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_Illustrated from Photographs by the Author_
These sketches are, I fear, very unscientific and unsystematic. They record the growth of my own interest and information, as I have recently observed and enjoyed the trees among which I had walked unseeing far too many years. To pass on, as well as I can, some of the benefit that has come into my own life from this wakened interest in the trees provided by the Creator for the resting of tired brains and the healing of ruffled spirits, as well as for utility, is the reason for gathering together and somewhat extending the papers that have brought me, as they have appeared in the pages of "The Outlook," so many letters of fellowship and appreciation from others who have often seen more clearly and deeply into the woods than I may hope to.
Driven out from my desk by weariness sometimes--and as often, I confess, by a rasped temper I would fain hide from display--I have never failed to find rest, and peace, and much to see and to love, among the common and familiar trees, to which I hope these mere hints of some of their features not always seen may send others who also need their silent and beneficent message.
"The Norway maple breaks into a wonderful bloom" 9
A blooming twig of the swamp white oak 41
Fountain-like effect of the young long-leaved pines 62
A white willow in a characteristic position 112
The delicate tracery of the American elm in winter 139
The American sweet chestnut in winter 165
Leaves and berries of the American holly 195
Floral bracts or involucres of the dogwood 199
The leaves and fruit of the liquidambar 222
This is not a botanical disquisition; it is not a complete account of all the members of the important tree family of maples. I am not a botanist, nor a true scientific observer, but only a plain tree-lover, and I have been watching some trees bloom and bud and grow and fruit for a few years, using a camera now and then to record what I see--and much more than I see, usually!
In the sweet springtime, when the rising of the sap incites some to poetry, some to making maple sugar, and some to watching for the first flowers, it is well to look at a few tree-blooms, and to consider the possibilities and the pleasures of a peaceful hunt that can be made with profit in city street or park, as well as along country roadsides and in the meadows and the woods.