the
tree in civilized countries is seldom or never
grown, except for ornament, and its natural habi-
tats are so inaccessible as to render the procuring
of the wood for commercial. purposes practically:
impossible.

Almost excelling every other tree, except the

192 SYLVAN WINTER.

Oak, in the wide utility of its timber, the purposes
to which the Ash (Frawinus excelsior) is put are
very numerous. Its strength and elasticity com-
bined are so great that, when employed in build-
ings, it will bear an enormous strain—if used for
joists—without breaking. For domestic purposes
also it is invaluable, because it does not splinter
like deal. Hence, for stairs, for kitchen tables,
even for flooring, it is a most desirable wood. In
coach-building, too, and in the manufacture of the
wooden parts of all sorts of farming and garden-
ing instruments—ploughs, harrows, and various
tools—it is invaluable, as also for hurdles, fences,
hoops of casks, crates, hop and other poles, wooden
rods, oars, fishing-rods, pulley-blocks ; for carpen-
tering purposes when wood. has to hold to wood
by tenons and mortises, for turning in the lathe, '
for carts, ladders, and, in short, for all purposes in
which strength, lightness, and elasticity combined
are required, Ash is in great request.
- Who knows that the wood of the Beech—from
its capability of being cut into very thin layers—’
forms the substance of strawberry baskets’? “A
tiseful and pleasant purpose, surely, but the least

NUT.

SPANISH CHEST.

USES OF WOOD. 193

useful of all the varied purposes to which it is
put. When green it is much harder than the
wood of many other timber trees. Its whitish
colour when dry and fit for use is well known,
but it is not so generally known that it becomes
reddish when it has been grown in good soil in
level positions. For all kinds of cabinet purposes
it is employed; for chairs, sometimes for tables,
for bedsteads—where iron or brass has not yet
superseded the old fashion—for carriage-panels,
for wooden shovels, for sieve-rims, for wooden
screws, and for many of the articles manufactured
by the turner and the joiner, including the handles
of tools, it is extensively used.

Many are the varieties of the Barberry, but
we will notice only one representative—the Com-
mon Barberry (Berberis vulgaris). The utility of
its wood, however, is not very great, though
it is hard, but with its hardness it. is brittle.
Yet.its colour, or rather the colour of its inner
bark, being yellow, it produces a yellow dye,
which has its use in the arts of industry.

Depending on the place of its growth, the wood
of the Birch (Betula alba) is more or less dur-

i)

194, SYLVAN WINTER.

able—more in northern latitudes, less in tem-
perate regions. In colour its timber is whitish,
though it has a tinge of red. The bark,
however, is more enduring than the wood, and
is so proof against moisture that it is often
bound round posts and stakes which are put
into the ground, to keep them from rotting;
it is also put under boots and shoes to make them
damp-proof, and in parts of Europe, especially in
the countries of Lapland and Sweden, where the
Birch grows in abundance, the country people use
it to make water-proof roofs to the cottages. <A
proof of the durability of the bark over the wood
inside it, is given in the fact that when Birch-trees
have been discovered in forests, where they have
fallen and lain for a long time untouched, the
wood has rotted and decayed entirely, whilst the
encompassing bark has remained quite perfect
and sound. In America, too, the bark is used
for the construction of canoes, a striking instance
of its water-proof qualities. The sheets of bark,
after being stripped from the trees in lengths.
of about a dozen feet, by two vertical and two
circular incisions—wedges being used to loosen:

USES OF WOOD. 195

it—are stitched at the ends with the roots
of trees—those of the White Spruce are com-
monly employed—and the join is made water-
tight by a coating of resin. Hach detached
cylinder of bark, cut in two, thus makes.a couple
of canoes, the great recommendation of which is
their extreme lightness, and their adaptability for
being carried across country from water-side to
water-side on men’s shoulders. Many persons
who have not seen these canoes themselves, have
seen models of them, but have not, probably, sus-
pected that the bark of the Birch was the ma-
terial employed in their construction. Amongst
the uses of the wood itself, may be included its
employment in making packing-cases, and wooden
shoes, in turning (into articles of various kinds)
and for match-making—the ease with which it
splits and the rapidity of its combustion making
it very useful for this last-mentioned purpose.
In countries, however, where the tree largely
abounds, it is often used by the population for
almost all domestic and commercial purposes.
Hard wood, yellow in colour, is that of the
Bird Cherry (Cerasus padus), and though not very
0 2

196 SYLVAN WINTER.

generally known as an ornamental kind, it pos-
sesses beautiful veins, and where it has grown
to a large size it is used for ornamental pur-
poses by cabinet-makers and turners, the boards
being obtained by diagonally sawing them out
from the trees, by which means the beauty of
their markings is increased.

The extreme slowness of growth is compen-
sated for in the Box (Buaus sempervirens) by the
useful results which ensue—for Box is amongst
the most valuable of the timber products of the
world, Its exceptional weight is a particular fea-
ture of interest; for a cubic foot, when dry, weighs
almost sixty-nine pounds. It will, in fact, sink
in water. For a thousand and one articles of
beauty it is used by the turner and cabinet-maker.
When inlaid wood-work was more in fashion than
it now is, Box was largely used to vary the colours
of other materials ; for the wood parts of mathe-
matical, musical, and many other instruments,
and for the handles of all sorts of ornamental
things, it is still extensively used ; for games, toys,
fancy boxes, cases, spoons and forks for salads,
&c.; for pins and pegs of wood, where exceptional

USES OF woop. 197

hardness is required ; for pipes sometimes, rulers,
measures, gauging instruments, wooden screws,
and many other and sundry uses too numerous to
mention, this beautiful wood is used. But its
most valuable and important use is that made of
it by the modern wood-engraver, whose beautiful
and wonderful art—the reproduction of the most
delicate features of Nature, and of everything which
it is desired to give in the form of pictures—relies
upon the exquisite susceptibility of Box to thetouch
of the graving tool, and upon its retentive hardness,
for its success.

So seldom does the Broom (Cytisus scoparius)
produce wood of any size for purposes of utility in
the arts, that it may be interesting to mention
that when it has produced ‘timber,’ it has been
employed for similar purposes to that of the
Laburnum. It has also been used for making
pins for pulleys, for which purpose it was formerly
said to be superior to any other wood. Certain
Scotch snuff-boxes, manufactured many years
since by Mr. Steven, of Laurencekirk, were made
from Broom roots after the latter had been steeped
in water for a considerable time.

198 SYLVAN WINTER.

The great value set upon the Cedar of Lebanon
(Cedrus libanit) by the ancients is indicated by
the large use they made of its timber, and by
the selection of it by Solomon for the wood of
the Temple. Its value as timber is not so highly
esteemed in the present day, though for the inferior
parts of cabinets it is commonly used, and for the
internal parts both of cabinets and drawers its
great recommendation, in addition to its pleasant
smell, is its immunity from the attacks of insects
—an immunity extended. also to the contents of
Cedar-wood drawers and cabinets. Light red in
colour, the wood may be called handsome. As
it is liable to shrink and also to warp in use, its
value as timber is greatly lessened.

Much superior in some respects is the
beautiful Cedrus deodara, popularly called the
Indian Cedar. The wood of this tree is com-
pact, its grain is fine, and it is capable of
taking a high polish, and, moreover, it is very
durable. It is a matter of question which Cedar
wood was used for the temple of Apollo at Utica,
but this particular kind was found to be in a good
state of preservation after two thousand years !

USES OF WOOD. 199

Reddish in colour, close-grained, and strong,
the wood of the Cherry (Cerasus vulgaris) is much
in request by turners and cabinet-makers, because
it is susceptible of a fine polish, can be easily
worked, and thus makes capital material for the
production of handsome articles. It is, amongst
other things, used for making musical instruments,
and from its colour can pass muster for mahogany,
or at least it has the advantage of a colour that is
very much in request. In many parts of the
world, where mahogany is more easily obtainable
than Cherry wood,.the latter would be more in
request, and would be more esteemed.

Contrary to a rule that very generally holds
good with regard to timber, the wood of the
Chestnut (Castanea vesca) is better when the tree
is young than whenit has attained age. By about
the time, therefore, that it has reached the age of
fifty years, its timber is generally in a fine state
of perfection. The wood of young trees is ex-
cellent at a very early stage for posts, stakes,
fence-poles, trellis-work, and other purposes, for
which especial durability is required. But as it
acquires a greater age than that indicated, the

200 SYLVAN WINTER.

wood gives signs of decay and loses much of its
value as timber. For a long time a belief was
held in England that Chestnut wood was of
remarkable quality, because a good deal of it ina
fine state of preservation was, it was believed,
found in ancient buildings, and especially in one
important building, Westminster Hall. On inves-
tigation, however, it was proved that this timber
was not that of the Chestnut, but the wood of the
Durmast Oak (Quercus sessiliflora). One curious
property, at any rate, this tree possesses, namely,
that of flavouring wine, for it is said that when
this liquor is placed in Chestnut casks, it not only
improves its colour, but its quality, and is also an
aid to its preservation.

Though the Cork Tree (Quercus suber) is in
reality an Oak, as its botanical name indicates, we
put it here in our alphabetical arrangement of
trees, because this seems more naturally its place.
The curious thickness of the outer bark, which
forms the familiar cork, lessens the diameter of
the timber; but the latter is, nevertheless, used
for many of the purposes to which Oak is put, as
it is very hard and heavy, and takes a high polish.

USES OF WOOD. 201

‘The detaching of the cork in half-cylinders—in
the manner previously indicated as the method
adopted for obtaining Birch bark for canoes—
does not, curiously enough, injure the tree if care
be taken in the process not to cut the inner bark,
which in time—after the lapse of some eight or
ten years—itself becomes cork, and is replaced in
turn by another inner bark.

Fragrance is one special characteristic of the
wood of the Common or Evergreen Cypress
(Cupressus sémpervirens). It is also hard, very
close and _ fine in its grain, and extremely durable.
It has, moreover, the advantage of colour, for itis
tinged with red. Besides its hardness and great
durability, it also is elastic, and thus is superior
to many kinds of woods for building, both for the
structural parts and for doors, stairs, and indeed
for any purpose in which hardness, elasticity, and
durability are requisite. In the time of Con-
stantine it is stated that the doors of St. Peter’s
Church at Rome were made of Cypress wood, and
when, eleven hundred years afterwards, Pope
Eugenius IV. took them down, in order to erect
brass ones in their places, there was no evident

202 SYLVAN WINTER.

sign of decay—a marvellous proof of their won-
derful quality. Like Cedar, the odour of the wood,
though pleasant to man’s taste, is objectionable to
insects, and, hence, for clothes-presses it would be
an invaluable material. It also, it is said, resists
the attacks of worms, probably for a similar reason
to that which causes insects to dislike it, and
makes admirable material for any purpose which
requires it to be buried in the earth. Proof of
this is furnished by the fact that the cases con-
taining the mummies of the Egyptians are com-
monly found to be made of Cypress. It was,
perhaps, its utility in this way that suggested its
employment as a funeral tree in burying-places—
for even to this day the custom of employing it as
an evergreen to plant over graves lingers. Itself
and many of its varieties are indeed very beautiful
trees, and their persistent verdure makes them
very suitable for use as living memorials of the
dead.

Toughness of wood is the quality which has
caused its generic botanical name to be given to
the genera of which the Dogwood (Cornus san-
guinea) is the best-known species—cornu, a horn,

USES OF WOOD. 203

suggesting the appellative designation indicative
of hardness. The common name is supposed to
have been suggested because the fruit is not even
‘fit for a dog.’ The common name of Prick-
wood, an alternative of Dogwood, is much more
appropriately indicative of the actual use to which
the wood is put, because it is frequently made
into skewers and toothpicks—more frequently into
the former, as the feathered tribe (when the
precious metals are not brought into requisition)
furnish perhaps the largest number of toothpicks.
The large numbers of spiral vessels in the woody
tissue of this shrub, and sometimes tree, doubtless
are largely the cause of its peculiar toughness.
For other purposes than those mentioned, where
especial toughness, combined with solidity of fibre,
is requisite—small, pointed instruments required
in the arts and manufactures, arrows, ramrods,
knitting and netting needles, and meshes, &c., this
wood is used and is useful. Another. species of
Dogwood (Cornus mas), the Cornel or ‘ Male
Dogwood’ (our typical species mentioned above
—sanguinea—is sometimes called in opposition
Cornus feemina, the ‘ Lady Dogwood’), has much

2.04 SYLVAN WINTER.

harder wood, and possesses, besides its hardness—
a quality not very feminine—the qualities of tough-
ness, flexibility, and durability. Wooden forks
‘used for haymaking and for other purposes of
husbandry, spokes for ladders, and hoops, as well
as toothpicks and skewers, are made from the
wood of this species; and when it is required to be
set firm in any particular shape, it is bent to the
form required, and whilst so bent is baked in an
oven, and thus fixed.

As imitation is admitted on all hands to be the
sincerest flattery, it may be assumed that the
beautiful wood called Ebony is deserving of all
the consideration that is paid to it by the manu-
facturers of the large number of materials which
are made, by the process of dressing, to do duty
for the black and heavy product of the Diospyros
ebenus, which is the botanical name of the true
Ebony. The difference between the true wood
and its spurious and contemptible imitations is
equal to the difference between a diamond and
paste. The term ‘ebonized’ has crept into use
to indicate the thousand and one articles of
furniture and articles for ornament which are

USES OF WOOD. 205

stained black to make them pass muster for the
original.

Few more delicious drinks, when served warm
in the depth of Winter, can be mentioned than
the wine of the Elder (Sambucus nigra); but this
beverage is mentioned here not appropriately in.
a discourse on woods, but only suggestively.
Whilst it is well known that its leaves, blossoms,
and bark possess some valuable medicinal pro-
perties, not.much, perhaps, could be said for its
wood, if it could only be urged that it is used for
the manufacture of pop-guns and other toys—
though such an amusing purpose is also a useful
one, More utility than this, however, can be
claimed for the wood of the Elder. Its young wood
is said te be especially sweet and wholesome, and
is consequently more fit than other wood employed
for the purpose for use as skewers for meat and for
the flesh of fowls and game, It is further used
by shoemakers for pegging boots, is valued by
turners because it will take a good polish, and is
not, when mature, unlike Box in colour, and may
therefore be made into many fancy articles for
use and adornment, In ancient times it is said

506 SYLVAN WINTER.

that the hollow tubes formed by the branches
when their abnormally large columns of pith were
extracted, were manufactured into musical instru-
ments, and in proof of this assertion the generic
botanical name is instanced, Sambuca indicating
a musical instrument. Sambuca really means a
species of harp, but not impossibly the meaning
might have been made elastic to suit the use to
which those tubes were put. Sambuca also means
a machine for storming fortifications. The pro-
phet Joshua and his followers blew down the walls
of Jericho and stormed that city by means of blasts
sounded seven times upon rams’ horns. Twisted
Elder tubes might have made almost as loud
sounds as the rams’ horns, and Sambucus means
the Elder-tree. The pith of the Elder is used in
electrical experiments, and the wood not only
makes excellent charcoal for gunpowder, but,
when it has acquired age, it is as hard nearly as
Box.

The wood of the Common Elm (Ulmus campes-
tris) has long had a great reputation for hardness
and durability. It has a fine grain, and is used
very much for the woodwork of ships because it

USES OF woop. 207

is especially adapted to bear exposure to alternate
sun, rain, and water, without either warping or
cracking or’splitting. For the receptacles of frail
humanity, for casks, for boxes required for their
strength, for that part of the woodwork of build-
ings, of bridges, of quays, and of other construc-
tions exposed constantly to the action of water,
its peculiar qualities of hardness, solidity, and
durability render it invaluable.

Dark in colour, close-grained in texture, hard
and heavy, capable of a fine polish, and durable
and flexible, the wood of the Evergreen Oak or Ilex
(Quercus tlex) is naturally valuable. For mallet-
heads, beetles, axle-trees, wedges (when great
hardness is required), wooden pins, palisades, and
for the woodwork used about fortifications, as
well as for the stocks of tools, it is excellently
fitted, and is much employed. It also makes
excellent charcoal.

The Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus) does not
claim a long catalogue of uses, but its wood, being
hard, is made into skewers and put to some of the
offices of the Dogwood.

Perhaps the most frequent use of the Hawthorn

208 SYLVAN WINTER.

(Crategus oxyacantha) is for walking-sticks. Its
toughness, hardness, and durability, and its capa-
bility of receiving a high polish render it peculiarly
valuable for this purpose. Its wood is not com-
monly found growing at a large size, and, hence,
it is made useful in small ways, as, for instance,
for the handles of hammers and mallets, and for
flails, as well as for the teeth of mill-wheels,
where timber, and not iron, is still employed.
Though it has some of the qualities of Box, being
of a yellowish tinge, fine in grain, hard and
susceptible of a high polish, it is not likely to be.
a substitute for the engraving-wood on account
of its liability to warp; and the difficulty of
working it prevents it from being largely used
by the turner, joiner, and cabinet-maker.

_ In times gone by sticks of the Hazel (Corylus
avellana) were used as divining-rods for discover-
ing the presence of minerals in the earth.
Perhaps, for an equally good reason, they may
have been employed to make the charcoal of the
alchemists. In any case, the wood does make
excellent charcoal. It is much employed, how-
ever, for fishing-rods, on account of its durability

°

We
ge”

THORN AND IVY.

USES OF WooD. 209

and elasticity, for walking-sticks—for that pur-
pose the bark is very commonly left on as an
ornament—for hoops, and for rustic work, garden
chairs, tables, &c.

Hickory wood, though coarse-grained, is very
strong, heavy, and durable, and is useful for
innumerable purposes for which these timber
qualities are essential. It is also elastic, and
is employed frequently for the manufacture of
carriages.

Whiteness of colour, hardness of grain, and a
high susceptibility of polish are qualities which
commend the Holly (Ilex aquifolium) as a most
valuable tree, and especially for the production of
articles for ornament. It is even said to have
been employed at times as a substitute for Box in
wood-engraving. Its hardness, too, has suggested
the feasibility of employing it as a substitute for
ebony and for other woods, dyes of various hues
being employed to disguise it. For the making
of mathematical instruments, for cabinet-work,
and for the purposes of the joiner it is admirably '
adapted, although, from the fact of its not
ordinarily growing to a large size, except in

P

210 SYLVAN WINTER.

remote forests, its wood is not obtainable in large
quantity. So fine, hard, and compact is its
grain, and so white is its substance, that por-
tions, highly polished, have been likened to
ivory.

Another hard and close-grained wood, that of
the Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), though possess-
ing great. strength and durability, will not take
a good polish, and hence is not so useful for
many purposes on that account. It is heavy,
and possesses great strength. It. makes, too,
capital charcoal, and produces, in burning, great
heat. In its comparatively young state the wood
of the Hornbeam is used for many kinds of
wheelwright’s work, for mill-cogs, and other
purposes where toughness and hardness are
requisite.

The Horse Chestnut (#sculus hippocastanum)
possesses qualities which are the reverse of the
woods last mentioned, for mainly, no doubt on
account of its rapidity of growth, its wood 1s soft,
not very strong, and not very durable where much
exposure to the weather is requisite; but it is
sometimes used for plank-flooring, cart-linings,

USES OF ‘WOOD.’ S11

and packing-cases, and for purposes where hard-
ness, toughness, fineness of grain, and the quality
of durability are not needed. Judging by the
stalwart appearance of this tree when growing,
and by its apparent robustness of constitution, one
would imagine that it might rival in utility many
of the woods of commerce; but such, in reality, 18
not the case.

Density of fibre is the quality that usually
determines the value of wood; the denser the
fibre, the harder and heavier the timber, and the
greater its commercial. importance, because this
density of substance means durability. But this
particular quality of wood is acquired by slow
growth, and the quantity produced being thus
naturally limited—because the crops take so
long to mature—the material, as a commercial
product, becomes consequently more costly.
Within the category of such slow-growing, heavy
woods comes one of the most remarkable of them
all, the Ironwood, which is so heavy that it sinks
in water, a given quantity of this wood being
much heavier flian its equal bulk of water... The
Ironwood tree is related to the Hornbeams, and

Pp 2

212 SYLVAN WINTER.

not distantly related to the Oak. Here is a
group of these hard woods which includes the
species just indicated—the natural order Cupu-
lufere comprising about 400 species, and compre-
hending three tribes. Of these, Getulew include
the Birches and the Alders; Corylee the Hazels,
the Hornbeams, and the Ironwoods ; and Quercinee
the Oaks, Beeches, and Chestnuts. There are two
species of Ironwood, one belonging to the genus
Ostrya and one to Olneya. The most valuable of
the former, having regard to the quality of its
wood, is Ostrya virginica, the other is Olneya
tesota.

It will hardly be expected that the Ivy (Hedera
helix) could produce any wood of service, and it
is an exception to find this climbing tree of
sufficient size to contain a timber stem; yet there
is a use made of its wood when of sufficient size—
that may be new to many people. It is not hard,
though slow-growing, and it is, moreover, porous.
It is therefore used by being cut into thin slices
for filtering liquids. The wood of large roots is
also sometimes made into ‘strops’ for sharpen-
ing knives.

USES OF WOOD. 213

A very beautiful wood is that produced by the
Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum). It is prettily
spotted or blotched on a ground of grey, with
wavy marks of green, yellow, and black; and, as
it will take a high polish, it is valuable for the
manufacture of numerous fancy articles.

The Junipers, of which the Common Juniper
(Juniperus communis) is a representative species,
are handsome trees, though generally so small-
growing as not to produce wood in any consider-
able quantity or of any considerable size ; but what
is obtained is valuable. The colour of the wood of
Juniperus communis is yellowish-brown, but it is
finely veined, very durable, will take a high polish,
and is, moreover, aromatic. Another species of the
genus, called the Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana),
produces coloured wood, largely used for the
manufacture of the wooden envelopes of black-
lead pencils. In this tree the heart-wood is of
a beautiful red colour, whilst, curiously enough,
the sap-wood is quite white.

Another wood that is frequently used to imitate
Ebony is that of the Laburnum. In some species
of the genus Oytisus the wood is greenish-black,

214 SYLVAN WINTER.

and being hard and durable, and capable of taking
a high polish, it is much used for the manufacture
of fancy boxes and other articles. The heart-
wood in all the trees of this genus is dark, and
it is darker in the Common Laburnum (Cytisus
laburnum) than in some of the others. Turners
and cabinet-makers therefore put it to good use.
It is used also for the staves of casks, and for
making noggins or wooden mugs or cups.
Punch-ladles are also made from this wood, and
it is sometimes employed in the manufacture
of musical instruments, and in former times it
was used in the making of bows.

Lancewood is familiar to everybody from its
use for bows and fishing-rods. In the south of
Africa the natives make the stems of their spears
of this wood, and its use for lance-making has,
of course, originated its name. The tree which
produces it is the Lancewood tree (Guatteria
virgata) and is a native of Jamaica. Though not
a large-growing tree, its wood is very valuable
for its peculiar qualities of elasticity and tough-
ness. This wood is not only elastic, but strong, ’
and of close and uniform grain. For other,

USES OF WOOD. 215

purposes, when these qualities are desirable, such
as for making light shafts of carriages, the wood
is in request. Another species of Lancewood
is produced by the MHassagay tree (Curtisia
faginea). This tree grows to a larger size than
the one just mentioned, and yields very valuable
timber, which is applied to purposes very similar
to those of Guatteria virgata.

The uses of the Larch (Larix europea) are
almost innumerable. Its wood has been said to be
the most useful of any of the species of the useful
genus Abies which includes the Firs. In colour
it is of a reddish-brown, and for all purposes of
domestic architecture it is invaluable—for floors,
for windows, for beams and joists and doors;
and for all sorts of open uses in which there is
exposure to the weather, its enduring. qualities
are pre-eminently serviceable. Absence of knots
in its timber is one very valuable quality which
takes it out of the category of common deals.
Its good colour, toughness and hardness; its
susceptibility of a high polish, its damp-resisting
character, and its almost fire-resisting quality give
it recommendation of the first importance. For

216 SYLVAN WINTER.

use in the ship-building trades, and for employment
in making railway sleepers and for other railway
purposes, where exposure to the weather is
involved, it is unrivalled. The outdoor uses for
wood are almost numberless, and Larch is second
to none in all the necessary qualifications of
timber for such uses.

Famous amongst heavy woods is the Lignum
vite or ‘wood of life,’ the botanical name of
which is Guaiacwm officinale. It is an evergreen,
with dark foliage, and grows in its native
country, the West Indian islands, to a large size.
The wood is yellow, or a yellow inclining to olive
colour, with an irregular cross grain. It is so
hard that it is extremely difficult to split it, and
it breaks, when struck heavily, almost in the
manner of stone. The resinous sap it contains
resists the entrance into its substance of water,
and this circumstance explains its remarkable
resistance to decay. Its heaviest and hardest
and also its darkest-coloured part is its heart-
wood—its sap-wood being less heavy and of a
lighter colour. For all uses in which exceptional
hardness is required—such as for mallets and

USES OF WOOD. 217

stamps, for block-pulleys, and for employments
where wood, though used in preference to metal,
nevertheless requires to possess almost the hard-
ness of metal, Lignum vitw is desiderated.

Amenability to the knife causes the wood of
the Lime tree, of which the best known is the
Common Lime (Tilia europea), to be much
esteemed by carvers and gilders; for, soft in
character, though in quality close-grained, light,
and smooth, and in colour pale yellow or almost
white, it is a capital wood for cutting into any
desired form. Hence for toys, games, and all sorts
of manufactured things which require to be cut
into. particular shapes, this wood is admirably
adapted. For the sounding-hoards of pianos, for
boards for shoemakers and glovers for cutting
their work out. upon, for making mouldings
and designs in wood, it is an excellent material.
Indeed, the Lime was called ‘ the carvers’ tree,’
and it is said that Grinling Gibbons preferred it
to any other wood for his carvings.

The wonderful and _ beautiful Mahogany
demands some notice, though its uses are too
well known to need enumeration. The botanical

218 SYLVAN WINTER.

name of the principal tree which produces: it is
Swietenia mahoganti, a truly majestic tree, which
is believed to require two hundred years of
growth to produce perfect timber—the slow
growth being, as in the case of other trees, the
secret of its elaborate perfection.

Of Maples there are many, but let us take a
typical species by selecting the Common or Field
Maple (Acer campestre), whose wood is very
handsome, fine-grained, compact, often beauti-
fully veined, and susceptible of a high polish.
The woody roots of this tree are not unfre-
quently elegantly knotted, and then possess
especial value, being made into pipes, snuff-boxes,
and various articles of taste or luxury. In olden
times it was held in great estimation. Gilpin,
referring to this circumstance, says: ‘ Pliny *
speaks as highly of the knobs and excrescences of
this tree, called the brusca and mollusca, as Dr.
Plot does of those of the Ash.t The veins of
these excrescences in the Maple, Pliny tells us,
were so variegated that they exceeded the beauty

* See Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xvi. ch. 16.
» + Met. lib. x. v. 2.

USES OF WOOD. 219

of any other wood, even of the Citron; though
the Citron was in such repute at Rome that
Cicero, who was neither rich nor expensive, was
tempted to give ten thousand sesterces for a
Citron table. The brusca and mollusca, Pliny
adds, were rarely of size sufficient for the larger
species of furniture ; but in all smaller cabinet-
work they were inestimable. Indeed, the whole
tree was esteemed by the ancients, on account of
its variegated wood. In Ovid we find it thus
celebrated :

“« Acerque coloribus impar.” *

5

How far, at this day, it may be valued for
cabinet-work, I know not. I have, here and
there, seen boxes and other little things made of it,
which I have thought beautiful. But I am told
that in North America, where it grows wild, it is
in much esteem. When the cabinet-maker meets
with a knotted tree of this kind, which is there
called the curled Maple, he prizes it highly.’ f

The Mulberry (Morus) should, from the interest
which surrounds it as a silkworm-feeder and a

* Met. lib. x. v. 1.—The maple stained with various hues.
_ t+ ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 81-2.

220 SYLVAN WINTER.

fruit-producer, deserve some reference to its
timber ; for though it is not accounted of great
value amongst timber-trees, its wood does possess
qualities of strength, closeness of grain, and
durability. As to the last-mentioned quality, it
is said that it will remain sound when immersed
in water as long as the best Oak.

Who can recount the virtues, and describe the
qualities of Oak P_ Its reputation is too universal,
its utility too commonly understood to need re-
stating. Its slow growth is doubtless the secret
of its great value for solidity, compactness, hard-
ness, toughness, and durability. For use in ship-
building, in house-building, in the manufacture
of furniture, in the construction of every kind
of woodwork requiring the finest qualities of
strength, beauty, and endurance, it is indeed
unrivalled. Not merely, as we intimate, for its
marvellous character for strength of fibre and
durability is it entitled to fame. No wood is
more susceptible of a beautiful polish, and scarcely
any furniture is more esteemed, both for elegance
and utility, than that made of Oak. Almost
everything could be said in favour of its wonder-

USES OF WOOD. 221

ful qualities, without exhausting its praises; but
we have said enough, perhaps, to indicate that
this noble tree is really beyond praise. Gilpin
has some very happy remarks on this subject.
Prefacing them by observing that ‘amongst
deciduous trees, the Oak presents itself first’
for consideration, he goes on to say that ‘it is a
happiness to. the lovers of the picturesque, that
this noble plant is as useful as it is beautiful.
From the - utility of the Oak, they derive this
advantage, that it is everywhere found. In the
choice indeed of its soil it is rather delicate. For
though it is rather undistinguishing during its
early growth, while its horizontal fibres straggle
about the surface of the earth; yet when its tap-
root begins to enter the depths of the soil, per-
haps no tree is nicer in its discriminations. If its
constitution be not suited here, it may multiply
its progeny indeed, and produce a thriving copse ;
but the puny race will never rise to lordly dignity
in the forest, nor furnish navies to command the
ocean.’

Gilpin adds a note at this point: ‘How
quickly the Oak vegetates in a soil it likes, may

229, SYLVAN WINTER.

be seen from the following instance :—“ An acorn
was sown at Beckett, the seat of Lord Barrington,
on the day of his birth in 1717. In November,
1790, it contained ninety-five feet of timber,
which at 2s. per foot would sell for 91. 10s. The
top was valued at about 1/.15s. The girth, at
five feet from the ground, was about half an inch
more than eight feet. The increase of girth in
the two last years was 43 inches. It grows in
rich land, worth 17. 5s. an acre.” ’*

Referring to the qualities of its timber, Gilpin
proceeds: ‘The particular, and most valued
qualities of the Oak are hardness and toughness. °
Shakespeare uses two epithets to express these
qualities, which are perhaps stronger than any we
can find.

“Thou rather with thy sharp and sulph’rous bolt

Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarled Oak,
Than the soft Myrtle.”

_ ‘Many kinds of wood are harder, as Box and.
Ebony; many kinds are tougher, as Yew and
Ash; but it is supposed that no species of. wood,

* * Forest Scenery,’ pages 41-2,

USES OF WOOD. 293:

at least no species of timber, is possessed of
both these qualities together in so great a degree
as British Oak. Almost all arts and manufac-
tures are indebted to it; but in ship-building,
and bearing burdens, its elasticity and strength
are applied to most advantage. IJ mention these
mechanic uses only because some of its chief
beauties are connected with them. Thus it is not
the erect, stately tree that is always the most
useful in ship-building; but more often the
crooked one, forming short turns, and elbows,
which the shipwrights and carpenters commonly
call knee-timber. This too is generally the most
picturesque. Nor is it the straight, tall stem,
whose fibres run in parallel lines, that is the most
useful in bearing burdens: but that whose sinews
are twisted and spirally combined. This too is
the most picturesque. Trees under these circum-
stances generally take the most pleasing forms.
Now the Oak, perhaps, acquires these different
modes of growth from the different strata through
which it passes. In deep, rich soils, where the
root meets no obstruction, the stem, we suppose,
grows stately and erect: but when the root meets

2294 SYLVAN WINTER.

with a rocky stratum, a hard and gravelly bed, or
any other difficulty, through which it is obliged,
in a zigzag course, to pick its way, and struggle
for a passage, the sympathetic stem, feeling every
motion, pursues the same indirect course above,
which the root does below: and thus the sturdy
plant, through the means of these subterraneous
encounters and hardy conflicts, assumes form
and character, and becomes, in a due course of
centuries, a picturesque tree.’*

Even a thousand years after cutting from the
tree affords no criterion of the marvellous dura-
bility of Oak. After nearly double that period
the wood retains its marvellous freshness, and
seems indeed to be almost imperishable. When
workmen were engaged in clearing the channel at
Brundusium in Italy, they came upon Oak piles
which were driven into the bed of the channel
by Julius Czsar, to block up Pompey’s fleet ; they
were the whole trunks of young Oaks, from
which the bark had been stripped, and though
they had been immersed under seven feet of sand
for more than eighteen hundred years, it is stated

* ‘ Forest Scenery,’ pages 43-4.

SCOTCH FIR, YEW.

USES OF WOOD. 925

that they were as fresh as if they had only been
cut from the woods a few weeks before. Mar-
vellous, indeed, are these facts.

We could go on voluminously to record facts
corroborative of the wonderful quality and endu-
rance of Oak, instancing attested cases in which
the doors of public buildings, made ten, twelve,
and even fifteen hundred years ago, were still
almost as good as when made; but our allotted
space will not allow of the continuation of this
subject, interesting though it be, for the claims
of other trees to discussion must be con-
sidered.

“A tree whose wood admits more readily than
. that of many other trees of being stained black in
imitation of Ebony, is the well-known and fruit-
ful Pear (Pyrus communis, ‘ common’ indeed, but
beautiful). Naturally the colour of Pear wood is
slightly reddish: It is finely and closely grained,
strong and heavy. In past times it was con-
sidered of value for wood-engravings, but never
had the same estimation as the inimitable Box,
being used only for the coarser designs. For other
purposes also it is employed by the turner and the

Q

296 SYLVAN WINTER.

joiner, apart from the use made of it in its dis-
guised form—its form when ‘ ebonized.’

To give a discriminating account of the wood
of the useful Pine would require a considerable
amount of space. We must therefore be content
to limit our remarks to one very typical tree—
the Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris), which includes
within itself nearly all the properties, and nearly
all the virtues of the race of Pines. How much
human habitations in all parts of the world owe,
for the material of which they are constructed,
to the ‘deal’ furnished by the wonderfully
useful Pines, only timber statisticians could even
approximately state. The white, coloured, or
yellow and resinous wood produced from these
prolific and singularly valuable trees has been
distributed in countless quantities all over the
universe. The proof of the rémarkable sound-
ness and durability of the timber of the Scotch
Pine is found in the fact that after doing service
in the roofs of houses for centuries, it is found to
be perfectly good and in a remarkable state of
preservation. Combined with its strength, dura-
bility, and freedom from knots, it is remarkable

USES OF WOOD. 227

- for ‘its lightness and quality—a double charac-
teristic, very often of especial importance in wood.
In colour Scotch Pine-wood is reddish, but the
colours of the timber of the other species of the
genus Pinus and of the allied genus Abies (the Firs)
varies much, inclining from what is called white to
various shades of yellow ; and varying, as we have
said, in quality and in its greater or less freedom

"from knots; but all possess the great qualification
of wide utility, for no other kind of timber has any-
thing like the same universal application to all the
purposes of domestic, commercial, and naval archi-
tecture.

The wood of the elegant and picturesque Plane,
of which there are two species, Platanus orientalis
and Platanus occidentalis, is not highly valued,
but, like the tree itself, it may be said to be
‘picturesque.’ In some’ parts of the world it is
still used by the carpenter, the cabinet-maker,
and the joiner—for the timber, though naturally
yellow or yellowish-white, as the tree attains age,
becomes brown, the ground. of that colour being
marked with elegant veins or markings like
jasper. If rubbed with oil, it will take,a high

Qa.

228 SYLVAN WINTER.

polish, and can then be made into ornamental
articles resembling somewhat the wood of the
Walnut-tree.

Hard in texture, the wood of the Wild Plum
(Prunus spinosa) takes a fine polish, but is not
of much use, owing to its liability to crack. It is,
‘however, employed in some cases for making the
handles of tools, and, on account of its hardness,
for the teeth of various agricultural implements,
such as wooden rakes. For walking-sticks,
however, the Blackthorn is largely employed, on
account of the same quality of hardness, and
also on. account of its beauty—for Wild Plum
walking-sticks are, it is well known, very
handsome.

Another wood not commonly much esteemed
is that of. the Poplar (Populus). The same
general lack of estimation extends to the various
species of this genus. The rapidity of growth
of the Poplars causes the wood to be light and
soft, and that prevents it from acquiring that

closeness of grain and compactness so essential

to good timber. In colour, most of these woods
are light, inclining to yellow. For toy-making

USES OF WOOD. 229

they are serviceable; also for some kinds of
cabinet-making. Its employment in buildings,
for floors, is sometimes suggested because of its
whiteness, the readiness with which it can be
cleaned, and the difficulty with which it can be
ignited. The White Poplar (Populus alba), the
Black Poplar (Populus nigra), the Lombardy
Poplar (Populus fastigiata), the Aspen or Trem-
bling Poplar (Populus tremula), and the Grey
Poplar (Populus canescens) are the best known of
these trees. The whitest woods are those of the
White and the Grey Poplars, that of the latter
being the harder of the two. They are used for
packing-cases, for drapers’ bobbins and rollers,
for toys, and for some of the inferior purposes
of the cabinet-maker and turner. The wood of
the Aspen, being exceptionally light, is used for
inferior casks, such as casks for packing fish, for
milk-pails, for clogs, sabots, butchers’ trays, and
sometimes by sculptors and engravers for inferior
work. The Black Poplar is so called, according
to one explanation, because of a black circle found
within the centre of its trunk. In the wood pro-
duced by some individuals of this species there

230 SYLVAN WINTER.

are mottled knots, and, when polished, this wood
makes handsome and ornamental boxes.

Useful in a humble degree is the Spindle Tree
(Euonynuis europoeus), whose close-grained, hard
wood is employed in making spindles and skewers.
Formerly it was used by musical instrument
makers, and in the present day it furnishes, when
reduced to charcoal, a capital drawing material for

artists.
As the Scotch Pine amongst Pines claims

superiority for its timber, so may the Spruce Fir
(Abies excelsa) be said to deserve pre-eminence
amongst the Firs. Its wood is both elastic and
light, it is durable, sometimes red and sometimes
yellowish in colour—durability and colour depend-
ing a good deal on the soil in which it grows—and
it isextremely resinous. Potash is produced by its
ashes. For the masts of vessels, for which whole
trees, stripped of their bark, are used; for ladders,
scaffold and other poles ; for oars of boats, and for
other aquatic purposes ; for the flooring of houses,
sometimes for making musical instruments ; for
packing-boxes, for the interiors of cabinets and
drawers, and occasionally for carvers and gilders

USES OF WOOD. 931

it is used. It is capable of taking a high polish,
and is amenable to the arts of the stainer and
‘ebonizer.’

Sycamore wood, by which we mean the wood of
the Great Maple (Acer pseudo-platanus), though
finely grained, capable of polishing, and sometimes
veined, is used for various purposes of no great
importance. It can be easily worked, and hence
jomers and cabinet-makers put it to a useful
employment. Wooden spoons and other domestic
utensils used to be made of this material, and
gunstocks, cider-presses, and musical instruments
are still made of it. Itis not very hard, and its
colour, white at first, becomes, as the tree matures,
yellowish and sometimes brown. One very use-
ful property it has is its non-liability to warp;
and a proof of its durability, notwithstanding its
comparative softness, is the fact that the wooden
envelopes or coffins in which mummies were
placed in the Hastern catacombs were invariably
made of Sycamore wood. Lastly, it makes ex-
cellent fuel, and, when burning, gives out a great
deal of heat.

The True Service Tree (Pyrus sorbus) is said

232 SYLVAN WINTER.

by Loudon to be ‘ the hardest and the heaviest of
all the indigenous woods of Europe.’ He adds:
‘It weighs, when dry, no less than seventy-two
pounds two ounces per cubic foot. It has a com-
pact fine grain, a reddish tinge, and takes a very
high polish; but it must not be employed
until it is thoroughly seasoned, as otherwise
it is apt to twist and split. It is much
sought after in France by mill-wrights for making
cogs to wheels, rollers, cylinders, blocks and
pulleys, spindles and axles, and for all those
parts of machines which are subject to much
friction and require great strength and durability.
In France it is preferred to all other kinds of
wood for making the screws to wine-presses.

Very close in texture, hard, and heavy is the
wood of the Whitebeam (Pyrus aria). It is
yellow or yellowish-white in colour, and will take a
high polish. Handles to various articles are made
from it, and it can easily be stained to imitate
other woods when desired. It used to be, and
still is to a considerable extent, employed for
cogs to wheels of machinery.

Of the Willow (Salix) the uses are pretty well

USES OF WOOD.. 933

known. The manufacture of baskets from the
twigs is one of the most extensive uses to which
this tree is put, the wood being very light as well
as soft and smooth. Cricket-bails, bats, fish-
coracles, and many other things of less importance
are manufactured from it.

Last to consider in this examination of woods
is the Yew (Taxus baccata). Its extreme slowness
of growth promotes’ the compactness, hardness,
closeness of grain, flexibility, elasticity, and, it may
finally be said, the incorruptibility of its timber.
Besides all these fine qualities, Yew wood is a
beautiful colour, orange-red inclining. to deep
brown. Where the sap-wood and the heart-wood.
join in the trunk, there are varying shades of
colour—brown, red, and white. These,. joined to.
the waviness of the grain, give a very beautiful
appearance. The term waviness in this case is
very well applied, for the resemblance of the
figures made in the wood is like the waters of
a sea, not only when in motion, but when troubled.
When polished—and the wood of the Yew is suscep-
tible of a very high polish—the appearance just in-
dicated is very beautiful. If when veneer has been

234 SYLVAN WINTER.

cut from a Yew log, the veneer be steeped for a few
months in the waters of a pond, it will, it is
stated by Varennes de Feuilles, ‘take a purple-
violet colour.’ This, however, is not always the
case, at least with the solid logs of the wood, after
immersion in water. We have before us a speci-
men—forwarded to us from Ireland by Mr. Archi-
bald Henderson, of Clonad, Tullamore—of Yew
wood. It was taken from the trunk of a tree
dug out of the Killenmore bog, King’s County,
in June, 1883. It is impossible to say how long
this trunk had lain in the bog, but probably for
hundreds of years; yet it is as light in colour, and
as fresh in appearance as if just cut from a newly-
felled tree, and it possesses in a remarkable degree
_ the waviness to which we have referred. Not
only does Yew wood mature so slowly, but, after
cutting, it takes longer to dry than any other
known wood. Compensation, however, for this cir-
cumstance is found inthe fact that it losesvery little
indeed in the process of drying, not more than
one forty-eighth part of its bulk. A cubic foot,
when dry, weighs sixty-one pounds and seven
ounces. ‘The fineness of the grain of Yew wood

USES OF WOOD. 935

is very remarkable, and as an illustration of this
fact, it may be stated that in 280 years the tree
only adds twenty inches to its diameter, for
280 annual concentric rings have been counted
within a diameter of twenty inches. This state-
ment must, of course, be taken as an average one ;
for with the Yew, as with other trees, cold and
ungenial, and warm and ‘ growing’ seasons make
some difference, though probably not any appre-
ciable difference in most cases, for the ‘cycles’
of weather would be pretty nearly equalized in a
space of 280 years. It will be easily understood
that Yew timber makes one of the finest woods
for the purposes of the cabinet-maker. In olden
times, it is well known, it was employed in the
making of bows, and amongst its pre-eminently
valuable qualifications in the present day is not
only its adaptibility for manufacturing into the
finest descriptions of furniture and frame-work, but
for employment in all out door service requiring
exceptional durability. One remarkable proof. of
the estimation in which the Yew is held in the
English New Forest is a saying of the inhabitants
that ‘a post of Yew will outlast a post of iron.’

LEI,
PLANT SLEEP.

OW wonderful and beau-
tiful is the arrange-
ment by which plants
obtain the rest that
with them, as with all
beings and things that
grow, is essential to
their well-being in the

wise economy of Nature !
We do not here allude to the really curious and
interesting arrangements by which leaves during
the night in Summer alter their position, and, so
to speak, fold themselves up to sleep. Familiar
examples of this singular function are afforded in
the case of the pretty Wood Sorrel (Ozalis
acetosella), which folds its upper surfaces, that
most require protection, together during the
night, and unfolds them again in the morning;

PLANT SLEEP. O87

in the case of the common Clover (Trifolium
repens), and in that of some other plants. Many
flowers, too, as is well known, close their petals
during the darkness as if for rest, and open them
again on the appearance of sunlight. But our
allusion is to the Winter sleep of plants and
seeds, and marvellous and interesting indeed
are the innumerable provisions made for pro-
moting, maintaining, and protecting this sleep.
The heralding, or rather the signalling of the
Winter . night-tinie—if the expression may be
used—is the fall, of the leaf. Then follows, in
deciduous trees, the falling of the sap and that
quiescent state which indicates the- period of
rest. Roots, stem, and branches all cease their
active functions. Hvergreens, it is true, preserve
their verdancy; but there is no:-upward motion
or progress. In their case, as in that of ‘de-
ciduous plants, the progression of vital forces ‘is
arrested ; but elaborate preparation has already
been-made for the green and floral display of the
succeeding seasons, ‘and elaborate ‘protection has
been afforded for the organs which will be exposed
to the wintry cold. Summer and autumn, sun

938 SYLVAN WINTER.

and wind, have ripened the branches that have
been developed from the buds in the earlier
months. Their bark, first green and tender, has
become embrowned and hardened, thus pro-
ducing warmth and protection for the soft and
tender tissue in them, and preserving the de-
licacy and perfection of the moist channels that
convey the plant’s life-blood—the sap—first down
into the trunk and roots, where it can receive
protection during the period of rest, and then up
again to create life and beauty when the suc-
ceeding spring dawns upon the woods. The
effect of frost upon these delicate vessels would
be ruinous to their vitality and vigour. But
everything has been anticipated. The leaves,
which are thin, tender, and delicate, as are those
of deciduous plants, fall away and leave the rough
and well-prepared branches which bore them to
withstand the wintry cold. The leaves of ever-
greens which remain during the season of sleep,
are prepared by long exposure and by the
hardening and thickening of their epidermis, or
outer coating of cellular tissue, to withstand the
severest influences of Winter. -

IV.
DORMANT SEEDS.

MBRYOS of future
plants are protected by.
the most elaborate and
beautiful arrangements
from all -ungenial in-
fluences by hard and
horny outer coverings,
varnished and_ thickly
gummed to exclude

‘both cold and moisture,
and by. the softest of silky wraps within. The
marvellous variety of the provisions for the pro-
tection of the seed is so great that a large volume
could be filled with the interesting details ;, but let
us take an instance that will illustrate. the wise
and beautiful economy of the world—one of the
commonest that dwellers in towns, as well as

240 SYLVAN WINTER.

residents in the country, can see for themselves
with little trouble, if they wish to minutely study
the ways of kind Nature in this department of her
great laboratory. Few dormant seeds, perhaps,
are there that look less interesting and less
attractive, and more brown and dead, than the
pods which depend plentifully from the twigs of the
Common Laburnum. Let us take one down from
the tree in mid-Winter, and look at it. The pod
is dark brown and dead-looking, and the marks
on the outside indicate the position of the seeds
within. It is a pretty sight that is disclosed
when it is opened, splitting as it does into two
parts longitudinally ; for a beautiful provision is
made within for protecting the seeds from the
wintry cold. The pod is two inches long, and
contains six purple-black and somewhat kidney-
shaped seeds attached by their indented sides to
the side of the pod, three seeds each side, arranged
alternately, so that when the pod is closed, they
are in a line, and economy of space is strictly
observed. The pod is lined in each trough or
half with a very pale yellow, silky lining, which
separates from the hard and shiny substance of

“UNId ANOLS *HOUVT

DORMANT SEEDS. Q41

the pod itself. Upon this soft couch the seeds
obtain warmth and protection from the cold.
The seeds themselves are protected by water-
‘proof coverings, capable. of affording a certain
amount of protection from the cold; and should
they prematurely fall by the too easy splitting of
their silk-lined, horny envelope, there is still the
chance of their falling to the ground and lying
between substances which would render them
cold-proof.

How marvellously diverse indeed are the pro-
visions made for protecting the delicate germ which
encloses the wonderful principle of vitality called
life! In the Chestnut and Walnut there is first
the thick and prickly outer shell of green tissue,
then within that—in the case of the Walnut—there
is a stout hard shell, then a close covering of
brown skin, then the albuminous matter which
immediately surrounds the actual plant-germ or
‘embryo. In the case of the Chestnut, there is
first—within the prickly outer. shell—an inner
glossy one like polished mahogany, and inside that
the brown skin enclosing the mass of albumen. —

In the plum there ig, inside the sweet, fleshy

R

249, SYLVAN WINTER.

pulp, the hard shelly substance called the stone,
and inside that the kernel, itself enwrapped in
brown skin. In the apple, pear, strawberry,
gooseberry, orange, and other soft-bodied fruits,
a mass of sweet, soft substance encloses the more
or less hard or horny covering of the seed-germs.

Endless are the shades of colour, and endless
are the markings of seeds—red, black, purple,
green—spotted, splashed, and veined ; and within,
the seed sleeps until the awakening forces of
warmth and moisture in the succeeding spring
set in motion the complex and exquisitely
beautiful machinery which, with subtle mystery,
fashions stem and radicle, leaves, flowers, and
fruit.

How perfect is the protection afforded to the
beautiful life within the seed-envelope is scarcely
apprehended by those who regard a dormant seed
as merely a tiny, dingy-coloured, and insignificant
thing. Nature adapts her processes to suit her
particular needs, and hence it is that the coverings
she fashions are so various. The seeds which,
like those of the Pines, are produced by trees
which grow in the roughest and wildest parts of

DORMANT SEEDS. 243

the earth, where storms and winds exercise their
most powerful effects, and where great hardness
and vitality are essential to preservation, are
especially protected by complex arrangements from
injury and from premature dampness. The Pine-
cone—hard, woody, and rain-proof—is a wonder-
ful envelope for the seed—an envelope of singular
strength and endurance, and one capable of pre-
serving the vitality of the Pine-germs for marvel-
lously long periods of time. Convulsions of the
world’s surface, though sometimes involving a
sacrifice of human life, have all some wise purpose,
and are always followed by compensatory in-
fluences. When by any convulsion of Nature the
surface of the ground is dismantled and stripped
temporarily of its vegetable growth, provision is
duly made for the reappearance of that green life
which is the earth’s essential garment. But for
the vitality of seeds which are temporarily buried,
and apparently destroyed by such violent changes,
there might be no sufficient succession of fertility.
It is the fact, however—of which undoubted proof
exists—that seeds buried in geologic strata that
have remained buried under overlying seams of
R 2

244, SYLVAN WINTER.

earth, sand, or rock, have, when brought to the
surface and subjected to the influence of sun and
rain, developed into life!

Many years ago in North America, whilst some
men were engaged in the operation of digging a
well, they came upon a stratum of sea-sand at
some distance from the surface. Its discovery
gave rise to much curiosity, as there was no sea
near the place. The sand therefore was carefully
collected and thrown. down by itself for further
examination. Some time afterwards plants were
discovered growing from the sand, and on being
identified, it was found they were specimens of
Prunus maritima— the seaside inhabiting Plum,’
as it is called—a species which only grows wild
by the sea-shore. The’ plum-stones enclosing
the fertile kernel had probably lain for many
centuries in the position in which they were.found,
and had passed through geologic changes of con-
siderable violence without injury! Dr. Lindley,
famous for his works on botany, stated that he
had raised three raspberry plants from seeds which
had been taken from a human skeleton dug up
from a Roman barrow, the skeleton being thirty

DORMANT SEEDS. Q45

feet under the ground! It is even averred that
some withered kidney-beans, obtained from a bag
that was taken from the window-seat of one of
the houses dug out from the ruins of Hercu-
laneum, came up when planted, and blossomed !
Sleep only though this be, it is, indeed, sleep
profound.

V.
AGES OF. TREES.

UDGED by outward
appearance, it would
be utterly impossible
to form even an ap-
proximate estimate
of the ages of trees.
Yet the results which
have been published
of inquiries in this

most interesting di-
rection have led to satisfactory conclusions; but
the data have been obtained in various ways,
and by a process of deduction, rather than by
actual and direct evidence. The deductions have,
nevertheless, been so clear as to leave little room
for doubt, and for the reason that when they
have been put to the test against clearly ascer-
tained facts, they have proved to be sound.

AGES OF TREKS. 247

In the case of all exogenous trees—those
whose additions of cellular matter are made in
concentric rings externally to their substance—
the scientific test of age is the number of such
concentric rings shown in the trunk, as each
cylinder of matter annually formed can be distin-
guished from the preceding or succeeding cylinders
in all cases except those of the first and last.
When the outer cylinders of its wood are capable
of being counted—by not being broken and
confused—the age of the tree corresponds in
years with the number of rings shown on a cross
section, or a cutting through the trunk in a direc-
tion horizontal to the ground. But this process
could only be tried by the destruction of the tree,
and if that process only of finding out had to be:
applied, no criterion could be formed of the ages
of living trees. But historical notes and coin-
cident events have thrown some light on the
subject, and experts have, by a knowledge of the
whole subject, been able to arrive at some satis-
factory results; so that it may be assumed that
the data now to be given are based on a solid
foundation, though they are of course only approxi-

248 SYLVAN WINTER.

mate. Taking the trees in the order of their
longevity, the list will be headed by the Yew
with 38200 years. Then comes the Cedar with
3000, an estimate which is partly based upon the
assumption that the existing Cedars of Lebanon
were contemporaries of Solomon. The approxi-
mate ages of the others about which information
has been obtained are: Wellingtonia, 2000; Oak,
1650; Plane, 1800; Spruce, 1200; Lime, 1100;
Chestnut, 1000; Sycamore, 1000; Walnut, 900;
Cypress, 800; Beech, 800; Olive, 800; Orange,
630; Elm, 600; Larch, 576; Maple, 516; Ivy,
335; Ash, 300, Barberry, 300; Scotch Fir, 250;
White Poplar, 160; Thorn, 150; Vine, 100; and
Mountain Ash, 100. It must be distinctly under-
stood that whilst these ages have been supplied
upon the best authority obtainable, it is not to be
assumed that the periods indicated may not be
inconsistent with some actually ascertained facts.
The reason for this is that circumstances of
growth occasion the most important differences
in the duration of tree-life. Trees growing under
apparently the most favourable conditions often,
for unexplained and frequently incomprehensible

AGES OF TREES. 249

reasons, decay and die at a comparatively early
age; and in other cases individuals, not more
favourably situated to all appearance than others,
live to an abnormally great age, far beyond the
average of the species. Although, for instance,
the age of the Wellingtonia has been given here
at 2000 years, the following remarkable state-
ment will point to a probably much longer
duration of life. It will take the form of an
extract from a communication made to the Gar-
deners’ Chronicle by Sir J. D. Hooker. Speaking
of a specimen of Wellingtonia felled in 1875, the
writer stated that the girth inside the bark at
four feet from the ground was 107 feet! He
continued: ‘Its wood was very compact, and
showed, throughout a considerable portion of the
trunk, thirty annual rings to the inch. This, if
the rings were of uniform diameter in the rest of
the trunk, would give the incredible age of 6400 ;
but as the interior ‘rings of such trees are much
broader than the outer, half that number to the
inch is a more conceivable estimate, and would
give an average of 3500 years! The only other
instance of careful counting which we can find is

950 SYLVAN WINTER.

that of the felled tree in the Calaveras Grove,
which measured seventy feet in girth inside the
bark at six feet above the ground, and which at
forty feet above the ground had 1255 rings. In
this case the rings next the bark were thirty-three
to the inch—a number which at five feet inward
had diminished one-half.’ Sir Joseph Hooker
chiefly obtained his information, he stated, from
some accurate data supplied by Mr. Muir.

Mr. Wilfrid George Marshall, in his interesting
book, ‘Through America,’ records an instance
of the counting of rings in a prostrate trunk
of Wellingtonia gigantea im the Calaveras
Grove in California. The reference is so im-
portant that we will quote entire the para-
graph containing it. Mr. Marshall says, ‘ Now,
concerning the age of these giant Wellingtonias,
it seems hard to comprehend their antiquity,
even with such facts before one as are to be
found in the immense number of rings that can
be counted on some of the severed prostrate
trunks. My friend’ (a travelling companion)
‘counted in one tree as many as two thousand
rings. If each one of these rings represents a

AGES OF TREES. 251

year’s growth, then this tree is two thousand
years old at the very least. Report goes that a
tree has been found in the Mariposa Grove with
six thousand rings in it. If such is the case,
though I rather doubt it, can this tree be six
thousand years old?’ At this point Mr. Mar-
shall refers to the remarks just quoted by Sir
Joseph Hooker. We can personally vouch for
the accuracy of Mr. Marshall’s statement as to
the tree he and his friend examined, for he is
a ‘note-taker’ of unusual excellence; and the
slight doubt he expresses as to the two thou-
sand rings representing two thousand years,
can be at once disposed of; so that we have
evidence, from very recent observation, of the
Wellingtonia living to the age of two thousand
years. There is a little more of deduction in the
statements of Mr. Muir, and it is only the natural
wonder that the mere affirmation occasions that
prevents us from realizing fully the possibility
of an apparently incredible period of tree-life.

VI.
FOSSIL FORESTS.

OTHING in the history
of the vegetable world
is more interesting
than the records of
buried trees, whose
limbs have been turned
into coal or stone, pre-
serving, however, with

singular clearness, in
trunk, branches, leaves,
flowers, and fruit, the form and markings which
distinguished them when growing under the con-
ditions that were, with more or less of suddenness,
changed by some convulsion of Nature. With
the forms retained in the coal measures with such
distinctness as to enable the scientist to read the
history of the past, most readers are familiar.

FOSSIL FORESTS. 953

The published evidences are less numerous of pet-
rified forests—and curious and wonderful indeed
is the process by which wood is changed to stone
without losing the markings which distinguished
it when the slow process of petrifaction, ages ago,
commenced. How great and powerful have some-
times been the convulsions which in past times
have overturned parts of the world,and changed all
the then existing conditions of the life of the plants
and animals overwhelmed, can be learnt from the
great depths under the present surface strata at
which forestal remains are often discovered. Trees
are frequently dug out from positions two or three
hundred feet below the surface, and the deep
waters of lakes often overlie whole forests, although
sometimes the buried relics are only just below the
surface soil. Occasionally, indeed, the forestal re-
mains lie along the surface of the ground, or are
but barely covered by earth or sand—the earth
or sand of the new soil which has taken the place
of that buried.

Whilst great convulsions of Nature have pro-
bably occasioned the changes which have caused
forests and individual trees to be buried at con-

254 SYLVAN WINTER.

siderable distances under the surface, it is the
slow movements of land and water that have
given rise to the burying of them in shallows of
land, if that expression may be used. By the
slow subsidence of land, dry ground would be
turned into marsh, and the conditions under
which its flora had existed being wholly changed,
the trees and other plants that had grown on the
dryer soil would perish. As the subsidence con-
tinued, the marsh would become deep bog, and
a new order of vegetation would spring up, but
vegetation of a small size—small enough, indeed,
to float on the bog’s surface. Slowly, but surely,
the undermined trees, already destroyed by their
uncongenial soil and circumstances, would sink
in the depths of the soft mud of the morass.
Lower and lower they would sink, until the top-
most branches had disappeared. But oftentimes
the process of disappearance is hastened by the
fall of the tree, when the abnormal moistening of
the soil about its roots had caused them to loosen
their hold. Falling thus horizontally into the
bog, the tree would speedily be covered by its
substance, and the final process hastened.

FOSSIL FORESTS. 25d

Much the same change would be wrought by
the sea, the ever restless and never constant sea,
which is continually encroaching in some places
and retiring from others. Forest remains dis-
covered buried under existing sands by the sea-
shore prove that where the waves now rollin upon
the land, trees once flourished in magnificence and
beauty. Immersion for long years—centuries—
in water produces the curiously hard and perfect
material called bog timber. Immersion in sand
or earth causes the marvellous and wonderful
change called petrifaction, by which—though the
material is changed to stone, and sparkles with
stony brilliance—the original grain, and the spots
or other markings of the wood are preserved with
singular fidelity. By the wonderful and half-
mysterious process of Nature which geologists call
metamorphosis, this change is effected ; earths are
changed into rocks, rocks into other rocks, and
wood into stone.

Many of these strangely interesting phenomena
have come to light by excursions into the body of
the earth; but it will be sufficient to mention
two. A petrified Pine forest was discovered in

956 SYLVAN WINTER.

1883 under Lake Tahoe. For many years an
appearance as of a bank of moss had been noted
under the waters of the lake; but on the moss
and some accompanying slimy matter disappear-
ing, it was seen that they had hidden the limbs
and twigs, which could, then, clearly be discerned,
of a petrified Pine forest. Fifty feet below the
surface of the lake lay this wonderful example of
petrifaction, and by the use of grappling-irons
lowered into the lake broken pieces of petrified
wood were disengaged and brought to the surface.
Two acres of ground, it was computed, were
covered by this forestal remnant. For the other
instance we shall quote from an interesting book
already referred to, Mr. W. G. Marshall’s.
‘Through America. ‘We drove,’ says Mr.
Marshall, at page 319 of his first edition, ‘ to with-
in a mile of Calistoga, and then diverged to the
right, leaving the main-road and the corn-fields
that bordered it, and ascending through forests the
spur of a mountain till, in five miles, we came to
the wonderful geological curiosity which I will
now attempt to describe. Within an area of about
thirty acres, mostly on sloping ground, were lying

‘FOSSIL FORESTS. 257

prostrate and plainly visible, one hundred or more
petrified trunks and stumps of trees, the majority,
if not the whole of them, lying in one direction ;
and besides these there were many more (all of
them also petrified) which, covering a large area
‘had been simply outlined or partially excavated
from the earth and volcanic matter in which they
had become imbedded—for as yet they had only
been traced, the work of excavation not having
proceeded far’ (this was in 1879). ‘Judging by
the dimensions of some of the more exposed
trunks, these trees must, indeed, have been verit-
able monsters. One of them, which has been
appropriately designated “the Pride of the
Forest,’’ measured eleven feet across the stump,
and thirty feet up the trunk the diameter was
seven feet. The tree reveals its own growth, for
by the grain of the wood its age has been
traced to 1100 years—that is, of course, its age
before it became thrown and turned into stone..
This great fellow lay thoroughly exposed, and,
apart from its size, was a geological curiosity.
in the fact: of its having an almost perfect petri-
fied bark ; and a portion of its wood was not: only
8

258. SYLVAN WINTER.

petrified, but was just in its original state, as if
the tree were alive. The ground around the
trunk glistened with deposits of crystalline silica ;
and chips of petrified charcoal, so crisp as to break
in pieces with the slightest amount of pressure,
were lying scattered about, showing that heat had
in some way been brought to bear upon the wood
before petrifaction set in. Some terrible convulsion
of Nature, possibly a volcanic eruption, must sud-
denly have overturned these once monarchs of the
forest, and have buried them out of sight ; and as
there is an extinct volcano in the vicinity, namely
Mount St. Helena (which rises to a height of 3700
feet above the sea-level), it does not seem impro-
bable that such was the case, and that Mount St.
Helena had something to do withit. Though this
splendid forest of petrified trees had, when we
visited the collection, only been excavated and
outlined to the extent of thirty acres, it is probable
that it extends over a much larger area, as fresh
specimens were then being continually unearthed.
Many of those which had been simply outlined lay
covered with gravel and brushwood, about three
feet or so in depth. All the trees, as I have

FOSSIL FORESTS. 959

already mentioned, were prostrate and lying in
one direction—from north to south. The forest
was, I believe, discovered in 1867. To the credit
of one “ Charlie ” Evans, a: ‘Swede, is due its ex-
cavation and disclosure, though whether he was
the actual discoverer of it, I am unable to say.
However, he became an early possessor of the
forest by obtaining a grant of the land from
Government—before it was known that there
were any petrified trees underground; and now
he is complete master of the situation. . . . Inhis
cabin he had many fine polished pieces of petrified
roots of the trees, as well as some splendid agatized
specimens,—all obtained from this forest.’

It is easy to note the resulis of metamorphosis
as indicated by the changed form assumed by the
same chemical substances after the lapse of time,
and it is comparatively easy to ascertain that the
beautiful principle of crystallization is the agent
employed in many of the changes; but who can
understand the mystery which enshrouds the
‘motive force ’ in all these marvellous processes ? .

s 2

VII.
TREE-FOOD.

ROWTH in Nature cannot
be effected without food
of some kind, and nou-
rishment is as essential to
plants as to all other
organic things. Here,
however, growth will be
only incidentally referred

to, as, for plants, it is a
subject that only in a
slight degree appertains to Winter; but the in-
teresting question of food, and the provision that
Nature makes for it, is quite appropriate to the
season which forms the theme of this volume.
Perhaps to the careless observer who wanders
into wintry woodlands, the least attractive object
is furnished by the dead leaves over which he

TREE-FOOD. 261

walks. To the artist, the withered leafy floor of
the forest affords, by its strong and varied colour,
some of the finest of his effects; and for the reflec-
tive mind there is much of interest to be learnt
from a subject that might appear to have no
element of interest in it.

The functions of plants, as exhibited in the pro-
duction of leaves, flowers, and fruit—beautiful as
are their manifestations, and quietly and noise-
lessly as the processes are conducted—are very
exhaustive both of vital force and of substance.
From the soil and from the air, but mainly from
the soil, all the elements that minister to the pro-
duction of the beautiful fabrics formed by the
mysterious processes of growth and development
are derived. The needful assimilation and meta-
morphism—for this last-mentioned expression
may fitly be applied to the elaborating functions
of plants—though the elements which are essen-
tial to them are derived from outside, also involve
more or less of exhaustion, and unless with this
exhaustion there were replenishment, the plant
would languish and die. Hence it is that the
vital substances which are withdrawn, must be

262 SYLVAN WINTER.

replaced, and it is in this direction that the wise
economy of Nature is exercised, and provision is
made for returning to the plant just those par-
ticular elements needed to supply its particular
or individual requirements.

How admirably this purpose is fulfilled, will be
suggested by a visit to the untouched ‘floor’ of
a forest. There lie, thickly scattered, dead and
dry, the hosts of leaves; the dead and withered
blossoms, and the ungathered and _ shrivelled
fruit, shorn indeed of the gloss and beauty of
summer, shorn even of the exquisite tints of
autumn, but rich still in all those essential
constituents which make up the glory and beauty
of the seasons of warmth and genial sunshine.
Except their moisture, which is mostly gone with
those gases which compose it, the dead leaves
embody nearly all the plant-food which the
living ones contained: carbonic acid, lime, mag-
nesia, phosphoric acid, potash, silicic acid, soda,
and ‘sulphuric acid, with sometimes metallic
oxides of aluminium, copper, or iron, and it may
be bromine, fluorine, and iodine, and sometimes
salts. The evaporated moisture is soon returned

_ TREB-FOOD. 263

in the plentiful rain of the Winter season, or in
the thawing of rime and snow. Then begins a
rapid process of decay, and the re-solution of the
dry organic constituents of the leaves into liquid,
by the dilution of rain. Slowly but surely the
process goes on—leaves are turned into leaf-
mould, and the liquified leafsmould enriches, all
around the roots, the earth which had, in the
previous season, been drained of its resources, to
supply the urgent and pressing wants of the
growing tree.

The rains of Winter, too, as well as those
of spring and summer, and the melted snow,
carry into the earth the gases which they had,
in their descent to the ground, absorbed from the
air, and thus they assist in the process of en-
richment. The store of food goes on accumu-
lating. The lowest portion of the surface-soil,
where the leaf-mould is perfectly formed, enters
at once, by the action of rain, into the soil below;
the stratum of leaves, next above, is only half-
decayed; and the surface-bed consists of those
last fallen, awaiting their turn for decay and final
incorporation into the forest soil.

264 SYLVAN WINTER.

So the process goes on, with marvellous and
beautiful regularity, and with wonderful adapta-
tion to the multifarious necessities of the vegetable
world. The exquisitely varied loveliness of the
forest is due to the marvellous diversity of the
processes of Nature. The differences of stem and
bough and twig, of leaf and flower and seed—
differences of size, colour, form, and taste—are
due to the infinitely varying proportions in which
elemental substances are combined in the perfect
mechanism of stem, leaf, flower, and fruit. And
how simple, yet beautiful, is the arrangement by
which these differences are maintained! The
fallen leaves of the wintry Oak contain just the
elements which produced its individuality; and
close at hand therefore, when these elements are
carried into the soil by the agency of water, are
the constituents of the glory and splendour of
the succeeding season. So it is throughout. the
forest, Nature everywhere maintaining the balance,
and promoting and continuing the harmony of

that variety, which is the greatest charm of the
vegetable world.

VIII.

BUDS, BARK, AND PITH.

EYOND— far beyond
the highest possible
attainments of human
skill is the wonderful
provision by which the
curious and_ elaborate
mechanism of stem,
leaf, flower, and fruit
is compressed into the
tiniest of possible spaces
in the form of a bud. No more extraordi-
nary instance could be afforded of the almost
miraculous arrangement that can be effected
within a tiny envelope than that of the Horse
Chestnut bud, no larger than a pea, once dissected
in mid-Winter by a German naturalist. Within
the minute space indicated were seventeen over-
lapping and protecting scales—bud-scales are

266 SYLVAN WINTER.

rudimentary and imperfectly formed leaves;
under these an incipient stem and four leaves,
flower-spikes with sixty-eight separate flowers,
within the flowers incipient stamens, and on these
pollen. Not always indeed is so intricate a
system of leaves and flowers discernible within
the dark-coloured envelope of a Winter bud; but
there is always in every bud an elaborate and
beautiful arrangement for the continuation of the
plant. The bud, in fact, is the infinitesimal model
of the mature plant, and from it will issue and
be repeated, all that has gone before. Buds
may be said to be of three kinds ; those which re-
produce leaves only, those which reproduce only
flowers, and those which reproduce stems, leaves,
and flowers.

In climates where Winters are not severe, the
outer scales of buds are, in reality, leaves. But
when great protection from frost is requisite,
organs that would, under other circumstances,
become leaves, degenerate into mere scales, which
fall off and wither when the real leaves are
unclosed. Such scales are often provided with
resinous or gummy substances which are. water-
proof and prevent the rains of Winter from

BUDS, BARK, AND PITH. 267

rotting their tender and incipient contents.
Some, underneath their waterproof covering,
‘include softest down, which provides warmth
' and secures protection against wintry cold.

The function of bark is to the stem and
branches of a tree what the bud-seales are to the
bud. Bark is first a delicate, thin coating of
somewhat harder cellular tissue than that which
composes the interior of the stem. Inside this
is a still more delicate envelope of cellular tissue,
called the inner bark. As the outer coating
thickens and hardens, the inner one also becomes
thicker and more substantial, and both serve as
protecting membranes to the sap-wood, the latter
serves to protect the heart-wood, and the heart-
wood the delicate central column of pith. The
larger the surface or superficies, whether of trunk
or branch, presented to the cold, the thicker and
rougher and warmer becomes the enveloping and
protecting bark. It is in its early stage that
the pith of a plant needs the fourfold protection
afforded by the incipient heart-wood, sap-wood,
inner bark, and outer bark. It is then that the
function of pith is most vital, for it is the central
and principal canal through which the sap flows

268 SYLVAN WINTER.

from the roots to supply all the requirements of
the plant. As it grows older, and gets larger,
the functions of the pith cease, and the activity
of the stream of nourishment which flows through
the sap-wood lessens the necessity for the existence
of the pith, which then sometimes almost disap-
pears, or, when it remains, dries up and ceases to
take any part in the life of the plant. It may,
indeed, be assumed that the real office of pith is
to nourish the leaves, flowers, and fruit of plants,
because pith is always present in an active form
in all branches or twigs that bear leaves, flowers,
or fruit. As soon as these, by growth and
development, have become so large and woody
as to cease to bear leaves or flowers, and only
give rise to other branches, thereupon their pith
commences to dry and lose its utility. In Winter,
therefore, there are two forms of pith that are
interesting—the big central column, which, if it
has not disappeared, has lost its vitality ; and the
new columns in branch and shoot and spray, not
active, but dormant, and waiting the awakening
force of spring to force it into active life.

IX.
SYLYAN GIANTS.

ERXES figures in his-

tory as a great war-

rior, and not as a lover
of trees, but that he
was an admirer of
trees is clear from
the related incident
of the celebrated
Phrygian Plane. The
story shall be told in
the delightful English of our beloved Gilpin.
Says the author of ‘Forest Scenery,’ taking
the account from Elian: ‘One of the most
celebrated trees on ancient record was an
Oriental Plane, which grew in Phrygia. Its
dimensions are not handed down to us; but,
from the following circumstances, we may suppose
them to have been very ample. When Xerxes

270 SYLVAN WINTER.

set out on his Grecian expedition his route led
him near this noble tree. Xerxes, it seems, was
a great admirer of trees. “Amidst all his devasta-
tions in an enemy’s country, it was his particular
order to spare the groves. This wonderful Plane
therefore struck his fancy. He had seen nothing
like it before, and, to the astonishment of all his
officers, orders were despatched to the right and
left of his mighty host to halt three days, during
which time he could not be drawn from the
Phrygian Plane. His pavilion was spread under
it, and he enjoyed the luxury of its delicious shade,
while the Greeks were taking measures to defend
Thermopyle. The story may not speak much in
favour of the Prince; but it is my business only
to pay honour to the tree.’* an

Of another Platanus he says: ‘In Arcadia, at
the foot of the mountains bounding the Stympha-
lian plains (famous for one of the labours of
Hercules), stood the little town of Caphiz ; and,
just above it, rose a fountain, called the Menelaid
fountain; by the side of which, Pausanias tells us
(Paus. Arcad. c. 23), grewa Plane Tree of extra-

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 164-5.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 271

ordinary size and beauty, called the Menelaid
Plane. It was generally believed in the country,
he tells us, that Menelaus, coming to Caphiz to
raise forces for the Trojan war, planted this tree
with his own hands. Pausanias travelled through
Greece in the reign of -Antoninus Pius, who
succeeded to the empire, a.D. 151. So that the
age of the tree, when Pausanias saw it, must
have been about a thousand three hundred years.’*
It is said of this tree that, long after, the name
of Menelaus was found engraved on the bark.
He adds: ‘I shall next exhibit another Plane
Tree of great celebrity, which flourished in Lycia
during the reigns of the Roman Cesars. From a
vast stem it divided into several huge boughs,
every one of which had the consequence of a large
tree, and, at a distance, the whole together exhi-
bited the appearance of a grove. Its branches
still flourished, while its trunk decayed. This, in
process of time, mouldered into an immense
cave, at least eighty feet in circumference, around
the sides of which were placed seats of pumice
Stone, cushioned softly with moss. This tree was

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ page 165.

972, SYLVAN WINTER.

first brought into repute by Licinius Mutianus,
governor of Lycia. Licinius was a curious man,
and not unversed in natural history. Pliny, from
whom we have the account of the tree, has
thought proper to quote him frequently ; men-
tioning particularly his remarks on Egyptian
paper (Lib. xiii. c. 18), and also on that kind
of wood of which the statue of Diana at Ephesus
was made (Lib. xvi. c. 40). With the Lycian
Plane Licinius was exceedingly pleased, and often
enjoyed the company of his friends under its
shade. It was great luxury, he would say, to
dine in its trunk on a sultry summer day; and to
hear a heavy shower of rain descending through
the several stages of its leaves. As a naturalist,
he left it on record that himself and eighteen
other persons dined commodiously around the
benches in the body of it.’ *

Going on to speak of another famous Plane, he
continues,— —

‘Caligula had a tree of the same kind at his
villa near Velitree. But Caligula’s tree appears to
have been more complex than the Lycian Plane.

* «Forest Scenery,’ pages 165-6,

SYLVAN GIANTS. 273

It had not only a hollow cave in its trunk, which
was capable of holding fifteen persons at dinner,
with a proper suite of the emperor’s attendants ;
but, if I understand Pliny rightly (Lib. xii.
c. 1), it had stories also (probably artificial floor-
ing) in the boughs of the tree. Caligula used to
call it his nest.’ *

These are wonderful examples of giant Planes,
and, marvellous as are the recorded dimensions of
them, the records are probably reliable. De Can-
dolle mentions, in his ‘ Physiologie Végétale,’ the
recital of an Hastern traveller, who reported the
existence of an enormous tree in the valley of
Bujukdéré, two or three leagues from Constanti-
nople, which had a trunk one hundred and sixty-
five feet round! Its hollow interior was eighty
feet round ; its height was one hundred feet, and
its shadow, it was averred, covered a space of
ground representing five hundred square feet!
In America it grows to large dimensions, and one
is mentioned by Michaux—found growing on a
little island in the Ohio River—that was forty
feet in circumference, measured round at five feet

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ page 167,

274 SYLVAN WINTER.

from the ground; and another on the banks of
the same river, that had a clear trunk of twenty
feet, the circumference of which was forty-seven
feet. Of yet another enormous Plane Gilpin
speaks, mentioned, he says, by a late traveller.
(Gilpin wrote this a hundred years ago), the
author of a book entitled ‘ Voyage pittoresque
de la Gréce.’ The Plane in question was seen at
the city of Cos. He goes on to say,—

‘It stands in the centre of the market- place,
and overspreads the whole area of it. But its
vast limbs, bending with their own weight, require .
support : and the inhabitants of Cos have sup-
ported them in a still grander style than the
Lime at Niestadt is supported. The whole city
is overspread with the ruins of antiquity, and
some of the choicest columns of marble and
granite, which had formerly adorned temples and
porticoes, have been collected and brought to
prop the limbs of this vast tree. Though the
picturesque eye is not fond of these adventitious
supports, and would rather see the boughs bend-
ing to the ground under their own weight, yet,
af they are proper anywhere, they are proper in

ae

SYLVAN GIANTS. 975).

such a situation as this, where the tree fills the
whole area of a market-place with its extended
boughs, and is connected with the houses on
every side by the pillars which support them.
Some such idea as this very probably gave birth
to that beautiful form in Gothic architecture of
a circular room, whose dome is supported by a
single column rising from the centre and ramify-
ing over the roof. We have two or three such
appendages of cathedrals in England, under the
name of chapter-houses. The most beautiful 1
know is at Salisbury, which I scruple not to call
one of the most pleasing ideas in architecture.
The Plane at Cos is greatly revered: by all the
inhabitants of the city. Much of their. public
business is transacted in the market-place. There,
too, they hold their little social meetings, and we
may easily conceive tke luxury, in such a climate,
of a grand, leafy canopy to sereen them from the
fervour of the sun. To add to the beauty and
convenience of this very delicious scene, -a fountain
of limpid water bubbles up near the roots of the
tree,’ * os

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 179-80.
T 2

276 SYLVAN WINTER.

Of enormous Elms, Gilpin gives one instance.
He says,—‘There is not perhaps in all this
country such an Elm as was in the year 1674 cut
down in the park of Sir Walter Bagot, in Stafford-
shire. The particulars recorded in the family are
that two men were five days in felling it; itmeasured
forty yards tothe topin length; the stool was fifteen
yards two feet in circumference ; fourteen loads
were broken in the fall; forty-eight loads were
contained in the top; there were made out of it
eighty pair of naves for wheels, and 8660 feet of
boards and planks. It cost, at a time when
labour was much lower rated than it is now’
(Gilpin was writing this in 1781), ‘10/. 17s. for
sawing. The whole substance was computed to
weigh ninety-seven tons.’ *

Evelyn, speaking of famous trees, said,—‘ To
go no further than the parish of Ebbsham in
Surrey, belonging to my brother, Richard Hvelin,
Esquire, there are Elms now standing in good
numbers, which will bear almost three foot square
for more than forty foot in height. Mine own
hands measured a table, more than once, of about

* ¢ Forest Scenery,’ pages 159-60.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 277

five feet in breadth, nine and a half in length, and
six inches thick, all entire and clear. This, cut
out of a tree felled by my father’s order, was made
a pastry board.’ In Baron Dillon’s ‘Travels’
occurs a statement that ‘ English Elms planted at
Aranjuez, in Spain, by Charles V., and said to
have been brought from England, were ’—this
was about ninety years ago—‘ about six feet in
diameter without any appearance of decay.’
Another Elm is referred to by Gilpin as
follows :—‘ In the wars between Henry II., King
of England, and Philip of France, the two kings
had a conference in the year 1188, near Gisors,
under an Elm which, we are told, covered several
acres ofland. (See Smollet’s ‘ Hist. of England,”
vol. u. p. 210.) The truth, I suppose, is that it
was an immense tree. Under its canopy so nu-
merous a train of the prelates and nobility of
both nations, who attended the two kings, were
assembled, that perhaps no tree ever before
sheltered so magnificent a company. Some time
afterwards, hostilities again commencing between
these princes, Philip ordered the Elm to be cut
down. As it appeared to be, in no shape, an

278 SYLVAN WINTER.

object to him, people were apt to say, he did it in
a fit of spiteful revenge against Henry, who often,
when his army lay encamped in those parts, took
‘a pleasure in sitting under its shade.’ *

Sir Thomas Dick Lauder published in 1834 a
number of interesting facts concerning great
Elms, collected from various sources. One
referred to a large Elm at Mongewell in Oxford-
shire, which was seventy-nine feet high, fourteen
feet in girth three feet from the ground, and
sixty-five feet in the extent of its boughs. It
contained 256 feet of solid timber. A Wych-Elm
at Tutbury is also referred to. It had a trunk
twelve feet long, and, at the height of five feet
from the ground, it measured sixteen feet nine
inches in girth, Another Scotch or Wych-Elm
(Ulmus montana), a tree differing essentially from
the common English Elm ( Ulmus campestris), was
eighteen feet nine inches at one foot above the
roots, and fourteen feet six inches at three feet.
This tree was at Hermandston in Haddingtonshire.
Another—mentioned and figured by Mr. Strutt
in his ‘ Sylva Britannica’—the Chipstead Elm,

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 181-2.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 279

was sixty feet high, twenty feet in girth at the
root, and fifteen feet eight inches in girth at three
and a half feet above the ground. Its trunk was
richly mantled with Ivy. In 1767 there was a
Wych-Elm by Stratton Church, which measured at
four feet above the ground twenty-nine feet six
inches. This tree was hollow. Another, by Bradley
Church, in Suffolk, was twenty-five feet five anda
half inches in girth at five feet above the roots. A
Scotch Elm in the parish of Roxburgh in Teviot-
dale, called the Trysting Tree, was, when measured
in 1796, found to be thirty feet in girth! The
ruins of this tree were still existing when Sir T. D.
Lauder wrote in 1834. An Elm at Checquers, in
Buckinghamshire, described and figured by Mr.
Strutt, was said to have been planted by King
Stephen. In 1834, merely a hollow shell, its stem
measured thirty-one feet in circumference; yet
from it forked two large limbs that subdivided into
a number of branches bearing ‘a large head of
foliage.’ Dr. Plot also gave an account of a
Wych-Elm in Staffordshire, which was fifty-one
feet in girth at the butt end; and the famous
Crawley Elm (also figured and described by Mr.

280 SYLVAN WINTER.

Strutt), close by the road from London to Brighton,
measured sixty-one feet in circumference at the
ground, and the cavity within, at two feet up,
measured thirty-five feet in girth.

Of trees at present growing in Scotland, Mr.
Thomas Hunter, the able editor of the Perthshire
Constitutional and Journal, gives some most inte-
resting accounts in his recently published volume
on the ‘ Woods, Forests, and Estates of Perth-
shire.’ We shall have occasion to refer to several
of Mr. Hunter’s facts, and in reference to Elms,
he gives the following particulars :—An Elm at
Moncreiffe girths twenty feet six inches at one
foot, and fourteen feet eight inches at five feet
from the ground. One at Kilgraston girths
twenty-one feet at one foot, and twelve feet seven
inches at five feet from the ground. Two Elms
at Monteith girth also twenty-one feet at a foot
from the ground. But the two finest Elms
recorded by Mr. Hunter are one at St. Martins,
girthing at a foot from the ground twenty-
two feet, and fourteen feet at five feet up, ‘ with
fifteen feet of a boleand a magnificent top,’ and
another at Carse of Gowrie. Of this last-men-

SYLVAN GIANTS. 281

tioned tree he says: ‘ It is about 200 years old, and
has a height of seventy feet, and contains about
460 cubic feet of timber. ‘The girth at one, foot
from the ground, exclusive of all excrescences, is
twenty-three feet, and the girth at the narrowest
part of the bole, about seven feet from the ground,
is seventeen feet. At about nine feet from the
ground, the tree breaks into two great limbs, the
larger of which girths thirteen feet, the other
being very nearly the same size. The spread of
branches is about 100 feet.’ Mr. Hunter adds:
‘The soil here is black loam, with a sub-soil of
sandy loam. The exposure is southerly, and the
tree is sheltered from other quarters by rising
ground and adjacent trees. It is altogether a
splendid Elm, and is so much prized that 501. was
offered for it about forty years ago.”

Of giant Larches, Gilpin gives us some account,
reference to which will be interesting, in order to
compare with accounts of present-day Larches.
He says,—‘ When Tiberius built his naumachia, and
had occasion for large beams in several parts of
his work, he endeavoured to collect them from the
various forests of the empire. Among other

282 SYLVAN WINTER.

massy pieces of timber which were brought to
Rome on this occasion, the trunk of a Larch was
of so prodigious a size, that the emperor, instead
of using it in his works, ordered it to be laid up
as a curiosity. It measured a hundred and twenty
feet in length, carrying a diameter of two feet to
the very end (Pliny, Nat. Hist. 1. xvi. c. 40).
When this Larch was alive, with all the furniture
of its vast top and gigantic limbs in proportion
to such a trunk, it must have been an astonishing
tree. The largest tree that ever was known to be
brought into Britain formed the mainmast of the
Royal Sovereign, in Queen Anne’s time. It was
ninety feet long, and thirty-five inches in
diameter (“ Sylva,” p. 228). Mr. Evelin, from
whom we have this account, mentions in the
same place a still larger tree, which formed the
keel of the Crown, a French ship of the last
century. It was a hundred and twenty feet long,
which is the length of Tiberius’s Larch, though
it had not probably the circumference of that tree.
The masts of our ships of war, at present,’ adds
Gilpin, ‘are never made of single trees. It is the
method to lay two or three trees together, and

SYLVAN GIANTS. 283

fitting them close to each other, to bind them
tight at proper distances with pitched ropes and
collars of iron. But a very noble Fir was lately
brought into England, which was not spliced in
the common mode, but was converted, in its full
dimensions, into the bowsprit of the Britanma,

a new ship of one hundred and ten guns, in
which capacity, I have heard, it serves at present.

This Fir was ninety-six feet in length, and
had, I believe, the full diameter of Tuiberius’s
Larch.’ *

Sir T. D. Lauder’s account of certain Larches
is interesting. One at Prestonhall, at a foot from
the ground, measured thirteen feet three inches ; at
three feet from the ground, ten feet three inches.
Another at Alderston, near Haddington, was
fourteen feet eight inches at one foot from the
ground, and ten feet six inches at four feet from
the ground. Yet another, at Dawick, planted
in 1725, measured in 1834, immediately under
the spread of the limbs, fifteen feet ; at four feet
from the ground, thirteen feet; and just above
the roots, nineteen feet.

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 168-70.

284 SYLVAN WINTER.

Of the Larches now growing, recorded by Mr.
Hunter, one at Athole measures at the base
twenty-seven feet ; at one foot from the ground,
twenty-two feet seven inches; and at three feet,
eighteen feet nine inches. This tree was planted
in 1738. At Freeland is one ninety-two feet high,
with a bole’ of twenty-four feet. At Kippendavie
a larch planted in 1738 girths eighteen feet at one
foot from the ground, and is eighty feet high.
Another, girthing sixteen feet three inches at one
foot from the ground, is 115 feet high. A height
of 120 feet is reached by a Larch at Dunalastan,
though its girth at one foot from the ground is
only ten feet three inches. Of one at Monzie
Castle Mr. Hunter says that it ‘ girths twenty-
six and a half feet at the surface of the ground,
at three feet the girth is eighteen feet, and at
five feet the girth is sixteen feet three inches.
The height is fully a hundred feet, and the
tree contains 380 cubic feet of timber.’

‘Maundrel tells us when he travelled in the
East,’ remarks Gilpin, ‘a few of the old Cedars
of Lebanon were still left. He found them
among the snow, near the highest part of the

SYLVAN GIANTS. 285

mountain. ‘I measured one of the largest of
them,” says he, ‘“‘and found it twelve yards six
inches in girth, and yet sound, and thirty-seven
yards in the spread of its boughs. At about five
or six yards from the ground it divided into five
limbs, each of which was a massy tree.” A later
traveller, Van Egmont, who visited the scenes of
Mount Lebanon, seems also to speak of the same
trees which Maundrel mentions. He observed
them, he says, to be of very different ages. The
old standards had low stems, growing like fruit-
trees, whereas the younger made a much more
stately appearance, not a little resembling Pines.
Of the ancient trees he saw only eleven; those of
younger growth far exceeded that number. Some
of these old Cedars were four or five fathoms
in circumference. Under one of them was
erected an altar, where the clergy of Tripoli and
the neighbouring convent: of Massurki sometimes
celebrated mass. From this tree spread five
limbs, resembling substantial trees, each being’
about a hundred feet in length, and inserted into
the main trunk about fourteen or fifteen feet
from the ground, These are noble dimensions,

286 SYLVAN WINTER.

though it is probable that the best of the trees
now left upon Mount Lebanon are only the refuse
of the ancient race, as we may well suppose the
best were occasionally taken first. If Solomon’s
botanical works had still been preserved, it is
probable we should have met with trees of much
larger dimensions than those which either Maun-.
drel or Van Egmont measured.’ *

Mr. Hunter mentions a Cedar of Lebanon at
Strathallan girthing about twenty feet three inches
at one foot from the ground, and fifteen feet nine
inches at five feet up. At Garse of Gowrie, he
says there is one, girthing twenty-seven feet at
the ground, sixty feet high, and breaking at three
feet from the ground into four limbs, the prin-
cipal one being fourteen feet six inches in girth,
and the others about eight feet. |

The ‘ Chestnut of a hundred horses,’ on Mount.
Etna, has a reputation which is world-wide.
Referring to it, Gilpin says: ‘One of the noblest.
trees on record is the Chestnut upon Mount Etna,
called the Castagna de cento cavalli. It is still,
alive, but has lost much of its. ee male
* «Forest Scenery,’ pages 170-1.

op es

he

SYLVAN. GIANTS, 287

Many travellers take notice of it. Brydone was
one of the last who saw it. His account is
dated about sixteen or seventeen years ago.’
(This was written in 1781.) ‘It had then the
appearance of five distinct trees. The space
within them, he was assured, had once been filled
with solid timber, when the whole formed only
one tree. The possibility of this he could not at
first conceive, for the five trees together contained.
a space of two hundred and four feet in circum-
ference., At length, however, he was convinced,
not only by the testimony of the country, and
the accurate examination of the Canon Recupero,
a learned naturalist in those parts, but by the
appearance of the trees themselves, none of which
had any bark on the inside. This Chestnut is
of such renown, that Brydone tells us he had
seen it marked in an old map of Sicily, published
a hundred yearsago. (See Brydone’s Trav. vol. i.
p- 117.). Among other authors who mention this
tree, Kircher gives us the following account of its
condition in his day, which might be about a
century before Brydone saw it: “ Ostendit mihi,
vie dux, unius castanize corticem, tantz magni-

288 SYLVAN WINTER.

tudinis, ut intra eam integer pecorum grex, a
pastoribus tanquam in caula commodissima,
noctu intercluderetur.” (My guide showed me
here, what I can call only the shell, or bark of a
Chestnut tree, but of such amazing circumference,
that one of the shepherds of the country used it as
a fold for a large flock of sheep.) From this
account, one should imagine that in Kircher’s
days the five trees were more united than when
Brydone saw them.’ *

A Chestnut at Riccarton, in the county of Hdin-
burgh, is mentioned by. Sir T. D. Lauder as
extending, in 1834, over an area of seventy-seven
feet in diameter, and measuring twenty-seven feet
in girth at the ground. The Chestnut in the
park of Cobham Hall, figured by Mr. Strutt, was
thirty-five feet two inches in circumference at
the ground, twenty-nine feet at three feet from
the ground, thirty-three feet at twelve feet from the
ground, and forty feet at the point where the stem
divided. Larger still was the Chestnut at Fin-
haven, in Forfarshire. In 1744 the attested
measurement was, at half a foot above the ground,

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 175-6.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 289

forty-two feet eight inches. It was then reckoned
to be 500 years old. Another, mentioned by Mr.
Beevor, at Writtle in Essex, was, at thirty-two feet
from the ground, forty-two feet five inches in
girth; at five feet it was forty-six feet one inch,
and at six feet, forty-nine feet five inches and
seven-eighths.

‘A reference to the famous Tortworth Chestnut
must not be omitted amongst this notice of
sylvan giants. Gilpin remarked of this tree: ‘In
the garden at Tortworth, in Gloucestershire, an
old family-seat belonging to’Lord Ducie,-grows a
Spanish Chestnut of great age and dimensions.
Traditional accounts suppose it to have been a
boundary-tree in the time of King John; and I
have met with other accounts which place it in
the same honourable station in the-reign of King
Stephen, How much older it may be we know
not. Considerably older it probably was, for we
rarely make boundary-trees of saplings and off-
sets, which are liable to a thousand accidents,
and are unable to maintain, with proper dignity,
the station delegated to them. This tree is at
present in hands which justly value and protect

U

290 SYLVAN WINTER.

its age. It was barely included within the garden
wall, which bore hard upon it. Lord Ducie has
lately removed the incumbrance, and at the same
time applied fresh earth to the roots of the tree,
which seems to have enlivened it. So late as in
the year 1788 it produced great quantities of
chestnuts, which, though small, were sweet and
well-flavoured. In the great Chestnut cause,
mentioned a little above’ (at page 86 of ‘ Forest
Scenery ’), ‘ between Barrington and Ducarel, this
venerable tree was called upon as an evidence,
and gave a very respectable testimony in favour
of the Chestnuts.’* This remarkable tree is still
alive, though hollow and much decayed, and in a
measurement of it, kindly furnished to us by the
Rev. C. Greswell, of Tortworth, in 1879, it was
found to be forty-nine feet in girth at three feet
from the ground, fifty feet at six feet from the
ground, eighty-six feet throughfrom north to south,
and eighty-eight feet through from east to west.
One more Chestnut mentioned by Gilpin, and
still alive, we must refer to. Gilpin says,—
‘After mentioning this Chestnut, which hag
* “Forest Scenery,’ pages 188-9.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 291

been celebrated so much, I cannot forbear men-
tioning another, which is equally remarkable for
having never been celebrated at all, though it is
one of the largest trees that perhaps ever existed:
in England. If it had ever been noticed merely
for its bulk, I should have passed it over among
other gigantic plants that had nothing else to
boast, but as no historian or antiquarian, so far
as I have heard, has taken the least notice of it, I
thought it right, from this very circumstance, to
make up the omission by giving it, at least, what
little credit these papers could give. This Chest-
nut grows at a place called Wimley, near Hitchin
Priory, in Hertfordshire. In the year 1789, at five
feet above the ground, its girth was somewhat
more than fourteen yards. Its trunk was hollow,
and in part open. But its vegetation was still
vigorous. On one side its vast arms, shooting
up in various forms, some upright and others
oblique, were decayed and peeled at the extre-
meties, but issued from luxuriant foliage at their
insertion in the trunk. On the other side the

foliage was still full, and hid all decay.’* The

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ page 191.
vu 2

992 SYLVAN WINTER.

Rev, Willoughby J. EH. Rooke, the vicar of Little
Wymondley—which is the ‘ Wimley’ referred to
by Gilpin—informed us in 1879 that though the
girth of this tree, which was then only a ruin,
could not easily be taken, yet that the line re-
mained where one could trace the circumference ;
that six or seven years before, he had actually
been able to measure the circumference, and then
made it between fourteen and fifteen yards! At
Dupplin, in Perthshire, Mr, Hunter mentions a
Chestnut which girths twenty-three and a half
feet at one foot, and twenty feet at five feet from
the ground.

We must not omit Gilpin’s account of famous
Limes. He says,—‘ At’ Niestadt, in the Duchy
of Wurtemberg, stood a Lime which was for
many ages so remarkable that the city fre-
quently took its denomination from it, being
often called Niestadt an der grossen Linden,
or Niestadt near the Great Lime. Scarce any
person passed near Niestadt without visiting
this tree, and many princes and great men did
honour to it by building obelisks, columns, and
monuments of various kinds around it, engraved

SYLVAN GIANIS. 293

with their arms and names, to which the
dates were added, and often some device. Mr.
Evelin, who procured copies of several of these
monumental inscriptions, tells us there were near |
two hundred of them. The columns on which
they were fixed served also to bear up the vast
limbs of the tree, which began, through age, to
become unwieldy. Thus this mighty plant stood
many years in great state, the ornament of the
town, the admiration of the country, and sup-
ported, as it were, by the princes of the empire.
At length it felt the effects of war. Niestadt was
surrounded by an enemy, and the limbs of this
venerable tree were mangled in wantonness by
the besieging troops. Whether it still exists, I
know not; but long after these injuries it stood
a noble ruin, discovering, by the foundations of
the several monuments which formerly propped
its spreading boughs, how far its limits had once
extended.’ * Of the Lime of Cleves he says,—
‘This, also, was a tree of great magnificence.
It grew in an open plain, just at the entrance of
the city, and was thought an object worthy to
* ¢ Forest Scenery,’ pages 177-8.

294 SYLVAN WINTER.

exercise the taste of magistracy. The burgo-
master of his day had it surveyed with great
accuracy, and trimmed into eight broad pyramidal
faces. Hach corner was supported by a hand-
some stone pillar, and in the middle of the tree,
among the branches, was cut a noble room, which
the vast space contained within easily suffered,
without injuring the regularity of any of the
eight faces. To crown all, the top was curiously
clipped into some kind of head, and adorned
artificially; but in what manner, whether with
the head of a lion, or a stag, a weather-cock, or
a sun-dial, we are not tcld. It was something,
however, in the highest style of Dutch taste.
This tree was long the admiration and envy of
all the states of Holland, and Mr. Evelin, from
whom we have the relation, seems to have thought
it a piece of excellent workmanship. ‘“‘ I needed
not,” says he, “ have charged this paragraph with
-half these trees, but to show how much more the
ime Tree seems disposed to be wrought into
‘these arboreous wonders than other trees of
slower growth.”’ *

* «Forest Scenery,’ pages 180-1.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 295

A Lime at Dopenham in Norfolk, described by
Dr. Brown in a letter to Evelyn, measured at six
feet from the ground twenty-five and a half feet.
The Moor Park Lime, when figured by Mr. Strutt,
was twenty-three feet three inches in girth at
the ground. Its branches extended 122 feet in
diameter, and covered 360 feet in circumference,
and it was nearly 100 feet high, and contained by
actual measurement 875 feet of saleable timber.
The Lime at Cobham Park, Sir T. D. Lauder said,
was more than twenty-eight feet in girth at the
ground, ninety-one feet high, and contained 536
feet of timber. Headded: ‘Sir Thomas Brown
mentions a Lime tree in the county of Norfolk
ninety feet high, and with a trunk forty-eight feet in
circumference at a foot and a half from the root.’
At Lawers in Scotland, Mr. Hunter mentions
a Lime twenty-four feet six inches at one foot
from the ground, and eighteen feet four inches at
five feet.

Of gigantic Oaks, there is abundant record, and
Gilpin gives some interesting passages concerning
many of the most famous. We must quote a

passage or two. Of the ‘Oaks of Chaucer,’ he

296 SYLVAN WINTER.

says that they ‘are celebrated, in the annals of

poetry, as the trees under which—

“ The laughing sage

Caroll’d his moral song.”
They grew in the park at Donnington Castle,
near Newbury, where Chaucer spent his latter life
in studious retirement. The largest of these trees
was called the King’s Oak, and carried an erect
stem of fifty feet before it broke into branches,
and was cut into a beam five feet square. The
next in size was called the Queen’s Oak, and sur-
vived the calamities of the civil wars in King
Charles’s time, though Donnington Castle and
the country around it were so often the scene of
action and desolation. Its branches were very
curious ; they pushed out from the stem in several
uncommon directions, imitating the horns of a
ram rather than the branches of an Oak. When
it was felled, it yielded a beam forty feet long,
without knot or blemish, perfectly straight, four
feet square at the butt end, and near a yard at
the top. The third of these Oaks was called
_ Chaucer’s, of which we have no particulars ; in
general, only, we are told that it was a noble tree,

SYLVAN GIANTS. 997

though inferior to either of the others.’ (See
Evelyn’s ‘Sylva,’ p. 227.) ‘None of them, I
should suppose from this account, was a tree of
picturesque beauty. <A straight stem, of forty or
fifty feet, let its head be what it will, can. hardly
produce a picturesque form. When we admired
the Stone Pine, we supposed its stem to take a
sweeping line, and to be broken, also, with stumps
or decayed branches.’ *

Of another he says,—‘ Close by the gate
of the water-walk, at Magdalen College in Ox-
ford, grew an Oak, which perhaps stood there
a sapling, when Alfred the Great founded the
university. This period only includes a space
of 900 .years, which is no great age for an
Oak. It is a difficult matter, indeed, to ascer-
tain the age of a tree. The age of a castle
or abbey is the object of history. Even a
common house is recorded by the family that
built it. All these objects arrive at maturity in
their youth, if I may so speak. But the tree,
gradually completing its growth, is not worth re-
cording in the early part of its existence. It is

* ‘Forest Scenery,’ pages 182-4,

298 SYLVAN WINTER.

then only a common tree, and, afterwards, when
it becomes remarkable for its age, the memory of
its youth is forgotten. This tree, however, can
almost produce historical evidence for the age it
boasts. About five hundred years after the time
of Alfred, William of Wainfleet, Dr. Stukely tells
us, expressly ordered his college to be founded
near the great Oak, and an Oak could not well be
less than five hundred years of age to merit that
title, together with the honour of fixing the site of
a college. When the magnificence of Cardinal
Wolsey erected that handsome tower, which is so
ornamental to the whole building, this tree might
probably be in the meridian of its glory, or rather,
perhaps, it had attained a green old age. But it
must have been manifestly in its decline at that
memorable era, when the tyranny of James gave
the fellows of Magdalen so noble an opportunity
of withstanding bigotry and superstition. It was
much injured in Charles II.’s time, when the
present walks were laid out. Its roots were dis-
turbed, and, from that period, it declined fast, and
became reduced by degrees to little more than
a mere trunk. The oldest members of the uni-

SYLVAN GIANTS. 299

versity can scarce recollect it in better plight.
But the faithful records of history have handed
down its ancient dimensions. Through a space
of sixteen yards, on every side from its trunk, it
once flung its boughs, and under its magnificent
pavilion could have sheltered, with ease, three
thousand men, though in its decayed state it could,
for many years, do little more than shelter some
luckless individual whom the driving shower had
overtaken in his evening walk. In the summer
of the year 1788, this magnificent ruin fell to the
ground, alarming the college with its rushing
sound. It then appeared how precariously it had
stood for many years. Its grand tap-root was
decayed, and it had hold of the earth only by two
or three roots, of which none was more than a
couple of inches in diameter. From a part of its
ruins a chair has been made for the president of
the college, which will long continue its memory.’*

This chair is still in existence, and the Rev.
Frederick Buller, the president of the college, in-
formed us in 1879 that it was placed in the hall
of the president’s lodgings, where it could be seen

* «Forest Scenery,’ pages 184-6.

300 SYLVAN WINTER.

by visitors. He remarked that ‘it is in the
Gothic style of architecture, and a fine specimen
of the carving of ninety years ago.’

Amongst other Oaks famous for their size
must be mentioned the Worksop Oak, which,
according to Gilpin, was, in point of grandeur,
equalled by few trees. ‘It overspread a space
of ninety feet from the extremities of its opposite
boughs, dimensions which would produce an
area capable, in mathematical calculation, of
covering a squadron of 235 horse.’ It spread
its shade over a portion of three counties—York-
shire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire—and was
hence fitly called the ‘Shire Oak.’ The stem of
the Fairlop Oak at a yard from the ground was
thirty-six feet in girth, and it divided into eleven
vast arms, yet not in the horizontal manner of an
Oak, but rather in that of a Beech. It over-
spread an area of 300 feet in circuit, in which an
annual fair used:to be held. It was, however,
blown down in 1820 during high winds.
Damory’s Oak, near Blandford, in Dorsetshire,
was sixty-eight feet in circumference at the
ground, and seventeen feet above the ground

SYLVAN GIANTS, 301

it was twelve feet. The famous Wallace Oak at
Torwood had a diameter of eleven or twelve feet,
and was said to be the largest Oak in Scotland,
William Wallace slept in its hollow trunk whilst
his army lay in the adjoining woods, but not a
vestige of the tree now remains, though Gilpin
alludes to it as existing when he wrote in 1781,
and ten years before that, its girth was twenty-
two feet. Queen Hlizabeth’s Oak at Hevening-
ham, in Suffolk, is still standing, In Gilpin’s
time it measured thirty-five feet in girth, and it
was hollow in the time of Queen Elizabeth, who
used to stand in its hollow trunk and shoot at
the passing deer. The Squitchbank Oak, at
Bagot’s Park, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, was, .
Sir T. D. Lauder stated, in 1834, forty-three feet
in circumference at the roots, and twenty-one feet
nine inches five feet up. The whole tree was
said to contain 1012 feet of solid timber, The
Salcey Forest Oak in Northamptonshire measured
forty-six feet ten inches in circumference in 1794,
The Bull Oak, in Wedgenock Park, Warwickshire,
measured in September, 1783, at one yard from
the ground, thirty-four feet, and at one foot, forty

302 SYLVAN WINTER.

feet, according to Sir T. D. Lauder; and the
famous Cowthorpe Oak measured, according to
the same authority, in 1834, at three feet from
the ground, forty-eight feet! It is still standing,
but the Rev. Thomas White, of Cowthorpe Rec-
tory, wrote to us, in 1879, that the venerable tree
had failed very much since he had been minister
at Cowthorpe, a period of thirty-five years. He
added: “A year or two ago a wood-ranger measured
its present main branch, and found it contained
two and a half tons of wood. It is believed to be
1650 years old!’

Of large specimens of the Ash mentioned by
Sir T. D. Lauder, the following examples may be
quoted. One at Inch Merin, in Loch Lomond,
Dumbartonshire, measured, in 1784, twenty feet
eight inches in girth, and another at the same
place, twenty-eight feet five inches. Both were
hollow, and dead and living timber were curiously
mixed. A great Ash at Carnoch, Stirlingshire,
seen by Sir T. D. Lauder, was then ninety feet
high, ‘thirty-one feet in girth at the ground,
nineteen feet three inches at five feet from the
ground, and twenty-one feet six inches when.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 303

measured four feet higher up.’ It was planted
about the year 1596. An Ash at Bonhill, Dum-
bartonshire, measured, at about four feet from
the ground, thirty-four feet one inch; four feet
higher it measured twenty-one feet three inches;
and at twelve feet, ‘immediately under the three
great arms into which it divides, twenty-two feet
nine inches.’ This tree was hollow in its trunk.
One of its branches measured ten feet four inches,
another eleven feet, and the third twelve feet in
girth! We must extract verbatim one passage
relating to an Ash from Sir T. D. Lauder: ‘An
Ash in the churchyard of Kilmalie, in Lochaber,
was long considered as the largest aud most
remarkable tree in the Highlands. It was held
in reverence by Lochiel and his numerous kindred
_and clan for many generations, which probably
hastened its destruction, for in the year 1746 it
was burnt by the brutal soldiery to the ground.
Its remains were examined on the 28rd of Octo-
ber, 1764, Its circuit at the ground could then
be traced, most parts of the circumference of the
putrid trunk being several inches, and others
about a foot, above the surface of the earth. Its

3804 SYLVAN WINTER.

diameter in one direction was seventeen fect
three inches, and the cross diameter twenty-one
feet. Its circumference at the ground, taken in
presence of Henry Butler, Esq., of Fascally,
and Mr. Campbell, collector of the Customs at
Fort William, was fifty-eight feet! It stood ina
rich, deep soil, only about thirty feet above the
level of the sea, in Lochiel, with a small rivulet
running within a few paces of it. No informa-
tion could be obtained as to the exact size of the
trunk. A person present, who had been well
acquainted with the tree, described it as being of
vast bulk, but not tall, as it divided into three
great arms at about eight feet above the ground.
The place was visited again in 1771, when all
vestiges of the tree were obliterated. The cir-
cumference of this tree is greater even than that -
of any Ash that has been yet noticed in any part
of Scotland. But if the Bonhill tree could be
measured at the ground, it would probably be
found to girth as much.’ |

An Ash 400 years old at the presen time is
described by Mr. Hunter. It stands at Ochter-
tyre, Perthshire, and is thirty-four feet ten inches

SYLVAN GIANTS. 305

at one foot from the ground, and twenty feet
eight inches at five feet, with a spread of branches
of seventy feet. The trunk is slit and hollow,
the aperture in the side being only large enough
to just insert the arm. Another at Carse of
Gowrie girths thirty-two feet at the base, twenty-
five feet at one foot from the ground, nineteen
feet at three feet from the ground, and seventeen
at five feet, the bole being twenty-seven feet long.
But these measurements are thrown into the
shade by those of an Ash at Logierait, in Perth-
shire, the girth of which is, at eleven feet from
the ground, twenty-two feet; at three feet, forty
feet; and at the ground, fifty-three and a half
feet! The height of this tree is now sixty feet,
but Mr. Hunter says, ‘The height is said to have
been ninety feet at one time, but the top was
blown away. There is an opening of five feet
nine inches on the south side, and the trunk is
perfectly hollow. Maimed as it is, it has still the
enormous girth of forty-seven feet seven inches
at one foot from the ground, and thirty-two feet
five inches at five feet, so that in its perfect
state it must have been a very great tree indeed.
x

\\

306 SYLVAN WINTER.

.... The main trunk is thickly covered with
Ivy.’

From the Ash, let us revert to the Beech. The
Knole Park (Kent) Beech, mentioned by Mr.
Strutt in his ‘Sylva Britannica,’ measured, in
1834, twenty-four feet at three feet from the
ground, and at ten feet up, it was twenty-seven
feet. It rose to a height of 105 feet, and was
computed to contain 498 feet of solid timber;
and Sir T. D. Lauder speaks of one twenty-six
feet six inches at the surface of the ground, and
twenty feet at two feet high. Mr. Hunter men-
tions one at Taymouth, in Perthshire, which
girthed, ten years ago, twenty-seven feet at one
foot from the ground, the present girth, owing
to one of its great limbs being broken off since—
the limb having probably forked from near to
the ground—being twenty-four feet six inches,
and twenty-one feet at five feet up; and another,
at Lawers, has a girth of twenty-one feet at
one foot from the ground. One of the finest
and most beautiful of Beeches in England is
the Queen Beech, at Mark Ash, in the New
Forest.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 307

Of Sycamores, there are many records of ab-
normal size. Mr. Strutt figured one which was
at Bishopton, Renfrewshire. It was twenty feet
in girth at the bole. Sir T. D. Lauder mentioned
another at Calder House, in the county of Edin-
burgh measuring twenty feet three inches at the
ground. It was planted, it} was believed, before
the Reformation, and was, it was considered in
1834, not less than 300 years old. A Sycamore
at Newbottle Abbey measured twenty-four feet
four inches at two feet from the ground, and was
seventy feet high. One at Cobham Park measured
twenty-six feet in circumference at the ground,
and was ninety-four feet high; and the Kippen-
ross Sycamore was, in 1801, twenty-eight feet
nine inches in girth. Of this famous tree Mr.
Hunter says, ‘ Unfortunately, it is now in ruins,
but sufficient remains to attest its former great-
ness. The first damage it received was in 1827,
when it was struck by lightning, and it never got
the better of this injury. The late laird has
affixed a brass tablet to the shattered trunk,
bearing the following description of the tree
before it received its fatal blow: ‘ Cubic contents

x 2

308 SYLVAN WINTER.

in 1821, 875 feet. In 1841, girth of the smallest
part of the trunk, nineteen feet six inches; girth
where the branches spread, twenty-seven feet
four inches; girth, close to the ground, forty-
two feet seven inches; height, 100 feet. Extreme
width of branches, 114 feet. Age, 440 years.’
The age was discovered from some old estate
papers. Another large Sycamore, at Castle
Menzies, is twenty-three feet eleven inches at
one foot from the ground, and at five feet, seven-
teen feet six inches. ‘It is,’ says Mr. Hunter,
‘eighty feet high, and has a splendid bole of forty
feet . . . the spread of branches is eighty-five
feet, and it contains upwards of 1000 cubic feet
of timber.’ Another Sycamore in the same
neighbourhood, at two’ feet from the ground,
girths twenty-eight feet six inches, and at five
feet from the ground, nineteen feet three
inches.

One of the remnants of ‘Great Birnam Wood ’
is a Sycamore at Murtle, referred to by Mr.
Hunter. It girths nineteen feet eight inches at
five feet from the ground, and is believed to be
1000 years old. One at Ardoch is twenty-four

SYLVAN GIANTS. 309

feet in girth, the girth above the swell being
eleven feet.’ .

Yews also claim a place amongst sylvan giants.
Sir T. D. Lauder mentioned, in 1834, the Yew tree
at Ankerwyke House, near Staines, supposed to
be then 1000 years old, the diameter of which, as
given by Mr. Strutt, was twenty-seven feet eight
inches at three feet from the ground, and thirty-
two feet five inches at eight feet from the ground.
‘Above this it throws out five principal limbs,
which are respectively, five feet five inches, six
feet ten inches, five feet seven inches, five feet
seven inches, and five feet nine inches in girth.
Above these branches the trunk measures twenty-
eight feet eight inches in girth. At twelve feet
from the ground branches spring forth in every
direction, forming a magnificent umbrageous head
forty-nine feet six inches high, and extending
207 feet.? The Dibden Yew, in the New Forest,
referred to by Gilpin, was thirty feet in girth
above the roots. One at Crowhurst was also
thirty feet in girth, whilst one at Braburne
Churchyard, Kent, was sixty feet in girth, and
Evelyn reported that near Winchester there was

310 SYLVAN WINTER.

‘such another monster.’ At Hensor, Bucking-
hamshire, there was one twenty-seven feet in
diameter, or about eighty-one feet in girth! Of
the Dibden Yew just referred to, Mr. Gascoigne
Roy informed us, in 1879, that it had disappeared,
but that there was close to the spot where the
old tree stood, ‘a juvenile Yew, of something over
a hundred years old,’ possibly a seedling from the
oldone. But about the same time a correspondent
at Perth, Mr. James Gaudie, informed us that the
famous Fortingall Yew, referred to by Gilpin as
being fifty-six and a half feet in circumference,
was then (in 1879) still in existence. It is sup-
posed to be between 2500 and 2700 years of age!
although it should be mentioned that, according
to a theory expressed by Sir Robert Christison in
a paper on ‘The Hxact Measurement of Trees,’
read to the Edinburgh Botanical Society in July,
1879—a paper printed in their ‘ Transactions ’—
the age of this Yew would have been 3000 years
in 1768-9, and consequently more than 3100 years
old now! ‘This wonderful tree has given a wide
reputation to the place where it grows, as is
testified by the lines,—

SYLVAN GIANTS. 311

‘Famed Fortingall, whose aged Yew
Still braves the tempest’s shock.’

The Horse Chestnut has scarcely obtained
fame amongst sylvan giants; but one mentioned
by Mr. Hunter is qualified to enter the list. He
thinks it is the largest in Scotland, if not in
Britain. At five feet from the ground it girths
nineteen feet, and at a foot from the ground
twenty feet six inches!

Giants, however, as, amongst their species,
the trees we have enumerated are, they are com-
paratively insignificant when compared with
the enormous Wellingtonias. We shall there-
fore fitly close this chapter by an interesting
and most instructive extract from Mr. W. G.
Marshall’s most interesting book. ‘Through
America.’ The excerpt is from the chapter
entitled ‘The Giant Trees a Calaveras.’ Mr.
Marshall says,—

‘The Calaveras Grove contains between
ninety and a hundred “big” specimens of the
Wellingtonia, or Sequoia gigantea, which spring
up in the thick forest comparatively close to
each other, all within an area of fifty acres,

312 SYLVAN WINTER.

Running up as straight as arrows to the height
of some of the loftiest buildings in the world,
these vegetable monsters are, we shall see, no
less remarkable for the prodigious girth of their
trunks. There are trees in this grove over 300
feet high, and one prostrate trunk measures
more than 400 feet. Let us take the last
mentioned. It has been called the “ Father of
the Forest,” and measures 430 feet in length,—
that is, it is 102 feet higher than is the top of
St. Paul’s Cathedral above the ground, or but
thirty-eight feet lower than the top of the spire
of Strasbourg Minster. This veteran measures
110 feet in circumference at the base, and the
trunk runs for 210 feet before the first branch is
thrown out. Three hundred feet up the trunk
there occurs a break, owing to the tree having
come into collision with another as it fell to the
ground. The girth of the trunk at this point—
300 feet from the roots—is eighteen feet. The
trunk is mostly hollow, for there is a tunnel
inside extending for 200 feet, and along thirty-
five feet of this there is height and room enough
to ride about on horseback, right inside the tree.

SYLVAN GIANTS. 313

By means of a ladder an ascent can be made to
the top of the fallen trunk, and here one can
enjoy a walk before breakfast of a morning, and
acquire a good appetite for it by pacing backwards
and forwards. Care, however, must be taken
to keep on the move all the while, for the bark is
so rotten that swarms of earwigs and stinging
insects have made themselves a home upon it; so
that if you loitered at all, the consequences would
be serious. After the “ Father” we will take the
“Mother of the Forest.”” The tree so called
stands at the far end of the enclosure away from
the hotel, and is 3827 feet high, being the tallest
standing tree in the grove. Not a vestige of
foliage is there upon it, for it rears itself a gigan-
tic dead trunk, mostly bare, since the bark has
been stripped to a height of 116 feet, and nearly
all the remainder has been destroyed by the
ravages of fire. The bark so removed was taken
to the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, and there set
up; but it was unfortunately destroyed by the
fire which consumed a portion of that building in
December, 1866. ‘This tree, barkless as it is, has
a circumference of seventy-eight feet, and it

314 SYLVAN WINTER.

throws out its first branch at a height of 137 feet.
A great living wonder is the “ Pioneers’ Cabin,”
which stands over 300 feet high, and is so called
from a large recess or cavern in the lower part
of the trunk, which is capacious enough to com-
fortably seat a large family party at breakfast.
The circumference of this tree five feet above
the ground is ninety feet, by our admeasurement.
There is a grand prostrate monster, called the

* Burnt Tree,” which measures 330 feet in length, |
and has a circumference of ninety-seven feet. It
is hollowed from repeated fires, and one can ride’
on horseback into the trunk for a distance of
sixty feet—in one way and out the other. ‘“ Key-
stone State” and ‘General Jackson” grow
respectively to heights of 325 feet and 319 feet,
and ‘* Daniel Webster” has a height of 307 feet.
Perhaps one of the most striking sights in the
grove is the “ Three Graces,” or “ Em, Carrie,
and Belle,” as they are called. They stand but
a few feet apart, and with their branches inter-
mingling run up to an almost equal height of 262
feet, this being the height of the tallest “ Grace.”
The same with the “Mother and her Sons.”

SYLVAN GIANTS. 315

Running up to about the same height as the
Graces, the trio stand in close proximity to each
other, and one of them, the Mother, is fat and
bulky,—she is over fifty feet in circumference,—
but her children beside her are slim and “ lanky.”
The “ Siamese Twins,” too, are great curiosities.
There are two sets of this particular species of
twins in this grove, the specimens in each being
a little under 300 feet high, both sets of twins
having the peculiarity of union some forty or fifty
feet above the ground, which makes them, indeed,
very wonderful curiosities. The greatest wonder,
however, has yet to be mentioned. This is a big
monster which has been purposely thrown, having
been severed six feet above the ground and a
pavilion built on the remaining stump, which has
been converted into a theatre and a ball-room.
On this stump, dramatic performances have been
‘held; and the surface having been properly
smoothed over, upon it a dance is indulged in
occasionally by the guests at the hotel, sixteen
couples having danced upon it at one time; and
again, the cotillon has-been performed upon it
by twenty couples! We measured the dancing-

316 SYLVAN WINTER.

space across, and found the exact diameter twenty-
eight feet eight inches. This stump has also
been utilized as a newspaper office, for upon it,
in 1858, the Big Tree Bulletin used to be printed.
It took five men twenty-two days to cut in twain
this monster tree, by boring it through with
pump augers, and even then it would not fall, for
it required three additional days before it could
be induced, by means of bolts driven in at the
side, to quit its ancient foundation. This tree is
said to have been over 300 feet in height. The
girth of the stump is ninety-six feet. Besides
those already mentioned, there are other gigantic
specimens, all more or less remarkable for their
immensity of height as for their hugeness of bulk,
and to some the Americans have given the names
of their worthiest men, past and present, and
have also been good enough to houour our nation
by affixing to a few the names of some of our well-
known people. Thus there is “John Bright”
and ‘* Richard Cobden” standing side by side.
“Miss Burdett Coutts”? and “ Florence Night-
ingale” are also fine trees. (The last named was
originally called the “ Nightingale” simply; but

bY

SYLVAN GIANTS. 317

in 1865 the word “Florence” was added, to
perpetuate the memory of Miss Florence Night-
ingale.) The following is a list of a few other
trees we noted: “‘ George Washington ;” ‘ Abra-
ham Lincoln ;” “ Lafayette 3? *U. 8. Grants”
“W.T. Sherman ;” “J.B. McPherson ;” “ Henry
Ward Beecher;” ‘“‘Columbus;” “ Sir John Frank-
lin ;” “ Humboldt ;” ‘ Dr. John Torrey ;” “ Prof.
Asa Grey ;” “ Longfellow; “Wm. Cullen Bry-
ant ;”? “Prof. James Dana;” “Sir Joseph Hooker;”
“John Lindley;” ‘“ Phil Sheridan;’’ “ Elihu
Burritt ;’’ “ General Sutter ;” ‘Bishop Kip;”
‘* General Scott ;” ‘‘ Major-Gen. G. A. Thomas ;”
“Dr. Kane;” “Andrew Jackson;’ “ Daniel
O’Connell ;” “ Henry Clay; “Uncle Sam ;”
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin;” “Old Maid;” “Old
Bachelor ;” “Old Dominion ;” ‘‘ Old Republican,”
&e. :

‘Sugar and Pitch Pines, Douglas Spruces and
Cedars, spring up thickly in this grove, growing
to immense heights; but they seem entirely
dwarfed when regarded by the side of the Giant
Tree. Throughout the inclosure the ground is
bestrewn with cones of an enormous size, some

318 SYLVAN WINTER.

eighteen to twenty inches in length——these being
the cones of the Pitch Pine, not those of the
Wellingtoma, which, curiously enough, are very
small, not much larger than a hen’s egg.

‘The Calaveras Grove lies about 4700 feet above
the sea-level. It was first sighted in the year 1850,
by Messrs. Wooster and Whitehead; and as it
was the first collection of these trees discovered,
it may be said that it was in this year that these
giant specimens of the taxodium family became
known to civilization. Since then six “ groves”
have been discovered, all lying in the Sierra
Nevada. In the Mariposa Grove, already men-
tioned, there are 365 Giant Trees, and 125 of
them have a girth of forty feet. The other
groves are the South Park, with 1380 trees; the
South Tuolumne, with thirty trees; the San
Joaquin, with 700 trees; the Fresno, with 500
trees; and a long belt extending for fifty
miles between the King’s and Kaweah Rivers,
where there are several thousand. The South
Park Grove is only five miles from the Calaveras
Grove.’

X.
SYLVAN NOMENCLATURE.

ULL of suggestiveness
as trees are, it is not
surprising that so large
a number of towns and
villages have adopted
the names of the parti-
cular species of sylvan
growth abounding in

their neighbourhoods.
At the beginning of set-
tlements in wooded country, emigrants have often
regarded trees with enmity. Such has been to a
large extent the feeling in America and some other
places. The immense and trying labour of
clearing the ground has doubtless given rise to
this feeling ; but with the rapid disappearance of
what was at the commencement regarded as a

320 SYLVAN WINTER.

nuisance, the natural love for trees has returned,
and in England especially, where trees are loved,
as perhaps they are never loved elsewhere, has
the tree-love suggested the names of places.

Oftentimes it will be found that the link is
lost which connects the particular name of a
place with the trees that suggested it. The
particular trees may have been cut down long
ago and forgotten; but the name survives to
perpetuate its sylvan history. There may be no
more a wood of Limes at Lyndhurst, there may
be no Oaks at Oakville, Elms at Elmley, or
Ashes at Ashton; but still the names will
always suggest—at least—a probability of sylvan
origin.

In giving the names, which will follow, of
towns and villages, and even cities with a sylvan
ring about them, it is by no means suggested
that, in every case, they were originated in con-
nection with trees; and to have investigated
every instance given would, it is obvious, have
involved nearly the labour of a lifetime. What is
stated, is stated suggestively, and with the hope
that to those who live in towns with sylvan names,

SYLVAN NOMENCLATURE. 321

an inquiry is originated which may have a them
a deep and peculiar interest.

Here also, as in a previous chapter, an alpha-
betical arrangement is adopted as a convenience
to the reader and student. Names will be given
without comment :—

Acton (Oak-town), Almond, Almond Glen,
Amand (Saint)—French for Almond — Am-
herst (Amhurst), Anholt (holt, from the Saxon
holt, and the German holz, meaning a wood or
woodland), Apple, Appleby, Applecross, Apple-
dore (Appledorée), Applegarth, Applethwaite (a
‘thwaite’ is, according to Webster, ‘a plain
parcel of ground, cleared of wood and stumps,
enclosed and converted to tillage’), Appleton
(Apple-town), Appling, Arbois, Arborfield, Ash,
Ashampstead (field or place of Ashes), Ash-Bock-
ing, Ashborne, Ashbourne, Ashbrittle, Ashburn-
ham, Ashburton, Ashbury (Ashborough), Ashby,
Ashchurch, Ashcombe, Ashcott, Ashdon (‘ don,’
from the Celtic dun, a hill-fort), Ashe, Ashen,
Ashenden, Asheville, Ashfield, Ashford, Ashill,
Ashingdon (‘ing’ in Saxon means a meadow
or pasture), Ashington, Ashley (‘ley’ in Anglo-

Y

3822 SYLVAN WINTER.

Saxon is a pasture in a forest), Ashmanhaugh
(‘haugh’—from Anglo-Saxon haef, an enclosure,
or haga, a hedge; Danish hauge, a garden—
means a low-lying meadow), Ashmansworth,
Ashmore (mor in Saxon signified a hill, moran, a
root), Ashover, Ashow, Ashperton, Ashprington,
Ash Priors, Ashreigney, Ashtabula, Ashtead (Ash-
stead), Ashted, Ashton, Ashurst (Ash-hurst, hurst
or hirst, from the Saxon hurst or hyrst, meaning a
wood or grove), Ashwater, Ashwell, Ashwelthorpe
(welthorpe may possibly be read wold-thorpe, from
the Saxon wald and weald, a wood or plain, and
thorpe—trom the Saxon thorpe, Danish dorp or
torp, and German dorf—meaning a dwelling-place,
homestead, or hamlet), Ashwick (wick—from the
Latin vicus, Saxon wie or wyc—means a village or
mansion), Ashwicken (wicken may be the old plural
of wick), Ashworth, Bathurst, Baydon (in some
parts of America, a bay is a tract of land covered
with Bay trees), Bayfield, Bayford, Bayston,
Bayswater, Bayton, Bayril, Beach, Beachampton,
Beachley, Beaconsfield (a place of Beeches, from
bace or boc, the Saxon for Beech), Beaminster
(beam was the Saxon for a tree, and minster,

SYLVAN NOMENCLATURE. 323

from the Saxon minstre or mynster, meant an
outpost of the church; hence Beaminster might
have meant a church amongst trees), Beechworth,
Beamish, Beechy Point, Berry, Birch, Birchanger,
Birchfield, Birchincliffe, Birchington, Bircholt,
(Birch-holt,) Birchover, Bishopswood, Blackrod,
Bloom, Bloomington, Boiscommon, Boisdale,
Bole, Bolnhurst, Bosbury (Bos probably comes
from the French bois, a wood), Boscombe, Bosham,
Bosherston, Bosley, Bosall, Boston, Bow, Bowden,
Bowdon, Bower, Bowers, Bowthorpe, Box, Box-
ford, Boxgrove, Boxhill, Boxley, Boxmoor, Box-
ted (Box-stead), Boxwell, Boxworth, Bracken,
Brackenfield, Brackley (Brackenley, possibly
meaning a forest-glade covered with Bracken),
Bracon Ash, Braintree, Brampton Ash, Branch,
Branxholm, Braywood, Bredhurst, Brentwood,
Brewood, Briercliffe, Brierfield, Brierley, Bring-
hurst, Broadwood, Brockenhurst (Boarwood),
Bromfield (Broomfield), Bromham, Bromley,
Brompton, Bromsgrove, Bromwich, Bromyard,
Broom, Broome, Broomfield, Broomfleet, Broom-
hall, Broxholme, Budleigh, Budworth, Burcombe,
Burford, Burgate, Burntwood, Burtonwood, Bur-
y 2

324 SYLVAN WINTER.

stead, Burstock, Burston, Bushbury, Bush End,
Bushey, Bushey Heath, Bushley, Bussage (perhaps
from the French boisage, woodwork), Bythorn,
Campsey-Ash, Capenhurst, Cawood, Cawthorn,
Chalgrove, Charlwood, Charnwood, Cheadle
Holme, Chelwood, Cherry Burton, Cherry Hinton,
Cherry Wellingham, Chipstead, ‘Chipstable,
Chislehurst, Chorley’ Wood, Cold Ash, Cold
Ashley, Cold Ashton, Coldhurst, Collingtree,
Collyhurst, Combe Pyne (Pine), Copgrove, Corn-
wood, Cosgrove, Crab, Crab Orchard, Cranberry,
Crowhurst, Dale, Daleville, Deal, Deerhurst, Den-
holm, Dingle, Dodder, Doddinghurst, Donington-
wood, Eastwood, Haton-under-Heywood, Eden,
Elm, Elmbridge, Elmdon, Elmham, Elmley,
Elmly,- Elmore, Elmsett, Elmstead, Elmsted,
Elmsthorpe, Elmstone, Elmswell, Elmton, Elstree,
Esholt, Evenwood, Eversholt, Ewhurst, Fairoak,
Far Forest, Farnhurst, Fawkenhurst, Felling,
Fern, Ferns, Filgrove, Finsbury-park, Firbank,
Firbeck, Firle, Firsby, Fir-tree, Fleetwood, Forest
and Frith, Forest-gate, Forest-hill, Forest-row,
Forest-side, Frome Selwood, Fulwood, Galleywood,
Gayhurst, Gaywood, Glapthorn, Glen, Goodly

/

SYLVAN NOMENCLATURE. 325,

Marwood, Goathurst, Goff’s Oak, Gondhurst,
Goytre (tree), Grafton Underwood, Grasholm,
Green, Greenbay, Gravenhurst, Grendon Under-
wood, Grove, Hackthorn, Halewood, Hamwood,
Harewood, Harley Wood, Harpole, Harptree, Har-
wood, Hascombe (probably from Hazel Combe),
Haselbeech, Hatcham Park, Hatfield Broad Oak,
Hawarden, Hawerby, Hawkhurst, Hawerly,
Hawes, Hawkhurst, Hawley, Hawstead, Haw-
thorn, Hawton, Haywood, Hazeleigh, Hazelbury,
Hazlemere, Hazlewood, Heywood, High Beech,
Highurst, Highwood, Holbeech Marsh, Holden-
hurst, Hollinwood, Holly-mount, Hollywood,
Holme, Holme Bridge, Holm Cultram, Holme
Eden, Holme Hale, Holme Lacy, Holm Pierrepoint,
Holmesfield, Holmforth, Holmpton, Holmside,
Holmwood, Holt, Holtley, Holton, Holywood,
Honor Oak, Hopwood, Horton-cum-W oodlands,
Hoswood, Hubberholme, Hurst, Hurstbourne,
Hurst-green, Hurstmonceaux, Hurstpierpoint,
Hutton-in-the-Forest, Intwood, Ivybridge, Ivy-
church, Kidsgrove, Killingholme, Kailnhurst,
Kingswood, Kirkby Underwood, Kirkhaugh,
Knockholt, Knotty Ash, Labyrinth, Ladywood,

326 SYLVAN WINTER.

Lamberhurst, Landbeach (beech), Lane, Laneast,
Laneham, Langthorn, Langton-in-Speldhurst,
Langtree, Larch, Leebotwood-cum-Langnor, Lee
Brockhurst, Limehouse, Limington, Linde, Linden,
Lindenau, Lindfield, Ling, Linga, Lingbank,
Lingwood, Linkenholt, Linwood, Lockwood,
Longhurst, Longwood, Loxwood, Lymington,
Lyndhurst, Macclesfield Forest, Madehurst, Maple-
beck, Maple Durham, Maplestead, Mapleton, Mar-
chington Woodlands, Marchwood, Mark Beech,
Marshwood, Marwood, May, Maybole, Mayfield,
Meade, Meadville, Meanwood, Mears Ashby,
Melksham Forest, Midhurst, Milton-under-
Wychwood, Monkswood, Monyash, Mountain Ash,
Much Birch, Needwood, Newberry, Newton Blos-
somville, Newton Bromswold (Broomswold), Nichol
Forest, Northolme, Northolt, Northwood, Norwood,
Oakamoor, Oake, Oakengates, Oakenshaw-cum-
Woodlands, Oakfield, Oakford, Oakham, Oakhill,
Oakingham, Oakington, Oakley, Oakridge, Oaks
and Copt Oak, Oaksey, Oakwood, Oakworth,
Ochiltree, Orange, Orangeburgh, Oundle-cum-
Ashton, Outwood, Owthorne, Packwood, Parke,
Parkend, Parkfield, Park-gate, Parkham, Park+

SYLVAN NOMENCLATURE. 327

stone, Peak Forest, Penhurst, Penshurst, Pertwood
Petistree, Pightlesthorne, Pine, Plants, Plumtree,
Plymtree, Poplar, Portree, Portswood, Portwood,
Potsgrove, Prestwood, Prickwillow, Primrose-
hill, Ramsholt Ringwood, Riseholme, Rose,
Rose Ash, Rosedale, Rusholme, Salehurst,
Saltwood, Sandhurst, Sevenoaks, Shadox-
hurst, Shepherd’s Bush, Shipton-under-Wych-
wood, Sissinghurst, Smallthorne, Smallwood,
Southwood, Speldhurst, Spring Grove, Staple-
grove, Staplehurst, Steeple Ashton, Stockholt,
Stockwood, Stoke Ash, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Sutton-
on-the-Forest, Theydon Bois (from the French bois,
wood, whence we get the word ‘ bosky’), Thorn,
Thornaby, Thornage, Thornborough, Thornbury,
Thornby, Thorncombe, Thorndon, Thorne,
Thorner, Thornes, Thorney, Thorney Abbey,
Thorney Burn, Thorn Falcon, Thornford, Thorn-
gumbald, Thornham, Thornhaugh, Thornhill,
Thornhill Lees, Thornley, Thornthwaite-cum-
Braithwaite, Thornton, Thornton-in-Lonsdale,
Thornton-in-the-Moors, Thornton-le-Fen, Thorn-
ton-le-Moor, Thornton-le-Street, Thornton Curtis,
‘Thornton Dale, Thornton Heath, Thornton Hough,

328 SYLVAN WINTER.

Thornton Steward, Thornton Watlas, Threapwood,
Tilehurst, Tiptree Heath, Torwood, Treeton,
Tuffnell-park, Tylehurst, Tyndall’s-park, Upton
Pyne, Upwood, Walpole, Warninghurst, Washford
Pyne, Waterbeach (Beech), Wavertree, Weston
Underwood, Westwood, Wheatenhurst, Whit-
wood, Wicklewood, Wood, Wood Bestwick, Wood-
borough, Woodbridge, Woodbury, Woodchester,
Woodchurch, Woodcote, Woodcot, Woodcott,
Wood Dalling, Wood Ditton, Wood Enderley,
Wood Eaton, Woodfields, Woodford (Woodford
St. Paul), Woodford Wells, Woodford Halse, Wood
Green, Woodhall, Woodham Ferrers, Woodham
Mortimer, Woodham Walter, Woodhay, Wood-
head, Woodhorn, Woodhouse, Woodhouse St.
Mark, Woodhouse Haves, Woodkirk, Woodland,
Woodland St. Katherine, Woodlands, Woodleigh,
Woodlesford, Woodman, Woodmancote, Wood-
mansterne, Woodnesborough, Woodmorton, Wood
Plumpton, Woodrising, Woods, Woodselts, Woods-
ford, Woodside, Woodstock, Woodstone, Wood-
ton, Woodville, Wood Walton, Woody Islands,
Wotton Underwood, Wych (High), Yardley Wood.

Although these names are the names of places

SYLVAN NOMENCLATURE. 3829

in English-speaking countries throughout the
world, yet by far the largest number of them are
in England. When they occur in other countries
it may be fairly assumed that they have had
English origin. But whether native or naturalized
—or perhaps we should say adopted—the fact of
their existence proves a love, to at least some ex-
tent, of the subject with which their use is more
or less closely connected.

It must be understood that many different cities,
towns, and villages bear the same designations
so that the preceding list of some 600 sylvan
names does not by any means cover the entire
number. But it is offered as a tolerably ex-
haustive list of variations in those names, and
with such a promising list of sylvan constituencies
the Author trusts he may find some readers in-
terested in what he has had to say of Sylvan
Winter.

INDEX.

A.

PAGE

ABELE Poplar, Bark of
the 51, 167
Branching of the 50-51
Buds of the. . 167
Character of the. 50-51
(Ullus). facing 160
Spray ofthe .50-51
Abies excelsa . 79, 230-231
Abies, The genus 227
‘ Abraham Lincoln’ . B17
Acacia, Bark of the. . 56-57
Bole of the. . 55-56

Branching of the 56-57
Character of the . 55-57

(illus.) . facing 176
Spray ofthe . 56
Uses of the 188-189
Acacia Wood, Colour of . 189
Qualities of 189
Usesof . 189
Acer campestre '. 218-219
pseudo-platanus . 231
Acorn, Story of an . 222

Aisculus hippocastanum 210-211
Ageofthe Ash. . . 248

Age of the Barberry. 248
Beech . 248
Cedar . 248
Chestnut 248
Cypress 248
Elm . 248
Ivy . 3 . 248
Larch. 248
Lime . 248
Maple. ‘ 248
Mountain Ash 248
Oak . - . 248
Olive . F > 248
Orange F 248
Plane . , » 248
Scotch Fir . 248
Spruce 3 . 248
Thorn. 248
Vine . 248
Walout . . 248
Wellingtonia 248-251
White Poplar 248
Yew . 248

Ages of trees . 246, 251

A, initial letter (Zilus.) . 10
Alder, Buds of the . . 178
Spray ofthe . 178

332

INDEX.
, PAGE PAGE
Alder, Spray of the (Zldus.). 177 | Ash at Carnoch 302
Uses of the. 189-190 at Carse of Gowrie 305
Alders, The. 7 . 212 at Inch Merin . 302
along the Mole . 178 at Kilmalie 303
Alderston. . . . .288 -» at Lawers . 306
Alder Wood, Qualities ~ at Logierait . 305
of . 189-190 at Ochtertyre 304
Uses of 190 at Taymouth . 306
Alnus glutinosa . 189-190 | Ash, Bark of the . 26-27, 149
Aluminiom in plants 262 Bole of the . . 27

Ancient Wellingtonias 249-251

‘Andrew Jackson’ . . 317
Ankerwyke House . 309
Apple, Bark of the . 173

Bole of the . . 62
Branching of the 62-63

Buds of the. 173
Character of the . 62-63
(Lllus.) é . 62
seeds . 3 242
Spray of the 175
(Illus.) . . 174
Apple Wood, Qualities of . 190-
191
Uses of 191

Aquatic purposes, Spruce
-Fir wood for . 280
Aranjuez . ; 277
Araucaria imbricata 191

Wood, Qualities
orc) aa . 190-191

Arcadia ‘ ; 270
Ardoch . : 2 . 808
Arrows, Dogwood for - 203
Articles of taste, Maple

wood for . 208
Ash . ‘ 922
Ash at Bovkil .

303,

Branching of the 28
Buds of the . 149
Character of the 19, 24,

26-28
(Iilus.) . facing 64
Dr. Plotonthe . 37
Spray of the 28, 149-152

(Iilus.) . “150

Ashtead . F : . 95
Ash Wood, Qualities of . 192
Aspen. . 229
' Wood, ‘Caes of 229
Athole 5 284
Austrian Pine . : . 3

Axle-trees, Acacia wood for 189

Tlex wood for 207
Axles, True Service Tree
wood for. 232
B.
Bacot, Sir Walter 276
Bagot’s Park 301
Balance of Nature 264

Barberry Wood, Colour of 193
Qualities of 193

Betulece 2 2 F
Betula alba . 3 . 198

INDEX. 393
PAGE PAGE
bare Wood, Uses of . 193 | ‘Big ‘Tree Bulletin’. 316
Bark 267 | Big trees, American. 311-318
Barrington. 290 | B, initial letter (J1us.) 265
Lord . : 222 | Birch : : : . 134
Bats, Willow wood for 233 Bark of the. 154-155
Beams, Larch wood for 215 bark, Uses of 194-195
Bearing burdens, Oak Bole of the. . 30
wood for. 223 Branching of the 31
Beckett . ,. 222 Buds of the: 155
Bedsteads, Ash ey for . . 198 Character of the 19,
Beech. 134 30-31
at Kuole Park 306 (Illus.): JSacing 64
at Mark Ash 306 Spray of the 30-31, 154-
Beech, Bark of the . - 28 155
Bole of the. =. 23-24 (Illus.) . 154
Branches of the. 24 | Birches, The . 4 912
Buds-of the 146-147 | Birch Wood, Colour of 194
Character of the 19, 22- Qualities of: 194
25 Usesof . = 195

Gilpin on the . 23-25 | Bird Cherry Wood, Colour
(Illus.) facing 22 of . - 195
Ramitication of the 24 Markings of 196
Roots of the . 22 Veins of . 196
Spray of the 146-149 | ‘ Bishop Kip’ . . - 317
_ (Itlus.). 147 | Bishopton . : ‘ . 807

Trunk of the .22-23 | Black Italian Poplar,

_wood in Winter . 25-26 Branching of
Beeches,The . . 212 ‘the . . . 49-50
at Boxhill . 99-100 Character of the 48-50
Young . . 25 (Zllus.) . facing 144
Beech Wood, Colour of 193 Stem of the . 49

Qualities of 193 | Blacklead pencils, Juniper
Uses of 193 wood for . 213
Beetles, Ilex wood for 207 | Black Poplar 999
Beevor, Mr. 289 Buds of the. 166
Berberis vulgaris 198 Branching of the 166

. Spray of the.
Blackthorn

166-167
181-183

334 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Blackthorn (Jllus.). . 182 | Brown, Dre . . 295
Wood. F 228 | Brown, Sir Thomas . . 295
Blandford. : 800 | Brundusium Channel 224
Block-pulleys,Lignum vitee Brusca and mollusca of
wood for. . 217 the Maple 218-219
Blocks, True Service Tree Brydone’s Travels. . 287
wood for, . 232 | Buds ‘ : 265-267
Bobbins, Poplar wood for. 229 | Buds, bark, ind pitt 265-268
Bogwood . «a 234 | Buildings, Ash wood for . 192
Boldre . . . 95 Cypress wood for 201
Boles of trees in “Winter . 12 Elm wood for 207
Bonhill . 303 | Bujukdéré, Valley of 273
Boundary trees 289 | Buller, Rev. Frederick 299
Bowls, Alder wood for 190 | Bull Oak . : 2 . 801
Bows, Laburnum wood for 214 | Burnham Beeches . « 22
Lancewood for . 214 | ‘Burnt Tree,’ The 814
Yew wood for 235 | Butchers’ trays, Aspen
Box . . 80, 99, 222, 225 wood for . 229
Boxes, Alder wood for 190 | Butler, Mr. 804
Apple wood for . 191 | Buaus sempervirens . 196
Box wood for 196
Elm wood for . 207
Box forest. 5 s » 98 c
Boxhill 95-101 :
scenery 97-101
Box Wood, Qualities of 197 | Casinet interiors, Spruce
Uses of 196-197 Fir wood for . 280
Weight of . 196 | Cabinet purposes, Ash
Braburne , ei : . 809 wood for. . 193
Bracken 134-185 | Cabinet-making, Bird
Brambles . ‘ . 134 Cherry wood
Bridges, Alder wood for . 190 for . 196
“Elm wood for 207 Box wood for 196
Bromine in plants. 262 Laburnum wood
Broom-handles, Alder wood for . . « 214
for . 190 Plane wood for . 227
Broom roots. . 197 Sycamore wood
Wood, Uses ot 197 for. . .« Q81

INDEX. 835
PAGE PAGE
Cabinets, Cedar wood for. 198 | Casks, Aspen wood for 929
Cherry wood for 199 Chestnut wood
Cabinet-work, Maple wood for . 200
for . 219 Elm wood for 207
Poplar wood for. 229 | Castagna de cento cavalli. 286
Yew wood for 235 | Castanea vesca . 199
Calaveras Grove . 250 | Castle Menzies . 308
Calder House . - 807 | Cedar at Carse of Gowrie. 286
Caligula’s ‘ Nest’ 273 | Cedar, Ezekiel’s . 74
Camomile. F . . 185 Indian 3 . 71
Campbell, Mr. . . 304 Mount Atlas . 71
Canoes, Birch bark for 194 | Cedar of Lebanon, The .16-17
Canon Recupero . 287 Bark of the 186
Caphie . . » + 270 Bole of the . . @
Carbonic acid in plants 262 Branching ofthe 71
Carnoch . 302 Foliage of the 70,185
Carpentering, ‘Ash wood (Lilus.) 70
for... 192 Spread of the 69
Carpentry, Plane wad Spray of the
for . . . 227 (Illus.) 185
Carpinus betulus 210 Wood, Colour of. 198
Carriage paneis, Ash wood Qualities of 198
for . 193 Uses of the 198
Carriage shafts, Tenea Cedars . . . 317
wood for . 215 of Lebanon . 284. 286
Carriages, Hickory wood Cedrus deodara . 198
: for . é . 209 libant . . 198
Carse of Gowrie . 280,305 | Cerasuspadus. . . 195
Carshalton 94, vulgaris. - 199
Car t-linings, Hor desaheaes | Cercia siliquastrum . 213
nut wood for . 210 | Chairs, Ash wood for 193
Carts, Ash wood for 192 | Champion Hil. . . 94
‘Carvers’ tree,’ The . 217 | Charcoal, Alder wood for. 190
Carving, Lime wood for . 217 Elder wood for 206
Spruce Fir wood Hazel wood for . 208
for. « . 280 Hornbeam wood
Cases, Box wood for. . 196 for . 210
Apple wood for . 191 Ilex wood for 207

336 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Charcoal, Spindle Tree ‘Chestnut cause,’ Great . 290
wood for. . 230 | ‘Chestnut of a hundred
Sycamore wood horses,’ The 286-288
for . : . 231 | Chestnut seeds’. 241
‘Charlie’ Evans 259 | Chestnuts, The. e « 212
Charm of variety . 264 Chestnut Wood, Qualities
Chaucer’s Oaks 295-297 of . 199-200
Cheam. i : . 94 Uses of 199-200
Checquers . 279 | Chipstead . , 278
Cherry Tree, Bark of the. 55 | Christison, Sir Rabert 310
Branching _— of Cider-presses, Sycamore
the - 64.55 wood for . 231
Character of the 54-55 | C, initial letter (Idlus.) 141
(Illus.). facing 112 | Citron table, An expen- |
Roots ofthe . 55 “ "sive. . 219
Sprayofthe . 55 Wood . 219
Cherry Wood, Colour of . 199 | Cleves. 293
Qualities of 199 | Clogs, Alder rook for 190
Usesof . 199 Aspen wood
Chestnut at Cobham Hall for . e . 229
Park 288 | Clothes-presses, Cypress
at Dupplin . 292 ° wood for. 202
at Finhaven . 288 | Clouds in Winter 184-135
at Little Wy- Clover ‘ . 237
mondley . 292 | Coach- building, Ash wood
at Riccarton 288 for . ;: . 192
at Tortworth 289-290 | Coating of buds 266-267
at Writtle . 289 | Cobham Hall Park . 288
Chestnut, Bark of the 169 | Cobham Park . 295, 307
Bole of the . . 58 | Coffins, Elm wood for 207
Branching ofthe 58 of mummies,
Buds of the - 169 Sycamore wood
Character of the 57-58 for . ; . 231
Gilpin on the 57-58 | Cogs, True Service Tree
(Illus.) . facing 192 wood for . 232
Spray of the 169-170 Whitebeam wood
(Iilus.) 170 for . : . 232
Chestnut casks . 200'| Colour in Winter 133-136

INDEX. 337
erat PAGE PAGE
Colours of seeds 242 | Cylinders, True Service
‘Columbus’ 317 | Tree wood for. 232
Commercial purposes, | Cypress, Gilpinon the . 48

Birch wood for 195 | Cypress Wood, Colour of. 201
Constituents of leaves, Odour of . . 202
Organic . . 263 Qualities of . 201-202
Contrasts with snow . 86 Uses of 201-202
Convulsions of , Nature 248, | Cytisus laburnum . 213-214
: 252-254, 258 scoparius 197
Copper in plants 262
Cork gathering .. . 201
Cork Oak . _ 200-201
Cork Tree, Bark of the 200-201 D:
Cork Tree Wood, Qualities .
of . . 200 | Damory's Oak . , 300
Uses of 200 | ‘Daniel O’Connell’ . 317
Cornus femina . 203 | ‘Daniel Webster’ . 314
mas. 203 | Dawick . : . 283
sanguinea . 202- 204 | Dead and dying trees . 22
Corylece : - 212 | * Deal,’ The universal 226
Corylus avellana , 208-209 | De Candolle 273
Cos . 274-275 | Decay, Process of 263-264
Coverings of seeds 239-244 | Designs, Lime wood for . 217
Cowthorpe 302 | Dibden 309
Crategus oxyacantha 208 | Dillon’s ‘Travels,’ Baron. 277
Crates, Ash wood for 192 | D, initial letter (Jllus.) . 187
Crawley .. i . 279 | Diospyros ebenus 204
Cricket-bails, Willow wood Divining rods, Hazel seed
for . : 233 for . 208
Crooked Oak, Uses of Dogwood, Qualities of 202. 204
the . 223 Uses of : 263-204
Crowhurst 309 | Domestic architecture,
Cryptogamic vegetation . 81-82 Larch wood for 215
Crystal Palace. F . 313 | Domestic. purposes, Ash
Cupressus sempervirens .~ 201 wood for . . 192
Cupulifere : 212 Birch wood for . 195
Curled Maple, A 219 | Domestic utensils, Syca-
Ourtisia faginea 215 more wood for. 231

Z

338 INDEX.

PAGE PAGE
Donnington Castle Park . 296 | Eldertubes . 206
Doors, Cypress wood for. 201 wood, Colour of . 205
Larch wood for . 215 Qualities of 205-206
Dopenham . .. 295 Uses of 205-206

Dorking . ‘ ‘ . 178 | Blectrical experiments,
Dormant seeds. . 289-245 eas for. 206
Douglas Spruce ; 317 | Elian ; . + 269
Drawer interiors, Spruce ‘Elihu Burritt” ‘ . 3?
wood for . 230} Elm. . . . «. 134

Drawers, Cedar wood for. 198 at Carse of Gow-
Drawings, Spindle Tree rie . . 280-281
wood for . 230 at Checquers 279
‘Dr. John Torrey’ . . 317 at Chipstead 278-279
‘Dr.Kane’ . . . 317 at Crawley. 279-280
Ducarel . 290 at Gisors . . 277
Ducie, Lord 290 at Hermandston 278
Donalastan .. 284 at Kilgraston . 280
Dupplin . . : 292 at Moncreiffe 280
Durmast Oak... 200 at Mongewell 278
at St. Martin’s . 280
in Staffordshire. 276
Elm, Bole ofthe . . 29
E. Branching of the 29-86
Buds of the 152, 175
ERBBSHAM . : A . 276 Character of the 28-80
Ebonizing, Spruce Fir (Illus.) . facing 80
wood for . 931 Spray of the 29, 152
Ebony . . 222 (Iilus.) . . 153
‘Ebony,’ Alder cua for . 190 | Elm Wood, Qualities of 206-207
Holly wood for . 209 Uses of 206-207
Pear wood as 225-226 | Elms at Aranjuez - 277
Ebony Wood . 204 at Ebbsham » 276
Egyptian paper : . 272 at Monteith 280
E, initial letter (ZiZus.) . 239 Young =. —. 28-29
Elasticity of Ash wood 192 | ‘Em, Carrie, and Belle’ . 314

Hider blossoms 205 | Engraving, Aspen wood
leaves . 205 for. . » 229
pith 206 Box wood for 197

Engraving, Holly wood for

Pear wood for
Enrichment of soil .
Epsom. . .
Euonymus europeus
Evaporated moisture

INDEX. 339
PAGE PAGE
209 | Field Maple, Bark of

» 225 the . _ 159-160
. 263 Bole of the. 38

95 Branching of the 38-39

230 Character of the 36-39

262

Evelyn, John 276, 293-294, 309

Richard . . 276
Evelyn’s ‘ Sylva’ 282, 297
Evergreen beauty . 64-82
Evergreens and snow _. 87-88
Ewell . i 7 » 95
Exogenous trees » 247
Ezekiel’s Cedar vA

F.

Fasrics of beauty . 86
Fairlop. . 300
Fairy-like fret-work . 91
Fallen snow . 87-89
Falling snow 85, 92
Fancy articles, Judas Tree

wood for. 213
Fancy boxes, Laburnum

wood for . 214
‘Father of the Forest,’

The. . . 3812
Feace-poles, Chestnut

wood for . 199
Fences, Acacia wood for . 189 |,

Ash wood for 192
Ferns ee . - &1
“Festive occasions’ of

Nature . 108
Field Maple at Boldre 37

Gilpin on the .36-37
(Iilus.) . facing 112
Pliny onthe . 37
Spray of the 38, 159-
160
(IUlus.} 1, 159
Spread of the 39
Woody. roots of
the . : . 218
Field Maple Wood, Quali-
ties of 218-219
Uses. of 218-219
Filtering liquids, Ivy
wood for. . 212
Finhaven . 7 : 288
F, initial letter (Illus.) 319
Firs, The 78-79, 227
Fish coracles, Willow
wood for: 233
Fishing-rods, Ash wood
for. 192
Hazel wood for . 208
Lancewood for . 214
Flails, Hawthorn wood
for . . 208
Flooring, Ash wood for 192
Spruce Fir wood
for . 230
Floors, Larch wood for 215
'* Florence Nightingale’ 316,
Fluorine in plants . . 262
Fog and cloud . 120-121
. Food of trees . . 260-264

Zz 2

Funeral tree, Cypress a . 202

Furniture, Alder wood for 190
Yew wood for 235
G.
Games, Box wood for 196
Lime wood for 217
Garden-chairs, Hazel wood
for . 3 . 209
‘ Gardeners’ Chronicle’ 249
Garment of snow, A. . 89
Gaudie, Mr. . z 310
Gauging instruments, Box
wood for . 197
« General Jackson’ 314

340 INDEX.

PAGE PAGE
Force in Winter _ 188 | ‘General Scott’ 5 . 317
Forces of Nature 84,119 | ‘General Sutton’ 317
Forks, Box wood for: 196 | ‘George Washington’ ‘317
Forms of trees . ‘ .20-63 | Giant trees of Calaveras . 311-
Fortifications,Ilex wood for 207 - 318

Fortingall . 310 | Gilding, Spruce Fir wood
Fossil forests 252-259 for . ; - 230
Fraxinus excelsior . . 192 | GilpmatCheam . . 94
Frame-work, Yew woodfor 235 on hoar-frost’ 106-107
Freeland . ‘ 284 on Maple wood . 218
Fretted roof .of the foveal. 13 on mists 121-124
Frost.and plant cells . 238 . on Oak wood 221-224
Frosted Box 104 | Gilpin’s ‘ Forest Scenery’ 10-13,
Elm . 103- 104 15-18, 43, 58, 66-68,
Holly . ‘ 104 95, 106-107, 121-122,
Scotch Firs, 106 142-144,150-152,180-
spider’s web 106 181, 218-219, 221-
turf . : » 105 224, 269-278, 281-300
Frosty morning, Sunshine Maple s «» 37
. ofa . 11-12 ‘ Picturesque :
Functions of plants . . 261 beauty’ . .: 95

G, initial letter (Zilus.) . 260
Gisors. ‘ 277
Glovers’ boards, Tins wood
for . 2 . 217
Gooseberry seeds 242
Gorse ; é 134
Grace of Nature . 14
Grass" 134-135'
Great Birnam Waod 308
Great-Maple . 230
‘Great Oak,’ The 298
Greswell, Rev. C. 290.
Grey Poplar . - 229
Bark of the. . 167
Buds of the 167
Spray of the 167
Grinling Gibbons. .. 217

INDEX. 341

: PAGE PAGE

Guatacum officinale . 216 | Hedera helix 212
Guatteria virgata 214-215 Henderson, Mr. A. 934
Guelder Rose Wood, Uses ‘Henry Clay’ . 317
ofthe . . 207 | ‘Henry Ward Beecher’ 317
Gunpowder, Alder wood Hensor ‘ : 310
for . 190 | Hermandston . 278
Gun-stocks; Sycamore Heveningham . 301
wood for. 231 | Hickory wood, Qualities of 209

Usesof . 209

: H, initial letter (Zllus.) . 286

‘ H. Hoar-frost . . 102-107

Holly ; 79, 183-134

HackBRipeGE : .. 94 | Holly Wood, Qualities of 209-210
Hammer-handles, Haw- Uses of 209-210
thorn wood for 208 | Hooker, Sir J. D. 249-251

Handles, Whitebeam wood Hoops, Ash wood for 192
for . - 232 Dogwood for 204

Harmony of Nature. 264 ‘Hazel wood for . 209
Harrows, Ash wood for . 192 | Hop-poles, Ash wood for. 192
Hassagay Tree, The 215 | Hornbeam,.Bark of the 158:
Hawthorn, ‘Berries of the 173 Bole of the. . 85
Bole of the. —. 60-61 Branching of the 35-36
Character of the 19, Buds of the 158

60-61 - Character of the 35-36

Gilpin on the 61 (Illus.). . facing 96

(Iilus.) —. facing 208 Spray of the 36, 158-159

Spray of the 173 - (dilus.) . 158

(Zllus.). 172 Wood of the . 35

Hawthorn Wood, Colour of 208 | Hornbeams, The 911-212

Qualities of 208 | Hornbeam Wood, Qualities
Usesof . 208 of . : . 210
Haymaking forks, Dog- Uses of 210
wood for . . 204 | Horse Chestnut, Bark of

Hazel, Bark of the. . - 175 the . ‘ - 60
Buds of the. . 175 Branching of the.59-60

Illus.) .- 176 Buds of the. 171-172

. Spray ofthe . 175 Character of the .58-60
Hazel Wood, Uses of: 208-209 Gilpin onthe . 58

842 INDEX.

PAGE

Horse Chestnut (Illus.) . 59
in Scotland, ee
gest. . 311
Spray of the . 170
(Illus). =. 171
Horse Chestnut Wood,
Qualities of . 210

Uses of » 210-211
Hues of the forest, Winter. 135
‘Humboldt’ . - - 317

Hunter, Mr. T.. 280-281, 284,
286, 292, 295, 304,

308, 311

Hurdles, Ash wood for . 192

I.

Icz-crystats 103-106, 110-111
Ilex aquifolium. . 209-210
Ilex Wood, Qualities of . 307
Uses of . 207
Imitation, "Whitabeann
wood for . « 232
Inch Merin.. 302
Indian Cedar Wood, Gunkie
ties of . - 198
Durability of |. 198
Inlaid work, Box |

for. . . 196
Iodine in plants : - 262
Trou in plants... 262

Ironwood, Qualities of 211- 212
Tronwoods, The . 211-212
Ivory, Holly wood like . 210
Ivy ‘ 79, 133, 279, 306

roots for strops . 212
Ivy Wood, Uses of. . 212

J.

J. B. McPuerson

Jericho .

J, initial letter (I lus. )

‘John Bright’ . ‘

‘John Lindley’

Joinery, Ash wood for
Holly wood for .
Pear wood for .
Plane wood for .
Sycamore wood

for . . ‘

Joists, Ash wood for ;
Larch wood for .

Joshua .

Judas Tree Wood
Colour of
Qualities of.

Julius Cesar . A .

Junipers, The .

Juniperus communis.
virginiana .

Juniper Wood, Colour of .
Qualities of.
Uses of

K.

Katerposcoric symmetry
of ice-figures .
‘Keystone State’ .
Kidney-beans from Hercu-
laneum
Kilgraston .
Killenmore Bog Z
Kilmalie . ‘

PAGE

317
206
24.6
316
317
193
209
226
227

231
192
215
206
213
213
213
224
213
213
213
213

. 213

213

111
314

245
280
234
303

INDEX.

PAGE
‘ King of the forest,’ The 16, 18
King’sOak . . . 296
K, initial letter (Zilus.) . 83

Kippendavie 284 |
Kippenross . 307
Kircher 5 . 287-288
Kitchen tables, Ash wood

for . . . 192
Kneading-troughs, Alder

wood for. 190
Knee-timber 3 223
Knitting-needles, Dogwood

for . 103
Knole Park . ‘ . 306

L..

LaBuRNuUM seeds 240-241

Laburnum Wood,Colour of 213

Qualities of 213-214
Uses of 214
Ladders, Ash wood for 192

Spruce Fir wood

for... . 230
Ladder-spokes, Dogwood

for . A . 204

‘Lady Dogwood,’ The. 203

‘ Lafayette’? . 317

Lake Tahoe . F . 256
Lance-making, Lancewood

for . . 214

Lancewood, Qualities of . 214

Uses of - 214-215

Larch. . : . 185

at Alderston 283

at Athole . 284

at Dawick . . .283

343

PAGE

Larch at Dunalaston 284,
at Freeland - 284

at home, The . 43

at Kippendavie . 284

at Monzie Castle 284

at Prestonhall . 283

Larch, Bark of the . . 161
Bole of the . 41-42
Branching of the 41,

* 161

Buds of the 161

Character of the 41-43
for Royal Sove-

reign : « 282

Gilpin onthe . 43

(Illus.) . facing 240

Spray of the 42, 162

(IUlus.). 162

Tiberius’ 281-283

Larch Wood, Colour of 215
Qualities of 215-216

Uses of . 215-216

Larger parts of trees . 15
Larixz.europea . 215-216

Lauder, Sir T. D. 278, 279, 283,
288, 295, 301-303,

806-307, 309

Lawers . - «+ 295, 306
Leafless woods

Leaf-mould liquified . 268
Leafy forest, The . » 10
Leatherhead . . . 95
Lichen. * 3 . 82

Colours of . 135
Licinius Mutianus . 272
Life-blood of plants . 238
Life in Winter. . 187-138

187-138

Life, movement, force

s

344 INDEX.
PAGE | M.

Lignum vite 216-217 PAGH

Lightness, Ash wood for . 192 Macutvery, True Service
Limbs of trees . ‘ . WY Tree wood for. 232
Lime at Cleves. 293-294 | Magdalen College 297
at Cobham Park 295 | Magnesia in plants . 262

at Dopenham 995 | ‘Mahogany,’ Cherry wocd
at Lawers . 295 for . . . 199
at Moor Park 295 | Mahogany Wood 217-218

at Niestadt 274, 292-293 | ‘Major-General G. A.
Lime in Norfolk 295 . Thomas’ 317
in plants .. 262 | Male Dogwood... . 208

Lime, Bark of the . . 81 | Mallet-heads, Ilex wood
Bole of the « . 38 for... - 207
Branching of the 32-34 | Mallets, Hawthorn wood for 208

Buds of the . 155-157 Lignum vite wood
Character of the 31-35 for. . 216
Gilpin onthe . 934 | Maplein Ovid, The. . 219
Spray of the 82-34, | Maple Wood 218-219
155-157 | Mariposa Grove 251
(Illus.) . 156 | Mark Ash 306
Wood of the . 82 | Markings of seeds . 242
Lime Wood, Colour of 217 | Marshall, Mr. W.G. 250.251,
Qualities of 217 256, 311

Uses of . . 217 | Masts, Spruce Fir wood
Lindley, Dr. . 2 244 for . . 230
L, initial letter (Z ina: ) 127 | Matches, Birch wood for . 195

Logierait . : : 305 | Mathematicalinstruments,
Lombardy Poplar . 167, 229 . Box wood for . 196
Bark of the 167 Holly wood for . 209
Branching of the 47 | Maundrel . 284-285
Buds of the . 167 | Measures, Box wood for . 197
Character of the. 47-48 | Mechanism of plants 264
Gilpin onthe . 48 | Menelaid fountain 270
(I]lus.) facing 128, 144 | Meshes, Dogwood for 203
Spray of the 167 | Metallic oxides in plants . 262
(Illus.). . 52 | Metamorphosis. 259
Stem of the . 47 | Michaux . 273
. Longfellow ’ 317 | Mickleham 178

“INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Milk-pails, Aspen wood for 229 | Musical instruments,
Mill cogs, Hernbeam wood Cherry wood
for . : - 210 for . : . 199
M, initial letter (Zllus.) . 108 Elder wood for . 206
‘Miss Burdett Coutts’ . 316 Labornum wood
Mist, rain, and hail. 118-126 for . x . 214
Mitcham Junction . 2 OA Spindie Tree
Moncreiffe 2 ; . 280 wood for . 230
Mongewell- . . 278 Spruce Fir wood
Monteith . : : . 280 for . . 230
Monzie Castle . F . 284 Sycamore wood
Moonlight in Winter 127-182 for . . 7281
journey, A. 129-132 | Myrtle . 222
Moor Park . 5 . 295
Mortises, Ash wood for . 192
Morus. . ‘ . 219 N.
Moss. 3 . , . 81
‘Mother and her sons’ . 314 | Nature’s exhibition 15
*Motherofthe Forest,’The 313 office . é . 14
Mountain Ash, Bark of pains . P 13-14
the. . 179-180 | Necessities of the vegetable
Berries of the . 18] world 264
Buds of the 179-180 | Newbottle’ Abbey . 3807
Foliage of the . 18] | Niestadt . i . 274, 292
Gilpin on the 180-181 | Niestadt an der Grossen
» (IIlus.) a i479 Linden 292
Mouldings, Lime wood for 217 | ‘Nightingale’ . F - 316°
Mount Etna Chestnut 286-288 | N, initial letter (Zilus.) 252
Mount St. Helena . . 258 | Noggins, Laburnum wood
Movement in Winter . 188 for . 214
Muir, Mr. . «+ 250-251 | Norbury Park . 178
Mulberry Tree Wood, ;
Qualities of . 220
Mummy cases of Cypress 0.
wood . . 202
Mortle . . . « 808/Oax. . . . 134
Musical instruments; Box- at Cowthorpe 302 .
wood for. . 196 at Fairlop . 300

345:

346

Oak at Magdalen College.
at Wedgenock
Park . .
at Worksop
Damory’s . ‘
in Winter, The .
piles 1800 =
old . :
Queen Wilizabeth’s
Salcey Forest
The great . .
The Squitchbank
The Wallace .
Oak, Bark of the .
Bole of the.
Buds of the

INDEX.
PAGE
297 | Oak Wood, Uses of 220-221,
301 Wonderful endu-
300 rance of . :
300 | Oars, Spruce Fir wood for
16 | Ochtertyre

Ohio River é
224 | O, initial letter (Zi ‘Hege)
301 | ‘Old Bachelor ’
301 | ‘Old Dominion ’
298 | ‘Old Maid’ ‘ ;
301 | ‘Old Republican’ . .

301
21
16

21, 146

Character of the 21-22

Gilpin on the .
(Illus.)

Limbs of the
Spray of the

16-18

. facing 16

. 16-17

16, 21,

145-146

(Illus.) .

Spreading of the.

stump, Dead
(Lllus.)
Taproot of the
Virgil on the
Oaks at Boxhill - F
at Donnington
Castle Park
of Chaucer .
The .
Oak Wood, Effect of soil on
: in 1790, Value
of
Shakespeare on .
Qualities of

144
16

. facing 32

16
16
100

296

295-297

212
224

222
222

220-225

Olneya tesota . .
Orange seeds .
Organic constituents of
leaves
Ornaments, Acacia wood
for . . :
Apple wood for .
Bird Cherry wood
for .
Box wood for
Elder wood for .
Holly wood for .
Plane wood for .

Poplar wood for .

Ostrya virginica Z
Outdoor service, Yew
wood for . ‘

Ovid, The Maple in .
Owalis acetosella. .

Pp.

Pack1ne-Boxes, Spruce Fir
wood for.

PAGE
223-
225

225
230
304
273
112
317
317
317
317
212
242

263

189
191.

196
196
205
209

230

INDEX.

. PAGE
Packing-cases, Birch wood

for . F 195
Horse Ghieskiat
wood for . 210
Poplar wood for. 229
Palisades, Ilex wood for . 207
Patters, Alder wood for . 190
Pausanias 7 ‘i . 270
Pear, Branching of the .61-62
(Iilus.) . . 62
Pear seeds < ‘ . 242
Pear Wood, Colour of .. 225
" Qualities of 225
Uses of 225-226
Pegging boots, Elder wood
for... .» 205
Pegs, Box wood for . 196

Petrifaction of trees 253, 255-259

* Phil Sheridan’ 817
Phosphoric acid in plants. 262
Phrygia . . . 269
‘ Physiologie végétale’ 273
Picea nobilis . ‘ « a9
nordmanniana . 79
Picturesque beauty of
trees ; 15.
Pine forest, petrified O55. 259
seeds . 242-248
Pines, The ij , . 71-78
Pine Wood 226-227
Pinus austriaca . . 7
excelsa . . 8
insignis. . 7
sylvestris .'72-74, 226
Pins, Acacia wood for 189
Box wood for . 196
Ilex woodfor . . 207
Pipes, Box wood for. 197

347

PAGE

Pipes, Maple wood for 218
‘ Pioneer’s Cabin,’ The 314
Pitch Pines 317-318
Pith . : és . 267-268
Plane at Cos 274.275
of Bujukdéré 273

on the OhioRiver 273
The Lycian 271-272
The Menelaid 270-271
The Phrygian 269-270
Plane, Bark of the . . 163
Bole of the. . 44
Branching of the 44-45
Buds of the. 164-165
Character of the 44-47
Gilpin on the =. 45-46
(Illus.) facing 128
Leaf-stalk of the 164
Pealing ofthe . 45
Spray of the 44-45, 163
(Iilus.) . 163
Plane Wood, Colour of 227
Qualities of 227-228
Uses of 22'7 -228
Plank flooring, Horse Chest-
nut wood for . 210
Planted Grove, The . a Le

Plant sleep 236-238
Platanus occidentalis 227
orientalis . 227
Pliny 272-273, 282
on the Field Maple 37
on Maple wood 218-219
Plot, Dr. . 218, 279

eothe dish,” 4 87

Ploughs, Ash wood for 192
Plum seeds ‘ . 241-242
Plum Wood, Qualities of. 228

348

INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Plum Wood, Uses of’ 228 | Punch-ladles, Laburnum
Pope Eugenius IV. . 201 wood for . 214
Pop-guns, Elder wood for 205 | Pyrus aria . . 232
Poplars; The .. 47-51, 165-167 communis 225
(Illus.) | . 166 malus . . 190
Poplar Wood; Colour of . 228 sorbus 231-232
Qualities of 228-229
Populus alba. . . . 229
canescens 167, 229 Q.
fastigiata . 229 ,
nigra . 166-167, 229 | Q, initial letter (ZZlus.) 102
The genius . 228-230 | Quays, Elm wood for 207
tremula . 229 | ‘Queen Beech’ : 306
Poles, Spruce Fir wood for 230 | Queen Elizabeth’s Oak 301
Pompey ; 224 | Queen’s Oak 296
Posts, Acacia wood for 189 | Querciner . 212
Alder wood for . 190 | Quercus ilex 207
Chestnut wood sessiliflora . 200
for . ‘ «199 suber , 200- 201 -
Potash from Spruce Fir . 230
_ in plants 262 F
Prestonhall 283 R.
Prickwood : 203
‘Pride of the Forest, The 257 | Raitway purposes, Larch
Primrose leaves .80-81 wood for . . 216
Primroses ; 4 . 80] Railway sleepers, Larch
Products of the foieat 187 wood for . 216
‘Prof. Asa Grey’. . 817 | Rains of Winter. 263
‘Prof. James Dana’ 317 | Rakes, Plum wood for 228
Prunus maritima 244 | Ramrods, Dogwood for 203
spinosa 228 | Red Cedar ‘ 213
Pulley-blocks, Ash weed Remarkable Pine, The 78
for . 192 | Reverence for the
Pulley-pins, Broom wood Almighty 119
for . E 197 | Riccarton . i : 288
Pulleys, True Service Tee ‘Richard Cobden’ . 316
wood for . 232 | R, initial letter (Z2Zus.) 118
se ‘Alder wood for 190 | Robinia pseud-acacia 188-189.

INDEX. 349
‘ PAGE - PAGE
Rods, Ash wood for . - 192 | Screws, Ash wood for . 193
Rollers, Poplar wood for . 229 Box wood for 197
True Service Tree | True Service Tree
wood for . 232 . .woodfor. . 232
Roofs, Birch bark for 194 | Sculpture, Alder wood for 190
Roxburgh. . 279 Aspen wood for . 229
Roy, Mr. Gascoigne .. 310 | Sea-shore in Winter. 135
Rulers, Box wood for 197 | Seaside Plam . 244,
Rustic-work, Hazel wood Seed coverings . 5 239
for . 209 | Seeds, Colours of 242,
from skeleten 244. 245
in geologic strata 243-
§. 244
Markings of . 242
Sazors, Alder wood for 190 Vitality of . 243-245
Aspen wood for . 229 | Sequoia gigantea . 811
St. Martin’s . 4 . 280 | Shakespeare on Oak wood 222
St. Peter’s at Rome. . 201 | Ship-building, Elm wood
Salcey Forest . - . 80l for . » . 206
Salisbury Cathedral . 275 Larch wood for . 216
Salix, The genus: 232-233 Qak wood for 223
Salts in plants . 262 | ‘ Shire Oak,’ The . 800
Sambuca . is . 206 | Shoemakers’ boards, Lime
Sambucus nigra 204-205 wood for. 217
Sandstone rocks . . 185 | Shoes, Birch wood for 195
Scotch, Fir 67, 134-186 | Shovels, Ash wood for 193°
Scotch Pine 183, 226-227 | ‘Siamese Twins’ 315
Bark of the . 73 | Sieve-rims, Ash wood for. 193
Branching of the.72-73 | Sights of Nature 84
Character of the 72-74 | Silicic acid in plants 262
Gilpin on the «73-74 | Silver Fir, The. . .78-79
(Illus.). . facing 224, | S, initial letter (Illus.) 90
Leaves ofthe . 72 | ‘Sir John Franklin’ 317
Sprayofthe(J/lus.) 184 | ‘Sir Joseph Hooker ’ 317
Scotch Pine Wood, Colour | Skewers, Dogwood for 208-204
of . 227, 230 | Elder wood for . 205
Qualities of 226-227 |. Guelder Bose
Usesof . - 227 3 ; ‘wood for. 207

350

PAGE

Skewers,SpindleTree wood
for . : . 230
Sleep of plants. . 236-238

Profound . . 245

Slow growth of Yew 235

Smaller parts of trees 15-16
Smollett’s . ‘History of

England’ 277

Snow ; j . 83-89

Snow-clad branches . . 88-89

trees .86-87

Snow-covered forest . 90-92

Snow-crystals. . . 87

Snow-flowers and _ice-
crystals . 108-111
Snowstorm, A . - . 83-87
Snow, Utility of . . 89
Snowy landscape, A 93-101
mantle, A. 113-114
Snuff-boxes, Broom rocts
for . « # LOZ
Maple wood for. 218
Soda in plants. . 262
Soil, Enrichment of . 263
Soles, Birch bark for 194
Solomon’s Botanical
Works . . 286
Sounding-boards, Lime
wood for. » 217
Sounds of Nature . 83-84
Spear-stems, Lancewood
for . 3 . 214
Spindles, Spindle Tree
wood for. . 280
True Service Tree
wood for. . 232
Spindle Tree Wood, Quali-
ties of . . 2380

INDEX.

PAGE
Spindle Tree Wood,Uses of 230
Spoons, Box wood for . 196
Sycamore wood
for . "
Spray. ; - 141-186
Gilpin on . 142, 155
of the Ash, Gil-
pin onthe 150-152
of the Beech, Gil-
pin onthe 148-149
of the Elm, Gil-
pin on the
of the Oak, Gil-
pin on the 145-146,

231

152

150-151
of trees , - 15
Tints of . in BL,

Spruce Fir, The 79, 151, 230-231
Spruce Fir Wood, Colour

of . 3 . 230
Qualities of 230-231
Uses of 230-231
Squitchbank Oak, The . 301
Staining, Spruce Fir wood
for . 231
Stairs, Ash wood for . 192
Cypress wood for 201
Stakes, Chestnut wood for 199
Stamps, Lignum vitxe
wood for. 217
Staves, Laburnum wood
for . 5 214

Stems of trees in Winter .13-15
Steven of Laurencekirk,

Mr.. ‘ . 197
Stocks for tools, Ilex wood
for . j 207

Stone Pine ‘ : . 297

INDEX. 851

PAGE

Stone Pine, Bark ofthe . 75

Bole of the . » The

Branching of the 74-76
Character of the 74-78
Gilpin on the. 76-78
(Iilus.) . facing 240
Leaves ofthe . 75
Spray ofthe . 75
Stratton Church - 279

Strawberry seeds . . 242
Streatham . . - 94
Strength, Ash wood for 192
‘ Strops,’ Ivy roots for 212

Strutt’s ‘Sylva Britan-
nica’ 278, 279, 288,
295, 306, 807, 309

Stukely, Dr. . . . 298
Stymphalian plains. . 270
Sugar Pines . . . 817
Sulphuric acid in plants . 262

Summer day, Haziness ofa 11
Summer woodlands . 128
Sun-rays in Winter . 136
Sutton. . . . - 94

Swietenia mahoganti 217-218
Sycamore at Ardoch 308
at Bishopton 307

at Calder House 307
at Castle Men-

zies . : . 3808
at Cobham Park 3807
at Kippenross 3807
at Murtle . . 308
at Newhottle Ab-

bey . 307

‘Sycamore, Bark of the 41, 161
Bole of the. . 89
Branching of the 39-40

‘Tablets, Apple wood for .

PAGE

Sycamore, Buds of the . 161
Character of the 39-41

Gilpin on the . 40-41

Spray ofthe 40, 161

(lllus.) . 160

Sycamore Wood, Colour of 231
Qualities of. . 231

Uses of - 231

Sylvan giants . 269-318
nomenclature 319-329

Winter . 8-138

Symmetry of Nature . 4

T.

TaBLes, Alder wood for
Ash wood for
Hazel wood for .

190
193
209
191
233-235

306

192

Taxus baceata . -
Taymouth .
Tenons, Ash wood for
Thames from London
Bridge . . 93
112-117, 263
. 814
250-251,
256-259
Thunderstorm, Rainina. 124
Tiberius 281-283
Tilia europea . 217-218
T, initial letter (ZUlus.) . 98
Tints of spray . : » 12
T'ool-handles, Plum wood
for . ‘ . 228
Tools, Ash wood for. 192-193

Thawing .
‘Three Graces’
‘Through America’.

352 INDEX.
PAGE: U.

: ; 5 : PAGE
Toothpicks, Dogwood for . ea " initial ictior Utes) te
Tortworth : E 989 | Ulmus campestris 206-207, 278
Torwood . : 301 montana zi8
Toys, Box woud for . 196 | ‘ Uncle Sam ite 317

Elder wood for . 205 | ‘ Uncle Tom’s Cabin 317
Lime wood for . 217 | Uses of wood 187-235
Poplar wood for. 229 | ‘U.S. Grant’ . alg
- Tree-food . a‘ 260-264
Tree forms 3 . 20-63 Vv
Ivy . : . 134.
‘Trees of Old England > 68-69
Trellis-work, Chestnut Van Eomont 285
wood fOr’. 199 | Varenne de Feuilles. 234
Trembling Poplar 929 | ‘Venus of the Woods,’ The 26,
Trenails, Acacia wood for 189 28, 149
Trifolium repens 237 | Viburnum opulus . . 207
True Service Tree Weed, V, initial letter (ZlZus.) 133
Colour of 232 ' Virgil on the Oak . 16
Qualities of 9392, | Vitality of seeds 243-245
Uses of 939, | ‘Voyage Pittoresque de.
Weight of . 232 La Gréce* , 274
Trysting Tree. at Rox-
burgh 279
Tulse Hill. . 94 W.
Turning, Alder wood for . 190
Ash wood . 192 | Watkrne-sticxs, Apple
Ash wood for 193 wood for. - 191
Bird Cherry wood Hawthorn for 208
for . 196 Hazel-wood for . 209
Box wood for 196 Plom wood for . 228
Cherry wood for. 199 | Wallace Oak . . 801
Elder wood for . 205 | Walnut seeds . i . 241
Laburnum wood Wood. ‘ . 228
for . 214 | Waterproofing, Birch
Pear wood for 225 bark for . . 194
Poplar wood for. 229 | Water-works, Alder wood
Tutbury .. 278 for . 190

INDEX. 353
PAGE PAGE
Wedgenock Park 801 | Winter bud of the Horse
Wedges, Ilex wood for 207 Chestnut 265-266
Weed in stagnant water . 136 Cowper on . 5-6
Weeping Willow, The 51-53, 54, Crabbe on . 6-7
178 Genial aspect.of 8-9
Bark of the. . 58 Ideal of ©. . 37
Bole ofthe. . 51 moonlight . 127-132
Branching of the 51-53 Thomson on «. 4-5
Character of the . 51-53 . wood. lore 141-329
Gilpin on the . 54 | Wintry outlooks 3-9
Spray of the . 653] Wood of Diana’s statue . 272
Wellingtonia gigantea 311 | ‘ Wood of Life” The. 216-217
Westminster Hall, Woodin 200 Colour of . 216
Wharves, Alder wood for. 190 Qualities of 216-217 —
Wheelwrights, Hornbeam Sap of « 216
wood for . 210 Uses of 216-217
WhitebeamW ood,Colour of ' 232 | Wood Sorrel » 4 286
: Qualities of 232 | Wood, Uses of . 187-235
Uses of 282 | «Woods, Forests, and Es-
White Poplar : 229 tates of Perth-
White, Rev. Thomas 302 shire’ . . 280
White Spruce roots . 195 | Wooster and Whitehead,
‘Wm. Cullen Bryant” 317 Messrs. 318
William of Wainfleet . 298 Worksop a 300
Willow 177-178 | Writtle . . 289
Bark of the 167 | «W.T. Sherman’ . . 817
Branching of the 53-54 | Wych Elm at Roxburgh . 279
Buds of the. 168-169 at Tutbury . 278
(Illus.) 52, 168 by Stratton
Ramification of Church . 279
the . 167-169 in Staffordshire . 279
Willows, The . 61-54 Wymondley, Little . 992,
Willow Wood, Qualities of 233
Uses of 233
‘Wimley’. ‘ 291 X.
‘Windows, Larch wood for 215
W, initial letter ([ZIus.) . 3 | XERXES... . 269-270
‘Winter, Barnard onthe . 4) X, initial letter (ZiZus.) 269

Aa

304

Y.
PAGE
YeELLow dye, Barberry

wood for . 198
Yew . : - 184, 222

at Ankerwyke
House 309
_at Braburne 309
at Crowhurst 309
at Dibden . 309
at Fortingall 310
at Hensor . 310
near Winchester 309
Yew, Bark ofthe . . 188
Blair on the . 64-65
Character of the 64-69
Colour of the . 67-68

INDEX.

PAGE

Yew, Foliage of the. - 66-68

Gilpin on the. 66-68

Grindon on the . 68-69

(Z1lus.) . 183
Remarkable du-

rability of 235

Yew Wood, Colour of 233

in bog ‘ . 234

Qualities of. 233-235

Uses of 235

Weight of . 234.

Yew, Wordsworth onthe. 65

Y, initial letter (Zllus.) . 64

Z.
Z, initial letter (I7lus.) . 20

THE END.

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“LONDON :

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