Some would consider the beech the most beautiful of all nut trees. Its comparatively smooth, bluish-gray bark makes it a distinctive tree at all seasons. Its branches, spreading straight out from the trunk, give it an appearance of strength. Its fine branches form a specially pleasing skyline, its sharp buds are trim and neat in appearance, its leaves are beautiful in shape and texture. Their fall coloring, while not as brilliant as that of the maples, is really beautiful, being either yellow or a rich brown. The leaves are apt to hang on all winter, especially on the younger growth, and then they often turn a straw color. If a list of beautiful trees for February were to be made, I am rather inclined to think that the beech would stand at the head of the list. A young beech with its bluish-gray bark, its straw colored leaves, and flecks of snow here and there, seems to me the most beautiful of all deciduous trees in winter. The young leaves also are especially attractive when they first appear and the blossoms are sometimes objects of interest, although not showy in color. HAZELNUTS Often in old pastures one finds forlorn, scraggly looking bushes and is told they are hazelnut bushes. One would not pick out bushes like these to plant in his front yard, and yet, when given a chance, there is scarcely a more attractive shrub than the hazel. It is one of the first shrubs to blossom, the staminate flowers hanging in slender, graceful yellowish-brown catkins, while the pistillate flowers are little points of purplish-red protruding from the buds. These blossoms appear long before the leaves. The latter, when fully developed, are beautiful in outline and soft in texture and they have a rich coloring in the fall including various shades of yellow and red. The hazel should certainly be used extensively in landscape work. The nuts, with their leaflike involucres, are attractive in appearance in August and September. In connection with our own hazel one would naturally think of the filbert, which is a European relative. The filbert is often planted for ornament. There is a variety with purple leaves which some people admire. THE OAKS