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diff --git a/37717-8.txt b/37717-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6910ff5 --- /dev/null +++ b/37717-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10790 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Trees Worth Knowing, by Julia Ellen Rogers + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Trees Worth Knowing + +Author: Julia Ellen Rogers + +Release Date: October 11, 2011 [EBook #37717] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TREES WORTH KNOWING *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Tom Cosmas, Marilynda +Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + TREES WORTH KNOWING + + + + + [Illustration: A BEND IN THE TRAIL] + + + + + _LITTLE NATURE LIBRARY_ + + TREES + WORTH KNOWING + + BY JULIA ELLEN ROGERS + + (_Author of_ _The Tree Book_, _The Tree Guide_, _Trees + Every Child Should Know_, _The Book of Useful + Plants_, _The Shell Book_, _etc., etc._) + + [Illustration: "Fructus Quam Folia"] + + _With forty-eight illustrations, sixteen being in color_ + + PUBLISHED BY + DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + FOR + NELSON DOUBLEDAY, INC. + 1923 + + + + + _Copyright, 1917, by_ + + DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + + _All rights reserved, including that of + translation into foreign languages, + including the Scandinavian_ + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES + AT + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS. GARDEN CITY, N. Y. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION xi + + PART I + + THE LIFE OF THE TREES 3 + + PART II + + THE NUT TREES 28 + + The Walnuts; The Hickories; The Beech; The Chestnuts; + The Oaks; The Horse-chestnuts; The Lindens + + PART III + + WATER-LOVING TREES 75 + + The Poplars; The Willows; The Hornbeams; The Birches; + The Alders; The Sycamores; The Gum Trees; The Osage Orange + + PART IV + + TREES WITH SHOWY FLOWERS AND FRUITS 101 + + The Magnolias; The Dogwoods; The Viburnums; The Mountain + Ashes; The Rhododendron; The Mountain Laurel; The Madroña; + The Sorrel Tree; The Silver Bell Trees; The Sweet Leaf; + The Fringe Tree; The Laurel Family; The Witch Hazel; + The Burning Bush; The Sumachs; The Smoke Tree; The Hollies + + PART V + + WILD RELATIVES OF OUR ORCHARD TREES 147 + + The Apples; The Plums; The Cherries; The Hawthorns; The + Service-berries; The Hackberries; The Mulberries; The Figs; + The Papaws; The Pond Apples; The Persimmons + + PART VI + + THE POD-BEARING TREES 176 + + The Locusts; The Acacias; Miscellaneous Species + + PART VII + + DECIDUOUS TREES WITH WINGED SEEDS 193 + + The Maples; The Ashes; The Elms + + PART VIII + + THE CONE-BEARING EVERGREENS 217 + + The Pines; The Spruces; The Firs; The Douglas Spruce; + The Hemlocks; The Sequoias; The Arbor-vitaes; The Incense + Cedar; The Cypresses; The Junipers; The Larches + + PART IX + + THE PALMS 280 + + GENERAL INDEX 283 + + + + +LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + Canoe or Paper Birch _On Cover_ + + A Bend in the Trail _Frontispiece_ + + Shagbark Hickory 6 + + Mockernut Fruit and Leaves 7 + + A Grove of Beeches 22 + + Chestnut Tree 23 + + Weeping Beech 30 + + Black Walnut 31 + + White Oak 38 + + Bur or Mossy-cup Oak Leaves and Fruit 39 + + Horse-chestnut in Blossom 54 + + Weeping Willow 55 + + Tulip Tree, Flower and Leaves 103 + + Flowering Dogwood 118 + + American Elm 215 + + Eastern Red Cedars and Hickory 230 + + + + +LIST OF OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + + Black Walnut Shoots 70 + + Shagbark Hickory 71 + + American Linden Leaves and Fruit 86 + + Trembling Aspen Catkins and Leaves 86-87 + + Pussy Willow Flowers 86-87 + + American Hornbeam--A Fruiting Branch 87 + + The Tattered, Silky Bark of the Birches 102 + + Sycamore Bark and Seed-balls 102-103 + + Bark, Seeds, and Seed-balls of the Sweet Gum 102-103 + + Osage Orange Leaves, and Flowers 119 + + Dogwood Bark, Blossom, Fruit, and Buds 134 + + Mountain Ash Flowers and Leaves 135 + + Sassafras Flowers, Fruit, and Leaves 150 + + Foliage and Flowers of the Smooth Sumach 150-151 + + Buds, Leaves, and Fruit of the Wild Crabapple 150-151 + + Canada Plum--Flowers and Trunk 151 + + Wild Black Cherry--Flowers and Fruit 166 + + Fruiting Branch of Cockspur Thorn 167 + + Service-berry Tree in Blossom 182 + + Hackberry--Flowers, Fruit, and Leaves 183 + + Honey Locust's Trunk, and Black Locust's Flowers and Leaves 198 + + Sugar Maple 198-199 + + Red Maple Flowers 198-199 + + Seed Keys and New Leaves of Soft or Silver Maple 199 + + White Ash Buds and Flowers 214 + + A Group of White Pines 214-215 + + Shortleaf Pine Cones and Needles 214-215 + + The Sugar Pine 231 + + Leaves and Cones of Hemlock and of Norway Spruce 246 + + Black Spruce Cones and Needles 247 + + Spray of Arbor-vitae 262 + + American Larch Cones and Needles 263 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Occasionally I meet a person who says: "I know nothing at all about +trees." This modest disclaimer is generally sincere, but it has always +turned out to be untrue. "Oh, well, that old sugar maple, I've always +known that tree. We used to tap all the sugar maples on the place +every spring." Or again: "Everybody knows a white birch by its bark." +"Of course, anybody who has ever been chestnutting knows a chestnut +tree." Most people know Lombardy poplars, those green exclamation +points so commonly planted in long soldierly rows on roadsides and +boundary lines in many parts of the country. Willows, too, everybody +knows are willows. The best nut trees, the shagbark, chestnut, and +butternut, need no formal introduction. The honey locust has its +striking three-pronged thorns, and its purple pods dangling in winter +and skating off over the snow. The beech has its smooth, close bark of +Quaker gray, and nobody needs to look for further evidence to +determine this tree's name. + +So it is easily proved that each person has a good nucleus of tree +knowledge around which to accumulate more. If people have the love of +nature in their hearts--if things out of doors call irresistibly, at +any season--it will not really matter if their lives are pinched and +circumscribed. Ways and means of studying trees are easily found, even +if the scant ends of busy days spent indoors are all the time at +command. If there is energy to begin the undertaking it will soon +furnish its own motive power. Tree students, like bird students, +become enthusiasts. To understand their enthusiasm one must follow +their examples. + +The beginner doesn't know exactly how and where to begin. There are +great collections of trees here and there. The Arnold Arboretum in +Boston is the great dendrological Noah's Ark in this country. It +contains almost all the trees, American and foreign, which will grow +in that region. The Shaw Botanical Garden at St. Louis is the largest +midland assemblage of trees. Parks in various cities bring together as +large a variety of trees as possible, and these are often labelled +with their English and botanical names for the benefit of the public. + +Yet the places for the beginner are his own dooryard, the streets he +travels four times a day to his work, and woods for his holiday, +though they need not be forests. Arboreta are for his delight when he +has gained some acquaintance with the tree families. But not at first. +The trees may all be set out in tribes and families and labelled with +their scientific names. They will but confuse and discourage him. +There is not time to make their acquaintance. They overwhelm with the +mere number of kinds. Great arboreta and parks are very scarce. Trees +are everywhere. The acquaintance of trees is within the reach of all. + +First make a plan of the yard, locating and naming the trees you +actually know. Extend it to include the street, and the neighbors' +yards, as you get ready for them. Be very careful about giving names +to trees. If you think you know a tree, ask yourself _how_ you know +it. Sift out all the guesses, and the hearsays, and begin on a solid +foundation, even if you are sure about only the sugar maple and the +white birch. + +The characters to note in studying trees are: leaves, flowers, fruits, +bark, buds, bud arrangement, leaf scars, and tree form. The season of +the year determines which features are most prominent. Buds and leaf +scars are the most unvarying of tree characters. In winter these +traits and the tree frame are most plainly revealed. Winter often +exhibits tree fruits on or under the tree, and dead-leaf studies are +very satisfactory. Leaf arrangement may be made out at any season, for +leaf scars tell this story after the leaves fall. + +Only three families of our large trees have opposite leaves. This fact +helps the beginner. Look first at the twigs. If the leaves, or (in +winter) the buds and leaf scars, stand opposite, the tree (if it is of +large size) belongs to the maple, ash, or horse-chestnut family. Our +native horse-chestnuts are buckeyes. If the leaves are simple the tree +is a maple; if pinnately compound, of several leaflets, it is an ash; +if palmately compound, of five to seven leaflets, it is a +horse-chestnut. In winter dead leaves under the trees furnish this +evidence. The winter buds of the horse-chestnut are large and waxy, +and the leaf scars look like prints of a horse's hoof. Maple buds are +small, and the leaf scar is a small, narrow crescent. Ash buds are +dull and blunt, with rough, leathery scales. Maple twigs are slender. +Ash and buckeye twigs are stout and clumsy. + +Bark is a distinguishing character of many trees--of others it is +confusing. The sycamore, shedding bark in sheets from its limbs, +exposes pale, smooth under bark. The tree is recognizable by its +mottled appearance winter or summer. The corky ridges on limbs of +sweet gum and bur oak are easily remembered traits. The peculiar +horizontal peeling of bark on birches designates most of the genus. +The prussic-acid taste of a twig sets the cherry tribe apart. The +familiar aromatic taste of the green twigs of sassafras is its best +winter character; the mitten-shaped leaves distinguish it in summer. + +It is necessary to get some book on the subject to discover the names +of trees one studies, and to act as teacher at times. A book makes a +good staff, but a poor crutch. The eyes and the judgment are the +dependable things. In spring the way in which the leaves open is +significant; so are the flowers. Every tree when it reaches proper age +bears flowers. Not all bear fruit, but blossoms come on every tree. In +summer the leaves and fruits are there to be examined. In autumn the +ripening fruits are the special features. + +To know a tree's name is the beginning of acquaintance--not an end in +itself. There is all the rest of one's life in which to follow it up. +Tree friendships are very precious things. John Muir, writing among +his beloved trees of the Yosemite Valley, adjures his world-weary +fellow men to seek the companionship of trees. + + * * * * * + +"To learn how they live and behave in pure wildness, to see them in +their varying aspects through the seasons and weather, rejoicing in +the great storms, putting forth their new leaves and flowers, when all +the streams are in flood, and the birds singing, and sending away +their seeds in the thoughtful Indian summer, when all the landscape is +glowing in deep, calm enthusiasm--for this you must love them and live +with them, as free from schemes and care and time as the trees +themselves." + + +_Tree Names_ + +Two Latin words, written in italics, with a cabalistic abbreviation +set after them, are a stumbling block on the page to the reader +unaccustomed to scientific lore. He resents botanical names, and +demands to know the tree's name in "plain English." Trees have both +common and scientific names, and each has its use. Common names were +applied to important trees by people, the world over, before science +was born. Many trees were never noticed by anybody until botanists +discovered and named them. They may never get common names at all. + +A name is a description reduced to its lowest terms. It consists +usually of a surname and a descriptive adjective: Mary Jones, white +oak, _Quercus alba_. Take the oaks, for example, and let us consider +how they got their names, common and scientific. All acorn-bearing +trees are oaks. They are found in Europe, Asia, and America. Their +usefulness and beauty have impressed people. The Britons called them +by a word which in our modern speech is _oak_, and as they came to +know the different kinds, they added a descriptive word to the name of +each. But "plain English" is not useful to the Frenchman. _Chêne_ is +his name for the acorn trees. The German has his _Eichenbaum_, the +Roman had his _Quercus_, and who knows what the Chinaman and the +Hindoo in far Cathay or the American Indian called these trees? Common +names made the trouble when the Tower of Babel was building. + +Latin has always been the universal language of scholars. It is dead, +so that it can be depended upon to remain unchanged in its vocabulary +and in its forms and usages. Scientific names are exact, and remain +unchanged, though an article or a book using them may be translated +into all the modern languages. The word _Quercus_ clears away +difficulties. French, English, German hearers know what trees are +meant--or they know just where in books of their own language to find +them described. + +The abbreviation that follows a scientific name tells who first gave +the name. "Linn." is frequently noticed, for Linnaeus is authority for +thousands of plant names. + +Two sources of confusion make common names of trees unreliable: the +application of one name to several species, and the application of +several names to one species. To illustrate the first: There are a +dozen ironwoods in American forests. They belong, with two exceptions, +to different genera and to at least five different botanical families. +To illustrate the second: The familiar American elm is known by at +least seven local popular names. The bur oak has seven. Many of these +are applied to other species. Three of the five native elms are called +water elm; three are called red elm; three are called rock elm. There +are seven scrub oaks. Only by mentioning the scientific name can a +writer indicate with exactness which species he is talking about. The +unscientific reader can go to the botanical manual or cyclopedia and +under this name find the species described. + +In California grows a tree called by three popular names: leatherwood, +slippery elm, and silver oak. Its name is _Fremontia_. It is as far +removed from elms and oaks as sheep are from cattle and horses. But +the names stick. It would be as easy to eradicate the trees, root and +branch, from a region as to persuade people to abandon names they are +accustomed to, though they may concede that you have proved these +names incorrect, or meaningless, or vulgar. Nicknames like nigger +pine, he huckleberry, she balsam, and bull bay ought to be dropped by +all people who lay claim to intelligence and taste. + +With all their inaccuracies, common names have interesting histories, +and the good ones are full of helpful suggestion to the learner. Many +are literal translations of the Latin names. The first writers on +botany wrote in Latin. Plants were described under the common name, if +there was one; if not, the plant was named. The different species of +each group were distinguished by the descriptions and the drawings +that accompanied them. Linnaeus attempted to bring the work of +botanical scholars together, and to publish descriptions and names of +all known plants in a single volume. This he did, crediting each +botanist with his work. The "Species Plantarum," Linnaeus's monumental +work, became the foundation of the modern science of botany, for it +included all the plants known and named up to the time of its +publication. This was about the middle of the eighteenth century. + +The vast body of information which the "Species Plantarum" contained +was systematically arranged. All the different species in one genus +were brought together. They were described, each under a number; and +an adjective word, usually descriptive of some marked characteristic, +was written in as a marginal index. + +After Linnaeus's time botanists found that the genus name in +combination with this marginal word made a convenient and exact means +of designating the plant. Thus Linnaeus became the acknowledged +originator of the binomial (two-name) system of nomenclature now in +use in all sciences. It is a delightful coincidence that while +Linnaeus was engaged on his great work, North America, that vast new +field of botanical exploration, was being traversed by another Swedish +scientist. Peter Kalm sent his specimens and his descriptive notes to +Linnaeus, who described and named the new plants in his book. The +specimens swelled the great herbarium at the University of Upsala. + +Among trees unknown to science before are the Magnolia, named in honor +of the great French botanist, Magnol. Robinia, the locust, honors +another French botanist, Robin, and his son. Kalmia, the beautiful +mountain laurel, immortalizes the name of the devoted explorer who +discovered it. + +Inevitably, duplication of names attended the work of the early +scientists, isolated from each other, and far from libraries and +herbaria. Any one discovering a plant he believed to be unknown to +science published a description of it in some scientific journal. If +some one else had described it at an earlier date, the fact became +known in the course of time. The name earliest published is retained, +and the later one is dropped to the rank of a _synonym_. If the _name_ +has been used before to describe some other species in the same genus, +a new name must be supplied. In the "Cyclopedia of Horticulture" the +sugar maple is written: "_Acer saccharum_, Marsh. (_Acer saccharinum_, +Wang. _Acer barbatum_, Michx.)" This means that the earliest name +given this tree by a botanist was that of Marshall. Wangheimer and +Michaux are therefore thrown out; the names given by them are among +the synonyms. + +Our cork elm was until recently called "_Ulmus racemosa_, Thomas." The +discovery that the name _racemosa_ was given long ago to the cork elm +of Europe discredited it for the American tree. Mr. Sargent +substituted the name of the author, and it now stands "_Ulmus +Thomasi_, Sarg." Occasionally a generic name is changed. The old +generic name becomes the specific name. Box elder was formerly known +as "_Negundo aceroides_, Moench." It is changed back to "_Acer +Negundo_, Linn." On the other hand, the tan-bark oak, which is +intermediate in character between oaks and chestnuts, has been taken +by Professor Sargent in his Manual, 1905, out of the genus _Quercus_ +and set in a genus by itself. From "_Quercus densiflora_, Hook. and +Arn." it is called "_Pasania densiflora_, Sarg.," the specific name +being carried over to the new genus. + +About one hundred thousand species of plants have been named by +botanists. They believe that one half of the world's flora is covered. +Trees are better known than less conspicuous plants. Fungi and +bacteria are just coming into notice. Yet even among trees new species +are constantly being described. Professor Sargent described 567 native +species in his "Silva of North America," published 1892-1900. His +Manual, 1905, contains 630. Both books exclude Mexico. The silva of +the tropics contains many unknown trees, for there are still +impenetrable tracts of forest. + +The origin of local names of trees is interesting. History and +romance, music and hard common sense are in these names--likewise much +pure foolishness. The nearness to Mexico brought in the musical +_piñon_ and _madroña_ in the southwest. _Pecanier_ and _bois d'arc_ +came with many other French names with the Acadians to Louisiana. The +Indians had many trees named, and we wisely kept hickory, wahoo, +catalpa, persimmon, and a few others of them. + +Woodsmen have generally chosen descriptive names which are based on +fact and are helpful to learners. Botanists have done this, too. Bark +gives the names to shagbark hickory, striped maple, and naked wood. +The color names white birch, black locust, blue beech. Wood names red +oak, yellow-wood, and white-heart hickory. The texture names rock elm, +punk oak, and soft pine. The uses name post oak, canoe birch, and +lodge-pole pine. + +The tree habit is described by dwarf juniper and weeping spruce. The +habitat by swamp maple, desert willow, and seaside alder. The range by +California white oak and Georgia pine. Sap is characterized in sugar +maple, sweet gum, balsam fir, and sweet birch. Twigs are indicated in +clammy locust, cotton gum, winged elm. Leaf linings are referred to in +silver maple, white poplar, and white basswood. Color of foliage, in +gray pine, blue oak, and golden fir. Shape of leaves, in heart-leaved +cucumber tree and ear-leaved umbrella. Resemblance of leaves to other +species, in willow oak and parsley haw. The flowers of trees give +names to tulip tree, silver-bell tree, and fringe tree. The fruit is +described in big-cone pine, butternut, mossy-cup oak, and mock orange. + +Many trees retain their classical names, which have become the generic +botanical ones, as acacia, ailanthus, and viburnum. Others modify +these slightly, as pine from _Pinus_, and poplar from _Populus_. The +number of local names a species has depends upon the notice it +attracts and the range it has. The loblolly pine, important as a +lumber tree, extends along the coast from New Jersey to Texas. It has +twenty-two nicknames. + +The scientific name is for use when accurate designation of a species +is required; the common name for ordinary speech. "What a beautiful +_Quercus alba_!" sounds very silly and pedantic, even if it falls on +scientific ears. Only persons of very shallow scientific learning use +it on such informal occasions. + +Let us keep the most beautiful and fitting among common names, and +work for their general adoption. There are no hard names once they +become familiar ones. Nobody hesitates or stumbles over chrysanthemum +and rhododendron, though these sonorous Greek derivatives have four +syllables. Nobody asks what these names are "in plain English." + + + + +TREES WORTH KNOWING + + + + +TREES + + + + +PART I + +THE LIFE OF THE TREES + + +The swift unfolding of the leaves in spring is always a miracle. One +day the budded twigs are still wrapped in the deep sleep of winter. A +trace of green appears about the edges of the bud scales--they loosen +and fall, and the tender green shoot looks timidly out and begins to +unfold its crumpled leaves. Soon the delicate blade broadens and takes +on the texture and familiar appearance of the grown-up leaf. Behold! +while we watched the single shoot the bare tree has clothed itself in +the green canopy of summer. + +How can this miracle take place? How does the tree come into full +leaf, sometimes within a fraction of a week? It could never happen +except for the store of concentrated food that the sap dissolves in +spring and carries to the buds, and for the remarkable activity of the +cambium cells within the buds. + +What is a bud? It is a shoot in miniature--its leaves or flowers, or +both, formed with wondrous completeness in the previous summer. About +its base are crowded leaves so hardened and overlapped as to cover and +protect the tender shoot. All the tree can ever express of beauty or +of energy comes out of these precious little "growing points," wrapped +up all winter, but impatient, as spring approaches, to accept the +invitation of the south wind and sun. + +The protective scale leaves fall when they are no longer needed. This +vernal leaf fall makes little show on the forest floor, but it greatly +exceeds in number of leaves the autumnal defoliation. + +Sometimes these bud scales lengthen before the shoot spares them. The +silky, brown scales of the beech buds sometimes add twice their +length, thus protecting the lengthening shoot which seems more +delicate than most kinds, less ready to encounter unguarded the wind +and the sun. The hickories, shagbark, and mockernut, show scales more +than three inches long. + +Many leaves are rosy, or lilac tinted, when they open--the waxy +granules of their precious "leaf green" screened by these colored +pigments from the full glare of the sun. Some leaves have wool or silk +growing like the pile of velvet on their surfaces. These hairs are +protective also. They shrivel or blow away when the leaf comes to its +full development. Occasionally a species retains the down on the lower +surface of its leaves, or, oftener, merely in the angles of its veins. + +The folding and plaiting of the leaves bring the ribs and veins into +prominence. The delicate green web sinks into folds between and is +therefore protected from the weather. Young leaves hang limp, never +presenting their perpendicular surfaces to the sun. + +Another protection to the infant leaf is the pair of stipules at its +base. Such stipules enclose the leaves of tulip and magnolia trees. +The beech leaf has two long strap-like stipules. Linden stipules are +green and red--two concave, oblong leaves, like the two valves of a +pea pod. Elm stipules are conspicuous. The black willow has large, +leaf-like, heart-shaped stipules, green as the leaf and saw-toothed. + +Most stipules shield the tender leaf during the hours of its +helplessness, and fall away as the leaf matures. Others persist, as is +often seen in the black willows. + +With this second vernal leaf fall (for stipules are leaves) the leaves +assume independence, and take up their serious work. They are ready to +make the living for the whole tree. Nothing contributed by soil or +atmosphere--no matter how rich it is--can become available for the +tree's use until the leaves receive and prepare it. + +Every leaf that spreads its green blade to the sun is a laboratory, +devoted to the manufacture of starch. It is, in fact, an outward +extension of the living cambium, thrust out beyond the thick, +hampering bark, and specialized to do its specific work rapidly and +effectively. + +The structure of the leaves must be studied with a microscope. This +laboratory has a delicate, transparent, enclosing wall, with doors, +called stomates, scattered over the lower surface. The "leaf pulp" is +inside, so is the framework of ribs and veins, that not only supports +the soft tissues but furnishes the vascular system by which an +incoming and outgoing current of sap is kept in constant circulation. +In the upper half of the leaf, facing the sun, the pulp is in +"palisade cells," regular, oblong, crowded together, and perpendicular +to the flat surface. There are sometimes more than one layer of these +cells. + +In the lower half of the leaf's thickness, between the palisade cells +and the under surface, the tissue is spongy. There is no crowding of +cells here. They are irregularly spherical, and cohere loosely, being +separated by ample air spaces, which communicate with the outside +world by the doorways mentioned above. An ordinary apple leaf has +about one hundred thousand of these stomates to each square inch of +its under surface. So the ventilation of the leaf is provided for. + +The food of trees comes from two sources--the air and the soil. Dry a +stick of wood, and the water leaves it. Burn it now, and ashes remain. +The water and the ashes came from the soil. That which came from the +air passed off in gaseous form with the burning. Some elements from +the soil also were converted by the heat into gases, and escaped by +the chimneys. + +Take that same stick of wood, and, instead of burning it in an open +fireplace or stove, smother it in a pit and burn it slowly, and it +comes out a stick of charcoal, having its shape and size and grain +preserved. It is carbon, its only impurity being a trace of ashes. +What would have escaped up a chimney as carbonic-acid gas is confined +here as a solid, and fire can yet liberate it. + +The vast amount of carbon which the body of a tree contains came into +its leaves as a gas, carbon dioxide. The soil furnished various +minerals, which were brought up in the "crude sap." Most of these +remain as ashes when the wood is burned. Water comes from the soil. So +the list of raw materials of tree food is complete, and the next +question is: How are they prepared for the tree's use? + +The ascent of the sap from roots to leaves brings water with mineral +salts dissolved in it. Thus potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, +sulphur, nitrogen, and phosphorus are brought to the leaf +laboratories--some are useful, some useless. The stream of water +contributes of itself to the laboratory whatever the leaf cells demand +to keep their own substance sufficiently moist, and those molecules +that are necessary to furnish hydrogen and oxygen for the making of +starch. Water is needed also to keep full the channels of the +returning streams, but the great bulk of water that the roots send up +escapes by evaporation through the curtained doorways of the leaves. + + [Illustration: _See page 37_ + + SHAGBARK HICKORY] + + [Illustration: _See page 40_ + + MOCKERNUT FRUIT AND LEAVES] + +Starch contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the last two in the +exact proportion that they bear to each other in water, H^{2}O. The +carbon comes in as carbon dioxide, CO^{2}. There is no lack of this +familiar gas in the air. It is exhaled constantly from the lungs of +every animal, from chimneys, and from all decaying substances. It is +diffused through the air, and, entering the leaves by the stomates, +comes in contact with other food elements in the palisade cells. + +The power that runs this starch factory is the sun. The chlorophyll, +or leaf green, which colors the clear protoplasm of the cells, is able +to absorb in daylight (and especially on warm, sunny days) some of the +energy of sunlight, and to enable the protoplasm to use the energy +thus captured to the chemical breaking down of water and carbon +dioxide, and the reuniting of their free atoms into new and more +complex molecules. These are molecules of starch, C^{6}H^{10}O^{5}. + +The new product in soluble form makes its way into the current of +nutritious sap that sets back into the tree. This is the one product +of the factory--the source of all the tree's growth--for it is the +elaborated sap, the food which nourishes every living cell from leaf +to root tip. It builds new wood layers, extends both twigs and roots, +and perfects the buds for the coming year. + +Sunset puts a stop to starch making. The power is turned off till +another day. The distribution of starch goes on. The surplus is +unloaded, and the way is cleared for work next day. On a sunless day +less starch is made than on a bright one. + +Excess of water and of free oxygen is noticeable in this making of +starch. Both escape in invisible gaseous form through the stomates. No +carbon escapes, for it is all used up, and a continual supply of CO^2 +sets in from outside. We find it at last in the form of solid wood +fibres. So it is the leaf's high calling to take the crude elements +brought to it, and convert them into food ready for assimilation. + +There are little elastic curtains on the doors of leaves, and in dry +weather they are closely drawn. This is to prevent the free escape of +water, which might debilitate the starch-making cells. In a moist +atmosphere the doors stand wide open. Evaporation does not draw water +so hard in such weather, and there is no danger of excessive loss. +"The average oak tree in its five active months evaporates about +28,000 gallons of water"--an average of about 187 gallons a day. + +In the making of starch there is oxygen left over--just the amount +there is left of the carbon dioxide when the carbon is seized for +starch making. This accumulating gas passes into the air as free +oxygen, "purifying" it for the use of all animal life, even as the +absorption of carbon dioxide does. + +When daylight is gone, the exchange of these two gases ceases. There +is no excess of oxygen nor demand for carbon dioxide until business +begins in the morning. But now a process is detected that the day's +activities had obscured. + +The living tree breathes--inhales oxygen and exhales carbonic-acid +gas. Because the leaves exercise the function of respiration, they +may properly be called the lungs of trees, for the respiration of +animals differs in no essential from that of plants. + +The bulk of the work of the leaves is accomplished before midsummer. +They are damaged by whipping in the wind, by the ravages of fungi and +insects of many kinds. Soot and dust clog the stomates. Mineral +deposits cumber the working cells. Finally they become sere and russet +or "die like the dolphin," passing in all the splendor of sunset skies +to oblivion on the leaf mould under the trees. + + +_The Growth of a Tree_ + +The great chestnut tree on the hillside has cast its burden of ripe +nuts, flung down the empty burs, and given its yellow leaves to the +autumn winds. Now the owner has cut down its twin, which was too near +a neighbor for the well-being of either, and is converting it into +lumber. The lopped limbs have gone to the woodpile, and the boards +will be dressed and polished and used for the woodwork of the new +house. Here is our opportunity to see what the bark of the living tree +conceals--to study the anatomy of the tree--to learn something of +grain and wood rings and knots. + +The most amazing fact is that this "too, too solid flesh" of the tree +body was all made of dirty water and carbonic-acid gas. Well may we +feel a kind of awe and reverence for the leaves and the cambium--the +builders of this wooden structure we call a tree. The bark, or outer +garment, covers the tree completely, from tip of farthest root to tip +of highest twig. Under the bark is the slimy, colorless living layer, +the _cambium_, which we may define as the separation between wood and +bark. It seems to have no perceptible diameter, though it impregnates +with its substance the wood and bark next to it. This cambium is a +continuous undergarment, lining the bark everywhere, covering the wood +of every root and every twig as well as of the trunk and all its +larger divisions. + +Under the cambium is the wood, which forms the real body of the tree. +It is a hard and fibrous substance, which in cross section of root or +trunk or limb or twig is seen to be in fine, but distinctly marked, +concentric rings about a central pith. This pith is most conspicuous +in the twigs. + +Now, what does the chestnut tree accomplish in a single growing +season? We have seen its buds open in early spring and watched the +leafy shoots unfold. Many of these bore clusters of blossoms in +midsummer, long yellow spikes, shaking out a mist of pollen, and +falling away at length, while the inconspicuous green flowers +developed into spiny, velvet-lined burs that gave up in their own good +time the nuts which are the seeds of the tree. + +The new shoots, having formed buds in the angles of their leaves, rest +from their labors. The tree had added to the height and breadth of its +crown the exact measure of its new shoots. There has been no +lengthening of limb or trunk. But underground the roots have made a +season's growth by extending their tips. These fresh rootlets clothed +with the velvety root hairs are new, just as the shoots are new that +bear the leaves on the ends of the branches. + +There is a general popular impression that trees grow in height by the +gradual lengthening of trunk and limbs. If this were true, nails +driven into the trunk in a vertical line would gradually become +farther apart. They do not, as observation proves. Fence wires +stapled to growing trees are not spread apart nor carried upward, +though the trees may serve as posts for years, and the growth in +diameter may swallow up staple and wire in a short time. Normal wood +fibres are inert and do not lengthen. Only the season's rootlets and +leafy shoots are soft and alive and capable of lengthening by cell +division. + +The work of the leaves has already been described. The return current, +bearing starch in soluble form, flows freely among the cells of the +cambium. Oxygen is there also. The cambium cell in the growing season +fulfills its life mission by absorbing food and dividing. This is +growth--and the power to grow comes only to the cell attacked by +oxygen. The rebuilding of its tissues multiplies the substance of the +cambium at a rapid rate. A cell divides, producing two "daughter +cells." Each is soon as large as its parent, and ready to divide in +the same way. A cambium cell is a microscopic object, but in a tree +there are millions upon millions of them. Consider how large an area +of cambium a large tree has. It is exactly equivalent to the total +area of its bark. Two cells by dividing make four. The next division +produces eight, then sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, in geometric +proportion. The cell's power and disposition to divide seems limited +only by the food and oxygen supply. The cambium layer itself remains a +very narrow zone of the newest, most active cells. The margins of the +cambium are crowded with cells whose walls are thickened and whose +protoplasm is no longer active. The accumulation of these worn-out +cells forms the total of the season's growth, the annual ring of wood +on one side of the cambium and the annual layer of bark on the other. + +What was once a delicate cell now becomes a hollow wood fibre, thin +walled, but becoming thickened as it gets older. For a few years the +superannuated cell is a part of the sap wood and is used as a tube in +the system through which the crude sap mounts to the leaves. Later it +may be stored full of starch, and the sap will flow up through newer +tubes. At last the walls of the old cell harden and darken with +mineral deposits. Many annual rings lie between it and the cambium. It +has become a part of the heart wood of the tree. + +The cells of its own generation that were crowded in the other +direction made part of an annual layer of bark. As new layers formed +beneath them, and the bark stretched and cracked, they lost their +moisture by contact with the outer air. Finally they became thin, +loose fibres, and scaled off. + +The years of a tree's life are recorded with fair accuracy in the +rings of its wood. The bark tells the same story, but the record is +lost by its habit of sloughing off the outer layers. Occasionally a +tree makes two layers of wood in a single season, but this is +exceptional. Sometimes, as in a year of drought, the wood ring is so +small as to be hardly distinguishable. + +Each annual ring in the chestnut stump is distinct from its +neighboring ring. The wood gradually merges from a dark band full of +large pores to one paler in color and of denser texture. It is very +distinct in oak and ash. The coarser belt was formed first. The spring +wood, being so open, discolors by the accumulation of dust when +exposed to the air. The closer summer wood is paler in color and +harder, the pores almost invisible to the unaided eye. The best timber +has the highest percentage of summer wood. + +If a tree had no limbs, and merely laid on each year a layer of wood +made of parallel fibres fitted on each other like pencils in a box, +wood splitting would be child's play and carpenters would have less +care to look after their tools. But woods differ in structure, and all +fall short of the woodworker's ideal. The fibres of oak vary in shape +and size. They taper and overlap their ends, making the wood less +easily split than soft pine, for instance, whose fibres are regular +cylinders, which lie parallel, and meet end to end without "breaking +joints." + +Fibres of oak are also bound together by flattened bundles of +horizontal fibres that extend from pith to cambium, insinuated between +the vertical fibres. These are seen on a cross-section of a log as +narrow, radiating lines starting from the pith and cutting straight +through heart wood and sap wood to the bark. A tangential section of a +log (the surface exposed by the removal of a slab on any side) shows +these "pith rays," or "medullary rays" as long, tapering streaks. A +longitudinal section made from bark to centre, as when a log is +"quarter-sawed," shows a full side view of the "medullary rays." They +are often an inch wide or more in oak; these wavy, irregular, gleaming +fibre bands are known in the furniture trade as the "mirrors" of oak. +They take a beautiful polish, and are highly esteemed in cabinet work. +The best white oak has 20 per cent. to 25 per cent. of its substance +made up of these pith rays. The horny texture of its wood, together +with its strength and durability, give white oak an enviable place +among timber trees, while the beauty of its pith rays ranks it high +among ornamental woods. + +The grain of wood is its texture. Wide annual rings with large pores +mark coarse-grained woods. They need "filling" with varnish or other +substance before they can be satisfactorily polished. Fine-grained +woods, if hard, polish best. Trees of slow growth usually have +fine-grained wood, though the rule is not universal. + +Ordinarily wood fibres are parallel with their pith. They are straight +grained. Exceptions to this rule are constantly encountered. The chief +cause of variation is the fact that tree trunks branch. Limbs have +their origin in the pith of the stems that bear them. Any stem is +normally one year older than the branch it bears. So the base of any +branch is a cone quite buried in the parent stem. A cross-section of +this cone in a board sawed from the trunk is a _knot_. Its size and +number of rings indicate its age. If the knot is diseased and loose, +it will fall out, leaving a _knot hole_. The fibres of the wood of a +branch are extensions of those just below it on the main stem. They +spread out so as to meet around the twig and continue in parallel +lines to its extremity. The fibres contiguous to those which were +diverted from the main stem to clothe the branch must spread so as to +meet above the branch, else the parent stem would be bare in this +quarter. The union of stem and branch is weak above, as is shown by +the clean break made above a twig when it is torn off, and the +stubborn tearing of the fibres below down into the older stem. A half +hour spent at the woodpile or among the trees with a jack-knife will +demonstrate the laws by which the straight grain of wood is diverted +by the insertion of limbs. The careful picking up and tearing back of +the fibres of bark and wood will answer all our questions. Basswood +whose fibres are tough is excellent for illustration. + +When a twig breaks off, the bark heals the wound and the grain becomes +straight over the place. Trees crowded in a forest early divest +themselves of their lower branches. These die for lack of sun and air, +and the trunk covers their stubs with layers of straight-grained wood. +Such timbers are the masts of ships, telegraph poles, and the best +bridge timbers. Yet buried in their heart wood are the roots of every +twig, great or small, that started out to grow when the tree was +young. These knots are mostly small and sound, so they do not detract +from the value of the lumber. It is a pleasure to work upon such a +"stick of timber." + +A tree that grows in the open is clothed to the ground with branches, +and its grain is found to be warped by hundreds of knots when it +reaches the sawmill. Such a tree is an ornament to the landscape, but +it makes inferior, unreliable lumber. The carpenter and the wood +chopper despise it, for it ruins tools and tempers. + +Besides the natural diversion of straight grain by knots, there are +some abnormal forms to notice. Wood sometimes shows wavy grain under +its bark. Certain trees twist in growing, so as to throw the grain +into spiral lines. Cypresses and gum trees often exhibit in old stumps +a veering of the grain to the left for a few years, then suddenly to +the right, producing a "cross grain" that defies attempts to split it. + +"Bird's-eye" and "curly maple" are prizes for the furniture maker. +Occasionally a tree of swamp or sugar maple keeps alive the crowded +twigs of its sapling for years, and forms adventitious buds as well. +These dwarfed shoots persist, never getting ahead further than a few +inches outside the bark. Each is the centre of a wood swelling on the +tree body. The annual layers preserve all the inequalities. Dots +surrounded by wavy rings are scattered over the boards when the tree +is sawed. This is bird's-eye grain, beautiful in pattern and in sheen +and coloring when polished. It is cut thin for veneer work. Extreme +irregularity of grain adds to the value of woods, if they are capable +of a high polish. The fine texture and coloring, combined with the +beautiful patterns they display, give woods a place in the decorative +arts that can be taken by no other material. + + +_The Fall of the Leaves_ + +It is November, and the glory of the woods is departed. Dull browns +and purples show where oaks still hold their leaves. Beech trees in +sheltered places are still dressed in pale yellow. The elfin flowers +of the witch hazel shine like threads of gold against the dull leaves +that still cling. The trees lapse into their winter sleep. + +Last week a strange thing happened. The wind tore the red robes from +our swamp maples and sassafras and scattered them in tatters over the +lawn. But the horse-chestnut, decked out in yellow and green, lost +scarcely a leaf. Three days later, in the hush of early morning, when +there was not a whiff of a breeze perceptible, the signal, "Let go!" +came, and with one accord the leaves of the horse-chestnut fell. In an +hour the tree stood knee deep in a stack of yellow leaves; the few +that still clung had considerable traces of green in them. Gradually +these are dropping, and the shining buds remain as a pledge that the +summer story just ended will be told again next year. + +Perhaps such a sight is more impressive if one realizes the vast +importance of the work the leaves of a summer accomplish for the tree +before their surrender. + +The shedding of leaves is a habit broad-leaved trees have learned by +experience in contact with cold winters. The swamp magnolia is a +beautiful evergreen tree in Florida. In Virginia the leaves shrivel, +but they cling throughout the season. In New Jersey and north as far +as Gloucester, where the tree occurs sparingly, it is frankly +deciduous. Certain oaks in the Northern states have a stubborn way of +clinging to their dead leaves all winter. Farther south some of these +species grow and their leaves do not die in fall, but are practically +evergreen, lasting till next year's shoots push them off. The same +gradual change in habit is seen as a species is followed up a mountain +side. + +The horse-chestnut will serve as a type of deciduous trees. Its leaves +are large, and they write out, as if in capital letters, the story of +the fall of the leaf. It is a serial, whose chapters run from July +until November. The tree anticipates the coming of winter. Its buds +are well formed by midsummer. Even then signs of preparation for the +leaf fall appear. A line around the base of the leaf stem indicates +where the break will be. Corky cells form on each side of this joint, +replacing tissues which in the growing season can be parted only by +breaking or tearing them forcibly. A clean-cut zone of separation +weakens the hold of the leaf upon its twig, and when the moment +arrives the lightest breath of wind--even the weight of the withered +leaf itself--causes the natural separation. And the leaflets +simultaneously fall away from their common petiole. + +There are more important things happening in leaves in late summer +than the formation of corky cells. The plump green blades are full of +valuable substance that the tree can ill afford to spare. In fact, a +leaf is a layer of the precious cambium spread out on a framework of +veins and covered with a delicate, transparent skin--a sort of +etherealized bark. What a vast quantity of leaf pulp is in the foliage +of a large tree! + +As summer wanes, and the upward tide of sap begins to fail, starch +making in the leaf laboratories declines proportionately. Usually +before midsummer the fresh green is dimmed. Dust and heat and insect +injuries impair the leaf's capacity for work. The thrifty tree +undertakes to withdraw the leaf pulp before winter comes. + +But how? + +It is not a simple process nor is it fully understood. The tubes that +carried the products of the laboratory away are bound up with the +fibres of the leaf's skeleton. Through the transparent leaf wall the +migration of the pulp may be watched. It leaves the margins and the +net veins, and settles around the ribs and mid vein, exactly as we +should expect. Dried and shriveled horse-chestnut leaves are still +able to show various stages in this marvellous retreat of the cambium. +If moisture fails, the leaf bears some of its green substance with it +to the earth. The "breaking down of the chlorophyll" is a chemical +change that attends the ripening of a leaf. (Leaf ripening is as +natural as the ripening of fruit.) The waxy granules disintegrate, and +a yellow liquid shows its colors through the delicate leaf walls. Now +other pigments, some curtained from view by the chlorophyll, others +the products of decomposition, show themselves. Iron and other +minerals the sap brought from the soil contribute reds and yellows and +purples to the color scheme. As drainage proceeds, with the chemical +changes that accompany it, the pageant of autumn colors passes over +the woodlands. No weed or grass stem but joins in the carnival of the +year. + +Crisp and dry the leaves fall. Among the crystals and granules that +remain in their empty chambers there is little but waste that the tree +can well afford to be rid of--substances that have clogged the leaf +and impeded its work. + +We have been mistaken in attributing the gay colors of autumnal +foliage to the action of frost. The ripening of the leaves occurs in +the season of warm days and frosty nights, but it does not follow that +the two phenomena belong together as cause and effect. Frost no doubt +hastens the process. But the chemical changes that attend the +migration of the carbohydrates and albuminous materials from the leaf +back into twig and trunk and root for safe keeping go on no matter +what the weather. + +In countries having a moist atmosphere autumn colors are less vivid. +England and our own Pacific Coast have nothing to compare with the +glory of the foliage in the forests of Canada and the Northeastern +states, and with those on the wooded slopes of the Swiss Alps, and +along the Rhine and the Danube. Long, dry autumns produce the finest +succession of colors. The most brilliant reds and yellows often appear +long before the first frost. Cold rains of long duration wash the +colors out of the landscape, sometimes spoiling everything before +October. A sharp freeze before the leaves expect it often cuts them +off before they are ripe. They stiffen and fall, and are wet and limp +next day, as if they had been scalded; all their rich cell substance +lost to the tree, except as they form a mulch about its roots. But no +tree can afford so expensive a fertilizer, and happily they are not +often caught unawares. + +Under the trees the dead leaves lie, forming with the snow a +protective blanket for the roots. In spring the rains will leach out +their mineral substance and add it to the soil. The abundant lime in +dead leaves is active in the formation of _humus_, which is decayed +vegetable matter. We call it "leaf mould." So even the waste portions +have their effectual work to do for the tree's good. + +The leaves of certain trees in regions of mild winters persist until +they are pushed off by the swelling buds in spring. Others cling a +year longer, in sorry contrast with the new foliage. We may believe +that this is an indolent habit induced by climatic conditions. + +Leaves of evergreens cling from three to five years. Families and +individuals differ; altitude and latitude produce variations. An +evergreen in winter is a dull-looking object, if we could compare it +with its summer foliage. Its chlorophyll granules withdraw from the +surface of the leaf. + +They seek the lower ends of the palisade cells, as far as they can get +from the leaf surface, assume a dull reddish brown or brownish yellow +color, huddle in clumps, their water content greatly reduced, and thus +hibernate, much as the cells of the cambium are doing under the bark. +In this condition, alternate freezing and thawing seem to do no harm, +and the leaves are ready in spring to resume the starch-making +function if they are still young. Naturally, the oldest leaves are +least capable of this work, and least is expected of them. Gradually +they die and drop as new ones come on. As among broad-leaved trees, +the zone of foliage in evergreens is an outer dome of newest shoots; +the framework of large limbs is practically destitute of leaves. + + +_How Trees Spend the Winter_ + +Nine out of every ten intelligent people will see nothing of interest +in a row of bare trees. They casually state that buds are made in the +early spring. They miss seeing the strength and beauty of tree +architecture which the foliage conceals in summertime. The close-knit, +alive-looking bark of a living tree they do not distinguish from the +dull, loose-hung garment worn by the dead tree in the row. All trees +look alike to them in winter. + +Yet there is so much to see if only one will take time to look. Even +the most heedless are struck at times with the mystery of the winter +trance of the trees. They know that each spring reënacts the vernal +miracle. Thoughtful people have put questions to these sphinx-like +trees. Secrets the bark and bud scales hide have been revealed to +those who have patiently and importunately inquired. A keen pair of +eyes used upon a single elm in the dooryard for a whole year will +surprise and inform the observer. It will be indeed the year of +miracle. + +A tree has no centre of life, no vital organs corresponding to those +of animals. It is made up, from twig to root, of annual, concentric +layers of wood around a central pith. + +It is completely covered with a close garment of bark, also made of +annual layers. Between bark and wood is the delicate undergarment of +living tissue called _cambium_. This is disappointing when one comes +to look for it, for all there is of it is a colorless, slimy substance +that moistens the youngest layers of wood and bark, and forms the +layer of separation between them. This cambium is the life of the +tree. A hollow trunk seems scarcely a disability. The loss of limbs a +tree can survive and start afresh. But girdle its trunk, exposing a +ring of the cambium to the air, and the tree dies. The vital +connection of leaves and roots is destroyed by the girdling; nothing +can save the tree's life. Girdle a limb or a twig and all above the +injury suffers practical amputation. + +The bark protects the cambium, and the cambium is the tissue which by +cell multiplication in the growing season produces the yearly +additions of wood and bark. Buds are growing points set along the +twigs. They produce leafy shoots, as a rule. Some are specialized to +produce flowers and subsequently fruits. Leaves are extensions of +cambium spread in the sun and air in the season when there is no +danger from frosts. The leaves have been called the stomachs of a +tree. They receive crude materials from the soil and the air and +transmute them into starch under the action of sunlight. This +elaborated sap supplies the hungry cambium cells during the growing +season, and the excess of starch made in the leaf laboratories is +stored away in empty wood cells and in every available space from bud +to root tip, from bark to pith. + +The tree's period of greatest activity is the early summer. It is the +time of growth and of preparation for the coming winter and for the +spring that follows it. Winter is the time of rest--of sleep, or +hibernation. A bear digs a hollow under the tree's roots and sleeps in +it all winter, waking in the spring. In many ways the tree imitates +the bear. Dangerous as are analogies between plants and animals, it is +literally true that the sleeping bear and the dormant tree have each +ceased to feed. The sole activity of each seems to be the quiet +breathing. + +Do trees really breathe? As truly and as incessantly as you do, but +not as actively. Other processes are intermittent, but breathing must +go on, day and night, winter and summer, as long as life lasts. +Breathing is low in winter. The tree is not growing. There is only the +necessity of keeping it alive. + + [Illustration: _See page 42_ + + A GROVE OF BEECHES] + + [Illustration: _See page 44_ + + THE CHESTNUT] + +Leaves are the lungs of plants. In the growing season respiration goes +on at a vigorous rate. The leaves also throw off in insensible vapor a +vast quantity of water. This is called _transpiration_ in plants; in +animals the term used is _perspiration_. They are one and the same +process. An average white oak tree throws off 150 gallons of water in +a single summer day. With the cutting off of the water supply at the +roots in late fall, transpiration is also cut off. + +The skin is the efficient "third lung" of animals. The closing of its +pores causes immediate suffocation. The bark of trees carries on the +work of respiration in the absence of the leaves. Bark is porous, even +where it is thickest. + +Look at the twigs of half a dozen kinds of trees, and find the little +raised dots on the smooth surface. They usually vary in color from the +bark. These are _lenticels_, or breathing pores--not holes, likely to +become clogged with dust, but porous, corky tissue that filters the +air as it comes in. In most trees the smooth epidermis of twigs is +shed as the bark thickens and breaks into furrows. This obscures, +though it does not obliterate, the air passages. Cherry and birch +trees retain the silky epidermal bark on limbs, and in patches, at +least, on the trunks of old trees. Here the lenticels are seen as +parallel, horizontal slits, open sometimes, but usually filled with +the characteristic corky substance. They admit air to the cambium. + +There is a popular fallacy that trees have no buds until spring. Some +trees have very small buds. But there is no tree in our winter woods +that will not freely show its buds to any one who wishes to see them. +A very important part of the summer work of a tree is the forming of +buds for next spring. Even when the leaves are just unfolding on the +tender shoots a bud will be found in each angle between leaf and stem. +All summer long its bud is the especial charge of each particular +leaf. If accident destroy the leaf, the bud dies of neglect. When +midsummer comes the bud is full grown, or nearly so, and the fall of +the leaf is anticipated. The thrifty tree withdraws as much as +possible of the rich green leaf pulp, and stores it in the twig to +feed the opening buds in spring. + +What is there inside the wrappings of a winter bud? "A leaf," is the +usual reply--and it is not a true one. A bud is an embryo shoot--one +would better say, a shoot in miniature. It has very little length or +diameter when the scales are stripped off. But with care the leaves +can be spread open, and their shape and venation seen. The exact +number the shoot was to bear are there to be counted. Take a +horse-chestnut bud--one of the biggest ones--and you will unpack a +cluster of flowers distinct in number and in parts. The bud of the +tulip tree is smaller, but it holds a single blossom, and petals, +stamens, and pistil are easily recognizable. Some buds contain flowers +and no leaves. Some have shoots with both upon them. If we know the +tree, we may guess accurately about its buds. + +There is another popular notion, very pretty and sentimental, but +untrue, that study of buds is bound to overthrow. It is the belief +that the woolly and silky linings of bud scales, and the scales +themselves, and the wax that seals up many buds are all for the +purpose of keeping the bud warm through the cold winter. The bark, +according to the same notion, is to keep the tree warm. This idea is +equally untenable. There is but feeble analogy between a warm-blooded +animal wrapped in fur, its bodily heat kept up by fires within (the +rapid oxidation of fats and carbohydrates in the tissues), and the +winter condition of a tree. Hardy plants are of all things the most +cold blooded. They are defended against injuries from cold in an +effective but entirely different way. + +Exposure to the air and consequent loss of its moisture by evaporation +is the death of the cambium--that which lies under the thick bark and +in the tender tissues of the bud, sealed up in its layers of +protecting scales. + +The cells of the cambium are plump little masses of protoplasm, +semi-fluid in consistency in the growing season. They have plenty of +room for expansion and division. Freezing would rupture their walls, +and this would mean disintegration and death. Nature prepares the +cells to be frozen without any harm. The water of the protoplasm is +withdrawn by osmosis into the spaces between the cells. The +mucilaginous substance left behind is loosely enclosed by the crumpled +cell wall. Thus we see that a tree has about as much water in it in +winter as in summer. Green wood cut in winter burns slowly and oozes +water at the ends in the same discouraging way as it does in +summertime. + +A tree takes on in winter the temperature of the surrounding air. In +cold weather the water in buds and trunk and cambium freezes solid. +Ice crystals form in the intercellular spaces where they have ample +room, and so they do no damage in their alternate freezing and +thawing. The protoplasm stiffens in excessive cold, but when the +thermometer rises, life stirs again. Motion, breathing, and feeding +are essential to cell life. + +It is hard to believe that buds freeze solid. But cut one open in a +freezing cold room, and before you breathe upon it take a good look +with a magnifier, and you should make out the ice crystals. The bark +is actually frozen upon a stick of green stovewood. The sap that oozes +out of the pith and heart wood was frozen, and dripped not at all +until it was brought indoors. + +What is meant by the freezing of fruit buds in winter, by which the +peach crop is so often lost in Northern states? When spring opens, the +warmth of the air wakes the sleeping buds. It thaws the ice in the +intercellular spaces, and the cells are quick to absorb the water they +gave up when winter approached. The thawing of the ground surrounds +the roots with moisture. Sap rises and flows into the utmost twig. +Warm days in January or February are able to deceive the tree to this +extent. The sudden change back to winter again catches them. The plump +cells are ruptured and killed by the "frost bite." + +It is a bad plan to plant a tender kind of tree on the south side of a +house or a wall. The direct and the reflected warmth of the sun forces +its buds out too soon, and the late frosts cut them off. There is +rarely a good yield on a tree so situated. + +There is no miracle like "the burst of spring." Who has watched a tree +by the window as its twigs began to shine in early March, and the buds +to swell and show edges of green as their scales lengthened? Then the +little shoot struggled out, casting off the hindering scales with the +scandalous ingratitude characteristic of infancy. Feeble and very +appealing are the limp baby leaves on the shoot, as tender and pale +green as asparagus tips. But all that store of rich nutritive material +is backing the enterprise. The palms are lifted into the air; they +broaden and take on the texture of the perfect, mature leaf. Scarcely +a day is required to outgrow the hesitation and inexperience of +youth. The tree stands decked in its canopy of leaves, every one of +which is ready and eager to assume the responsibilities it faces. The +season of starch making has opened. + +Cut some twigs of convenient trees in winter. Let them be good ones, +with vigorous buds, and have them at least two feet long. You may test +this statement I have made about the storing of food in the twigs, and +the one about the unfolding of the leafy shoots. Get a number of them +from the orchard--samples from cherry, plum, and apple trees; from +maple and elm and any other familiar tree. Put them in jars of water +and set them where they get the sun on a convenient window shelf. Give +them plenty of water, and do not crowd them. It is not necessary to +change the water, but cutting the ends slanting and under water every +few days insures the unimpeded flow of the water up the stems and the +more rapid development of the buds you are watching. When spring comes +there are too many things that demand attention. The forcing of winter +buds while yet it is winter is the ideal way to discover the trees' +most precious secrets. + + + + +PART II + +THE NUT TREES + + The Walnuts--The Hickories--The Beech--The Chestnuts--The + Oaks--The White Oak Group--The Black Oak Group--The + Horse-Chestnuts, or Buckeyes--The Lindens, or Basswoods + + +THE WALNUTS + +Hickories are included with their near relatives, the walnuts, in one +of the most important of all our native tree groups. They are +distinct, yet they have many traits in common--the flowers and the nut +fruits, the hard resinous wood, with aromatic sap and leaves of many +leaflets, instead of a single blade. + +The walnuts are decidedly "worth knowing." All produce valuable timber +and edible nuts, and all are good shade trees. Four native walnuts are +well known in this country, for in October, every tree in every bit of +woods is likely to be visited by school boys with bags, eager to +gather the nuts before some other boy finds the tree, and thus +establishes a prior claim upon it. The curiously gnawed shells outside +the winter storehouse of some furry woods-dweller reveal the most +successful competitor boys have, the constant watcher of the nut +trees, a harvester who works at nothing else while the season is on. + + + =The Southwestern Walnut= + + _Juglans rupestris_, Engelm. + +The walnut of the Southwest grows into a spreading, luxuriant tree, +where its roots find water. But on the canyon sides, and higher on +mountain slopes, it becomes a stunted shrub, because of lack of +moisture. + +The nut is smaller than that of the eastern walnuts and has a thick +shell, but the kernel is sweet and keeps its rich flavor for a long +time. The Mexicans and Indians are glad to have this nut added to the +stores they gather for their winter food. + +One striking feature of this tree is the pale, cottony down on its +twigs, which sometimes persists three or four years. The long limbs +droop at the extremities, almost deserving to be called "weeping." But +nothing could be more cheerful in color than the yellow-green foliage, +shining in the sun, against the white bark of the tree. In autumn the +foliage turns bright yellow. A specimen, much admired, grows in the +Arnold Arboretum in Boston. + + + =The California Walnut= + + _J. californica_, Wats. + +The California walnut is a stocky, round-headed tree, with heavy, +drooping branches, and bark that is white and smooth on limbs and on +trunks of young trees. Ultimately the trunk turns nearly black, and is +checked into broad, irregular ridges. In bottom lands, along the +courses of rivers, back thirty miles from the coast, these trees are +found, from the Sacramento Valley to the southern slopes of the San +Bernardino Mountains. + +The foliage is bright pale green, feathery, the leaflets often curved +to sickle form, showing paler silky linings. Californians admire and +plant this tree for shade and ornament. Its greatest value is as a +hardy stock upon which the "English" walnut is grafted by nurserymen, +for planting orchards of this commercial nut. The fruit of the native +nut is excellent, but it cannot compete with the thin-shelled nut that +came from Persia, _via_ England. + + + =The Butternut, White Walnut, or Oilnut= + + _J. cinerea_, Linn. + +In eastern woods the butternut is known by its long, pointed nuts, +with deeply and raggedly sculptured shells, in fuzzy, clammy, sticky +husks that stain the hands of him who attempts to get at the oily meat +before the husks are dry. This dark stain was an important dye in the +time when homespun cotton cloth was worn by men and boys. The modern +khaki resembles in color the "butternut jeans," in which backwoods +regiments of the Civil War were clad. Butternut husks and bark yield +also a drug of cathartic properties. + +Pickling green oilnuts in their husks is a housewifely industry, on +the summer programme of many housewives still, if the woods near by +furnish the raw material for employing her great-grandmother's recipe, +brought from England, or perhaps from France. The green nuts are +tested with a knitting needle. If it goes through them with no +difficulty, and yet the nuts are of good size, they are ready. +Vigorous rubbing removes the fuzz after the nuts are scalded. Then +they are pickled whole, in spiced vinegar, and are a rare, delectable +relish with meats for the winter table. + + [Illustration: WEEPING BEECH + + _See page 42_] + + [Illustration: BLACK WALNUT + + _See page 31_] + +A butternut tree, beside the road, or elsewhere, with room to grow, +has a short trunk, and a low, broad head, with a downward droop to the +horizontal limbs. The bark is light brown, the limbs grayish green, +the twigs and leaves all ooze a clammy, waxy, aromatic sap, and are +covered with fine hairs of velvety abundance. + +Because it is low and rather wayward in growth, late to leaf out in +spring, and early to shed its leaves in summer, the butternut is not a +good street tree. It breaks easily in the wind, and crippled trees are +more common than well-grown specimens. Insect and fungous enemies +beset the species, and take advantage of breaks to invade the twigs +through the chambered pith. Short-lived trees they are, whose brown, +satiny wood is used in cabinet work, but is not plentiful. + + + =The Black Walnut= + + _J. nigra_, Linn. + +The black walnut (_see illustrations, pages 31, 70_) is the second +species east of the Rocky Mountains, and the tree chiefly depended +upon, during the century just closed, by the makers of furniture of +the more expensive grades. Black walnut wood is brown, with purplish +tones in it, and a silvery lustre, when polished. Its hardness and +strength commend it to the boat and ship builder. Gunstock factories +use quantities of this wood. In furniture and interior woodwork, the +curly walnut, found in the old stumps of trees cut long before, is +especially sought for veneering panels. Old furniture, of designs that +have passed out, are often sold to the factories, and their seasoned +wood cut thin for veneering. + +Walnut trees one hundred and fifty feet high were not uncommon in the +forests primeval, in the basin of the Ohio and Wabash rivers. These +giants held up their majestic heads far over the tops of oaks and +maples in the woods. They were slaughtered, rolled together, and +burned by the pioneers, clearing the land for agriculture. These men +had a special grudge against walnut trees, they were so stubborn--so +hard to make away with. How unfortunate it is that our ancestors had +the patience to go forward and conquer the unconquerable ones. Had +they weakly surrendered, and let these trees stand, we should have had +them for the various uses to which we put the finest lumber trees +to-day. + +Unhappily, the growing of young trees has not been extensively +undertaken to replace those destroyed. The newer forestry is awake to +the need, and the loss may be made good, from this time forward. + +The black walnut is nearly globular, deeply sculptured, with a sweet +nut rich in oil, very good if one eats but a few at a time. Locally, +they find their way to market, but they soon become rancid in the +grocer's barrel. At home, boys spread them, in their smooth, +yellow-pitted husks, on the roof of the woodshed, for instance, so the +husks can dry while the nuts are seasoning. No walnut opens its husk +in regular segments, as the hickories all do. But the husking is not +hard. The thick shells require careful management of the hammer or +nut-cracker, to avoid breaking the meats. + +Dark as is its wood and bark, no walnut tree in full leaf is sombre. +The foliage is bright, lustrous, yellow-green, graceful, dancing. A +majestic tree, with a luxuriant crown from May till September, this +walnut needs room to display its notable contour and size. It deserves +more popularity than it enjoys as a tree for parks. No tree is more +interesting to watch as it grows. + +The bitter spongy husk deters the squirrels from gnawing into the nut +until the husk is dry and brittle. Hidden in the ground, the shell +absorbs moisture, and winter frost cracks it, by the gentle but +irresistible force of expanding particles of water as they turn to +ice. So the plantlet has no hindrance to its growth when spring opens. + +Imitating nature, the nurseryman lays his walnuts and butternuts in a +bed of sand or gravel, one layer above another, and lets the rain and +the cold do the rest. In spring the "stratified" nuts are ready for +planting. Sometimes careful cracking of the shell prepares the nut to +sprout when planted. + +The Japanese walnuts (_J. Sieboldiana_ and _J. cordiformis_) are grown +to a limited extent in states where the English walnut is not hardy. +They are butternuts, and very much superior to our native species. A +Manchurian walnut has been successfully introduced, but few people but +the pioneers in nut culture know anything about these exotic species. +South America and the West Indies have native species. So we shall not +be surprised, in our travels, to find walnuts in the woods of many +continents. + + + =The English Walnut= + + _J. regia_, Linn. + +Originally at home in the forests of Persia and northwestern India, +the English walnut was grown for its excellent nuts in the warm +countries of Europe and Asia. It was a tree of great reputation when +Linnaeus gave it the specific name that means _royal_. Indeed, this is +the tree which gave to all the family the name "_Juglans_," which +means, "Jove's acorn," in the writings of Roman authors. Kings made +each other presents of these nuts, and so the range of the species was +extended, even to England, by the planting of nuts from the south. + +It became the fad of gardeners, before the fifteenth century, to +improve the varieties, and to compete with others in getting the +thinnest shell, the largest nut, the sweetest kernel, just as +horticulturists do now. In 1640 the herbalist Parkinson wrote about a +variety of "French wallnuts, which are the greatest of any, within +whose shell are often put a paire of fine gloves, neatly foulded up +together." Another variety he mentions "whose shell is so tender that +it may easily be broken between one's fingers, and the nut itsself +is very sweete." + +In England, the climate prevents the ripening of the fruit of walnut +trees. But the nuts reach good size, and are pickled green, for use as +a relish; or made into catsups--husks and all being used, when a +needle will still puncture the fruit with ease. + +In America, the first importations of the walnuts came from the +Mediterranean countries, by way of England, "the mother country." In +contradistinction to our black walnuts and butternuts, these nuts from +overseas were called by the loyal colonists "English walnuts," and so +they remain to this day in the markets of this country. + +It was natural and easy to grow these trees in the Southern states. +But little had been done to improve them, or to grow them extensively +for market, until California undertook to compete with Europe for the +growing American trade. Now the crop reaches thousands of tons of +nuts, and millions of dollars come back each year to the owners of +walnut ranches. Hardy varieties have extended the range of +nut-orcharding; and so has the grafting of tender varieties on stock +of the native black walnut of California. + +The beauty of this Eurasian walnut tree would justify planting it +merely for the adornment of parks and private grounds. Its broad dome +of bright green foliage in summer, and its clean gray trunk and bare +branches in winter, are attractive features in a landscape that has +few deciduous trees. A fine dooryard tree that bears delicious nuts, +after furnishing a grateful shade all summer, is deserving the +popularity it enjoys with small farmers and owners of the simplest +California homes. + +As a lumber tree, the walnut of Europe has long been commercially +important. It is the staple wood for gun-stocks, and during wars the +price has reached absurd heights, one country bidding against its +rival to get control of the visible supply. Furniture makers use +quantities of the curly walnut often found in stumps of old trees. The +heart wood, always a rich brown, is often watered and crimped in +curious and intricate patterns, that when polished blend the loveliest +dark and light shades with the characteristic walnut lustre, to reward +the skilled craftsman. + +In the United States this wood is rarely seen, because the trees are +grown for their nuts. They require several years to come into bearing, +are long-lived, have few enemies, and need little pruning as bearing +age approaches. + + +THE HICKORIES + +Americans have a right to be proud that the twelve hickory species are +all natives of this country. Eleven of the twelve are found in the +eastern half of the United States; one, only, strays into the forests +of Mexico. No other country has a native hickory. + +Indians of the Algonkin tribe named this tree family, and taught the +early colonists in Virginia to use for food the ripe nuts of the +shagbark and mockernut. After cracking the shells, the procedure was +to boil and strain the mixture, which gave them a rich, soupy liquid. +Into this they stirred a coarse meal, made by grinding between stones +the Indian corn. The mush was cooked slowly, then made into cakes, +which were baked on hot stones. No more delicious nor wholesome food +can be imagined than this. Frequently the soup was eaten alone; its +name, "Powcohicora," gave the trees their English name, part of which +the botanist, Rafinesque, took, Latinized, and set up as the name of +the genus. + +Cut a twig of any hickory tree, and you realize that the wood is +close-grained and very springy. The pith is solid, with a star form in +cross-section, corresponding to the ranking of the leaves on the +twigs. The wind strews no branches under a hickory tree, for the +fibres of the wood are strong and flexible enough to resist a +hurricane. (_See illustrations, pages 6, 71._) + +Hickory wood is unequalled for implements which must resist great +strain and constant jarring. The running-gear of wagons and carriages, +handles of pitchforks, axes, and like implements require it. Thin +strips, woven into baskets for heavy market use, are almost +indestructible. No fuel is better than seasoned hickory wood. + + + =Shagbark or Shellbark= + + _Hicoria ovata_, Britt. + +The shagbark has gray bark that is shed in thin, tough, vertical +strips. Attached by the middle, these strips often spring outward, at +top and bottom, giving the bole a most untidy look (_see +illustrations, pages 6, 71_), and threatening the trousers of any boy +bold enough to try climbing into the smooth-barked top to beat off the +nuts. + +In spite of the ragged-looking trunk, a shagbark grown in the open is +a noble tree. The limbs are angular, but they express strength to the +utmost twig, as the bare oblong of the tree's lofty head is etched +against a wintry sky. + +The nuts are the chief blessing this tree confers upon the youngsters +of any neighborhood. Individual trees differ in the size and quality +of their fruit. The children know the best trees, and so do the +squirrels, their chief competitors at harvest time. + +Frost causes the eager lads to seek their favorite trees, and +underneath they find the four-parted husks dropping away from the +angled nuts. There is no waiting, as with walnuts, for husking time to +come. The tree is prompt about dropping its fruit. Spread for a few +weeks, where they can dry, and thieving squirrels will let them alone, +hickory nuts reach perfect condition for eating. Fat, proteid, and +carbohydrates are found in concentrated form in those delicious meats. +We may not know their dietetic value, but we all remember how good and +how satisfying they are. No tree brings to the human family more +valuable offerings than this one, rugged and ragged though it be. + + + =The Big Shellbark= + + _H. lacinata_, Sarg. + +The big shellbark, like the little shellbark, is a common forest tree +in the Middle West and Middle Atlantic states. It has a shaggy trunk, +stout limbs, picturesquely angular, and it bears nuts that are sweet +and of delicious flavor. In winter the orange-colored twigs, large +terminal buds, and persistent stems of the dead leaves are +distinguishing traits. These petioles shed the five to nine long +leaflets and then stay on, their enlarged bases firmly tied by fibre +bundles to the scar, though the stems writhe and curve as if eager to +be free to die among the fallen blades. + +"King nuts," as the fruit of this tree is labelled in the markets, do +not equal the little hickory nuts in quality, and their thick shells +cover meats very little larger. But the nut in its husk on the tree is +often three inches long--a very impressive sight to hungry +nut-gatherers. + +In summer the downy leaf-linings and the uncommon size of the leaves +best distinguish this tree from its near relative, whose five leaflets +are smooth throughout, small, very rarely counting seven. + + [Illustration: _See page 42_ + + WHITE OAK] + + [Illustration: _See page 51_ + + BUR, OR MOSSY-CUP, OAK--LEAVES AND FRUIT] + + + =The Pecan= + + _H. Pecan_, Britt. + +The pecan tree bears the best nuts in the hickory family. This species +is coming to be a profitable orchard tree in many sections of the +South. Most of the pecan nuts in the market come from wild trees in +the Mississippi Basin. But late years have seen great strides taken to +establish pecan growing as a paying horticultural enterprise in states +outside, as well as within, the tree's natural range. And these +efforts are succeeding. + +Experiment stations have tested seedling trees and selected varieties +of known merit, until they know by actual experiment that pecans can +be raised successfully in the Carolinas and in other states where the +native species does not grow wild. Thin-shelled varieties, with the +astringent red shell-lining almost eliminated, have been bred by +selection, and propagated by building on native stock. The trees have +proved to be fast-growing, early-fruiting, and easy to grow and +protect from enemies. + +The market pays the highest price for pecans. The popularity of this +nut is deserved, because by analysis it has the highest food value +combined with the most delicate and delicious flavor. No nut is so +rich in nutriment. None has so low a percentage of waste. The demand +for nuts is constantly increasing as the public learns that the +proteid the body needs can be obtained from nuts as well as from meat. + +Pecans have suffered in competition with other nuts because they are +difficult to get out of the shells without breaking the meats. The +old-fashioned hammer and block is not the method for them. A cracker I +saw in use on the street corner in Chicago delighted me. Clamped to +the nut-vendor's stall, it received the nut between two steel cups +and, by the turn of a wheel, crowded it so that the shell buckled and +broke where it is thinnest, around the middle, and the meat came out +whole. + + + =The Mockernut= + + _H. alba_, Britt. + +The mockernut is a mockery to him who hopes for nuts like those of +either shagbark. The husk is often three inches long. Inside is a +good-sized nut, angled above the middle, suggesting the shagbark. But +what a thick, obstinate shell, when one attempts to "break and enter!" +And what a trifling, insipid meat one finds, to repay the effort! +Quite often there is nothing but a spongy remnant or the shell is +empty. (_See illustration, page 7._) + +As a shade tree, the mockernut has real value, showing in winter a +tall, slender pyramidal form, with large terminal buds tipping the +velvety, resinous twigs. The bark is smooth as that of an ash, with +shallow, wavy furrows, as if surfaced with a silky layer of new +healing tissue, thrown up to fill up all depressions. Mockernut leaves +are large, downy, yellow-green, turning to gold in autumn. Crushed +they give out an aroma suggesting a delicate perfume. + +The flowers are abundant, and yet the most surprising show of colors +on this tree comes in late April, when the great buds swell. The outer +scales fall, and the inner ones expand into ruddy silken sheathes that +stand erect around the central cluster of leaves, not yet awake, and +every branch seems to hold up a great red tulip! The sight is +wonderful. Nothing looks more flower-like than these opening hickory +buds, and to the unobserving passerby the transformation is nothing +short of a miracle. In a day, the leaves rise and spread their +delicate leaflets, lengthening and becoming smooth, as the now useless +red scales fall in a shower to the ground. + + + =The Pignut= + + _H. glabra_, Britt. + +The pignut deserves the better name, "smooth hickory," a more +ingratiating introduction to strangers. A graceful, symmetrical tree, +with spreading limbs that end in delicate, pendulous branches, and +gray bark checked into a maze of intersecting furrows, it is an +ornament to any park, even in the dead of winter. In summer the tree +laughs in the face of the sun, its smooth, glossy, yellow-green +leaflets, five to seven on a stem, lined with pale green or yellow. In +spring the clustered fringes among the opening leaves are the green +and gold stamen flowers. The curiously angled fertile flowers, at the +tips of twigs, are green, with yellow stigmas. Autumn turns the +foliage to orange and brown, and lets fall the pear-shaped or rounded +fruit, each nut obscurely four-angled and held fast at the base by the +thin, 4-ridged husk, that splits scarcely to the middle. The kernel is +insipid, sometimes bitter, occasionally rather sweet. Country boys +scorn the pignut trees, leaving their fruit for eager but +unsophisticated nut-gatherers from the towns. + +Pigs used to be turned into the woods to fatten on beech- and +oak-"mast." They eagerly devoured the thin-shelled nuts of _H. +glabra_, and thus the tree earned the friendly regard of farmers, and +a name that preserves an interesting bit of pioneer history. + +The range of the pignut is from Maine to Florida on the Atlantic +seaboard, west to the middle of Nebraska and Texas, and from Ontario +and Michigan south to the Gulf. + + +THE BEECH + + + =The American Beech= + + _Fagus Americanus_, Sweet. + +One of the most widely distributed trees in our country, this is also +one of the most useful and most beautiful in any forest. It is the +sole representative of its genus in the Western Hemisphere. One +species is a valuable timber tree in Europe. Three are natives of +Asia. A genus near of kin includes the beech trees of the Southern +Hemisphere, twelve species in all. There is closer resemblance, +however, between our beeches and their next of kin, the chestnuts and +oaks. + +From the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to Texas, +from New England to Wisconsin, beech trees grow; and where they grow +they are very likely to form "pure forests," on the slopes of +mountains and rich river bottoms. The largest specimens grow in the +basin of the lower Ohio River, and on the warm slopes of the Alleghany +Mountains. + +Standing alone, with room for full development, the beech is a fine, +symmetrical tree, with horizontal or slightly drooping branches, +numerous, thickly set with slender, flexible twigs. The stout trunk +supports a round or conical head of very dense foliage. One hundred +and twenty feet is the maximum height, with a trunk diameter of three +to four feet. (_See illustrations, pages 22, 30._) + +The older the trees, the greater the amount of red heart wood in +proportion to the white sap-wood, next to the bark. Red and white +beech wood are distinguished by lumbermen. Red beech makes superior +floors, toolhandles, chairs, and the like, and there is no more +perfect fuel than seasoned beech wood. + +It is unreasonable to think that any but the blind could live where +beech trees grow and not know these trees at a glance. The bark is +close, unfurrowed, gray, often almost white, and marked with blotches, +often nearly round of paler hue. + +The branches are dark and smooth and the twigs polished to the long, +pointed winter buds. Throughout, the tree is a model of elegant +attire, both in color and texture of the investing bark. + +In the growing season the leaves are the tree's chief attraction. They +are closely plaited, and covered with silvery down, when the bud +scales are pushed off in the spring. In a day, the protective fuzz +disappears, and the full-grown leaf is seen, thin, strongly +feather-veined, uniformly green, saw-toothed. Summer shows the foliage +mass almost as fresh, and autumn turns its green to pale gold. Still +unblemished, it clings, often until the end of winter, lighting the +woods with a ghostly glow, as the rain fades the color out. The silky +texture is never quite lost. + +The delicate flowers of the beech tree are rarely seen, they fade so +soon; the stamen tassels drop off and the forming nuts, with their +prickly burs, are more and more in evidence in the leaf angles near +the ends of new shoots. With the first frost the burs open, the four +walls part, releasing the two nuts, three-angled, like a grain of +buckwheat. + +The name of this grain was suggested by its resemblance in form to the +beechnut, or "buck mast," sweet, nutritious food of so many dwellers +in the forest. Buck mast was the food of man when he lived in caves +and under the forest cover. We know that beechnuts have a rich, +delicate flavor that offsets the disadvantages of their small size +and the difficulty of opening their thin but leathery shells. All +along the centuries European peoples have counted on this nut, and oil +expressed from it, for their own food and the dried leaves for forage +for their cattle in winter. + +The American pioneer turned his hogs into the beech woods to fatten on +the beech-mast, and Thanksgiving turkeys were always finer if they +competed with the wild turkey on the same fare. + +Birds and lesser mammals do much to plant trees when they carry away, +for immediate or future use, seeds that are not winged for flight. +Beechnuts are light enough to profit, to some extent, by a high wind. +And beech trees in their infancy do well under the shade of other +trees. So each fruiting tree is the mother of many young ones. But the +seedling trees are not so numerous and important as the sapling growth +that rises from the roots of parent trees. By these alone, a few +isolated beeches will manage to take possession of the ground around +them and to clothe it with so dense a foliage screen that all young +growth, except certain ferns and grasses, dies for lack of sun. Before +we can realize what is going on, the tract is a pure forest of beech, +rapidly enlarging on all sides by the same campaign of extension. + + +THE CHESTNUTS + + + =Chestnut and Chinquapin= + + _Castanea dentata_, Borh., and _C. pumila_, Mill. + +Our native chestnut and its little brother, the chinquapin, are the +American cousins of the sweet chestnut of southern Europe. Japan has +contributed to American horticulture a native species which bears +large but not very sweet nuts, that are good when cooked. Our two +trees bear sweet nuts, of a flavor that no mode of cooking improves. +In truth, there is no finer nut; and the time to enjoy it to the +highest degree is a few weeks after the frost opens the burs and lets +the nuts fall. "Along about Thanksgiving," they have lost some of +their moisture and are prime. + +In foreign countries the chestnut is a rich, nourishing food, +comparable to the potato. Who could go into ecstasies over a vegetable +that is a staple food for the peasants of Europe, Asia, and North +Africa? Our chestnut is no staple. It is a delicacy. It is treasure +trove from the autumn woods, and the gathering of the crop is a game +in which boys and squirrels are rivals. + +Ernest Thompson Seton, always a boy, knows the impatience with which +the opening of the burs is watched for, as the belated frosts keep +off, and the burs hang tantalizingly closed. The cruel wounds made by +the spines and the raw taste of the immature nuts are poor recompense +for the labor of nutting before Nature gives the sign that all's +ready. + +Here is Mr. Seton's estimate of the chestnut of "brown October's +woods." + +"Whenever you see something kept under lock and key, bars and bolts, +guarded and double-guarded, you may be sure it is very precious, +greatly coveted. The nut of this tree is hung high aloft, wrapped in a +silk wrapper, which is enclosed in a case of sole leather, which again +is packed in a mass of shock-absorbing, vermin-proof pulp, sealed up +in a waterproof, ironwood case, and finally cased in a vegetable +porcupine of spines, almost impregnable. There is no nut so protected; +there is no nut in our woods to compare with it as food." + +What a disaster then is the newly arisen bark disease that has already +killed every chestnut tree throughout large areas in the Eastern +states. Scientists have thus far struggled with it in vain and it is +probable that all chestnuts east of the Rockies are doomed. + +Chinquapins grow to be medium-sized trees in Texas and Arkansas, but +east of the Mississippi they are smaller, and east of the Alleghanies, +mere shrubby undergrowth, covering rocky banks or crouching along +swamp borders. They are smaller throughout, but resemble the chestnut +in leaf, flowers, and fruit. The bur contains a single nut. + +The chestnut tree grows large and attains great age, its sturdy, rough +gray trunk crowned with an oblong head of irregular branches, hidden +in summer by the abundant foliage mass. (_See illustration, page 23._) +The ugly cripple that lightning has maimed covers its wounds when May +wakes the late-opening buds and the leaves attain full size. + +Each leaf tapers at both ends, its length three or four times its +width. Strong-ribbed and sharp-toothed, and wavy on the midrib, dark, +polished, like leather, these units form a wonderful dome, lightened +in midsummer by the pencil-like plumes of the staminate flowers, with +the fertile ones at their bases. As autumn comes on the leaf crown +turns to gold, and the mature fruits are still green spiny balls. The +first frost and the time to drop the nuts are dates that every +schoolboy knows come close together. + +When a chestnut tree falls by the axe, the roots restore the loss by +sending up sprouts around the stump. The mouldering pile nourishes a +circle of young trees, full of vigor, because they have the large +tree's roots gathering food for them. No wonder their growth is rapid. + +Besides this mode of reproduction, chestnut trees, growing here and +there throughout a mixed forest, are the offspring of trees whose nuts +were put away, or dropped and lost by squirrels. When spring relieves +the danger of famine, many of the rodent class abandon their winter +stores before they are all devoured. Such caches add many nut trees to +our native woods. + + +THE OAKS + +This is the great family of the cup-bearers, whose fruit, the acorn, +is borne in a scaly cup that never breaks into quarters, as does the +husk that holds a chestnut, beechnut, or hickory nut. All oak trees +bear acorns as soon as they come to fruiting age. This is the sign by +which they are known the world over. Seldom is a full-grown oak +without its little insignia, for the cups cling after the nut falls, +and one grand division of the family requires two seasons to mature +its fruit. For this reason, half-grown acorns are seen on the twigs +after the ripe ones fall. + +We cannot say of oak trees that they all have sturdy trunks, rough +bark, and gnarled limbs, for not all of them have these +characteristics. But there is a certain likeness in oak leaves. They +are simple, five-ranked, generally oval, and the margins are generally +cut into lobes by deep or shallow bays. Most oak leaves have leathery +texture, strong veins, and short petioles. They are leaves that +outlast the summer, and sometimes persist until spring growth unseats +the stalks; sometimes, as in the "live oaks," they hang on three to +five years. + +The twigs of oak trees are more or less distinctly five-angled, and +the winter buds cluster at the ends. This insures a group of young +shoots, crowded with leaves, on the ends of branches, and a dense +outer dome of foliage on the tree. + +Nearly three hundred distinct species of oaks are recognized by +botanists, and the list is growing. New species are in the making. For +instance, a white oak and a bur oak grow near enough for the wind to +"cross-fertilize" their pistillate flowers. The acorns of such mixed +parentage produce trees that differ from both parents, yet reveal +characteristics of both. They are "hybrids," and may be called new +varieties of either parent. Other species of oak are intercrossing by +the same process--the interchange of pollen at the time of blossoming. +This proves that the oak family is young, compared with many other +families, whose members are too distantly related to intercross. + +Though geologically young, the oak family is one of the most +important, furnishing timber of superior strength and durability for +bridge-building, ship-building, and other construction work. Tanning +has depended largely upon oak bark. As fuel, all oak trees are +valuable. + +Fifty species of oak are native to North American forests. Twice as +many grow east of the Rocky Mountains as west of the Great Divide. No +species naturally passes this barrier. The temperate zone species +extend southward into tropical regions, by keeping to high altitudes. +Thus we find American oaks in the Andes and Colombia; Asiatic species +occur in the Indian Archipelago. No Old World species is native to +America. Each continent has its own. + +East of the Rocky Mountains the oaks hold a place of preëminence among +broad-leaved trees. They are trees of large size, and they often +attain great age. They are beautiful trees, and therefore highly +valued for ornamental planting. This has led to the introduction of +oaks from other countries. We have set European, Japanese, and +Siberian oaks in our finest parks. Europe has borrowed from our woods +the red oak and many others. All countries are richer by this +horticultural exchange of trees. + +Our native oaks fall into two groups: the annual-fruiting and the +biennial-fruiting species. The first group matures its acorns in a +single season; the second requires two seasons. It happens that +annuals have leaves with rounded lobes, while biennials have leaves +with lobes that end in angles and bristly tips. The bark of the annual +trees is generally pale; that of the biennials, dark. Hence the white +oak group and the black oak group may be easily distinguished at a +glance, by the bark, the leaf, and the acorn crop. + + +THE WHITE OAK GROUP + + + =The White Oak= + + _Quercus alba_, Linn. + +The white oak has no rival for first place in the esteem of tree-lover +and lumberman. Its broad, rounded dome, sturdy trunk, and strong arms +(_see illustration, page 38_), and its wide-ranging roots enable a +solitary tree to resist storms that destroy or maim other kinds. +Strength and tenacity in the fibre of root and branch make it possible +for individuals to live to a great age, far beyond the two centuries +required to bring it to maturity. Such trees stir within us a feeling +of reverence and patriotism. They are patriarchs whose struggles +typify the pioneer's indomitable resistance to forces that destroyed +all but the strong. + +White oak trees in the forest grow tall, lose their lower branches +early, and lift but a small head to the sun. The logs, quarter-sawed, +reveal the broad, gleaming "mirrors" that make a white oak table +beautiful. The botanist calls these the _medullary rays_--thin, +irregular plates of tissue-building cells, that extend out from the +central pith, sometimes quite to the sap-wood, crowding between the +wood fibres, which in the heart-wood are no longer alive. A slab will +show only an edge of these mirrors. But any section from bark to pith +will reveal them. + +The pale brown wood of the white oak distinctly shows the narrow rings +of annual growth. Each season begins with a coarse, porous band of +"_spring wood_," followed by a narrower band of fine, close-grained +"_summer wood_." White oak is streaked with irregular, dark lines. +These are the porous lines of spring wood, discolored by foreign +matter. Count them, allow a year for each, and you know how long one +white oak tree required to make an inch of wood. + +The supreme moment in the white oak's year comes in spring, when the +gray old tree wakes, the buds swell and cast off their brown scales, +and the young leaves appear. The tree is veiled, not with a garment of +green, but with a mist of rose and silver, each twig hung with soft +limp velvety leaves, red-lined, and covered with a close mat of silky +hairs. It is a spectacle that seems unreal, because it is so lovely +and gone so soon. The protecting hairs and pigments disappear, and the +green leafage takes its place, brightened by the yellow tassels of the +stamen flowers, and the growing season is on. + +In autumn the pale-lined leaves of the white oak turn slowly to sombre +violet and dull purplish tones. Clinging there, after the acorns have +all fallen and been gathered by squirrels, the foliage fades into the +gray of the bark and may persist until spring growth sets in. + + + =The Bur Oak= + + _Q. macrocarpa_, Michx. + +The bur oak (_see illustration, page 39_) is called the mossy-cup on +account of the loose, fringed scales about the rim of the cup that +holds the large acorn--largest in the whole oak family. Often the nut +is completely enclosed by the cup; often it is small. This variable +fruit is sweet, and it is the winter store of many furry wood-folk. + +The leaf has the rounded lobing of the family, with the special +peculiarity of being almost cut in two by a pair of deep and wide +opposite sinuses, between the broad middle, and the narrow, tapering +base. Not all leaves show this odd form, but it is the prevailing +pattern. The dark green blade has a pale, fuzzy lining, that lasts +until the leaves turn brown and yellow. + +The bur oak is a rugged, ragged tree, compared with the white oak. Its +irregular form is picturesque, its wayward limbs are clothed in a +loose garment of untidy, half-shed bark. The twigs are roughened with +broad, corky wings. The trunk is brownish, with loosened flakes of +gray, separated by shallow fissures. + +The wood is classed with white oak, though darker in color. It has the +same ornamental mirrors, dear to the heart of the cabinet-maker. It +serves all the purposes for which a tough, strong, durable wood is +needed. + +The range of the species is from Nova Scotia to Montana, and it grows +in large tracts from Winnipeg to Texas, doing well in the arid soil of +western Nebraska and Dakota. Suckers from the roots spread these trees +till they form the "oak openings" of the bluffs of the Missouri and +other streams of Iowa and Minnesota. In Kansas it is the commonest oak +tree. The largest trees of this species grow in rich bottom lands in +the Ohio Valley. + + + =The Post Oak= + + _Q. minor_, Sarg. + +The post oak has wood that is noted for its durability when placed in +contact with the soil. It is in demand for fence posts, railroad ties, +and for casks and boat timbers. "Iron oak" is a name that refers to +the qualities of the wood. "Knees" of post oak used to be especially +in demand. + +In the Mississippi Basin this tree attains its largest size and +greatest abundance on gravelly uplands. It is the commonest oak of +central Texas, on the sandy plains and limestone hills. Farther north, +it is more rare and smaller, becoming an undersized oak in New York +and westward to Kansas. + +In winter the post oak keeps its cloak of harsh-feeling, thick, +coarse-veined leaves. Tough fibres fasten them to the twigs. In +summer the foliage mass is almost black, with gray leaf-linings. The +lobes and sinuses are large and squarish, the blades four or five +inches long. The limbs, tortuous, horizontal, form a dense head. + + + =The Chestnut Oak= + + _Q. Prinus_, Linn. + +The chestnut oak has many nicknames and all are descriptive. Its +leaves are similar in outline and size to those of the chestnut. The +margin is coarsely toothed, not lobed, like the typical oak leaf. +"Tanbark oak" refers to the rich store of tannin in the bark, which +makes this species the victim of the bark-peeler for the tanneries +wherever it grows. "Rock chestnut oak" is a title that lumbermen have +given to the oak with exceptionally hard wood, heavy and durable in +soil, adapted for railroad ties, posts, and the like. + +Unlike other white oaks, the bark of this tree is dark in color and +deeply fissured. Without a look at the leaves, one might call it a +black oak. + +The centre of distribution for this species seems to be the foothill +country of the Appalachian Mountains, in Tennessee and North Carolina. +Here it predominates, and grows to its largest size. From Maine to +Georgia it chooses rocky, dry uplands, grows vigorously and rapidly, +and its acorns often sprout before falling from the cup! + +The chestnut oak is one of the most desirable kinds of trees to plant +in parks. It is symmetrical, with handsome bark and foliage. The +leaves turn yellow and keep their fine texture through the season. The +acorn is one of the handsomest and largest, and squirrels are +delighted with its sweet kernel. + + + =The Mississippi Valley Chestnut Oak= + + _Q. acuminata_, Sarg. + +In the Mississippi Valley the chestnut oak is _Q. acuminata_, Sarg., +with a more slender and more finely-toothed leaf that bears a very +close resemblance to that of the chestnut. The foliage mass is +brilliant, yellow-green, each leaf with a pale lining, and hung on a +flexible stem. "Yellow oak" is another name, earned again when in +autumn the leaves turn to orange shades mingled with red. + +On the Wabash River banks these trees surpass one hundred feet in +height and three feet in diameter. The base of the trunk is often +buttressed. Back from the rich bottom lands, on limestone and flinty +ridges, where water is scarce, these trees are stunted. In parks they +are handsome, and very desirable. The bark is silvery white, tinged +with brown, and rarely exceeds one half an inch in thickness. + + + =The Swamp White Oak= + + _Q. platanoides_, Sudw. + +The swamp white oak loves to stand in wet ground, sometimes even in +actual swamps. Its small branches shed their bark like the buttonwood, +the flakes curling back and showing the bright green under layer. On +the trunk the bark is thick, and broken irregularly into broad, flat +ridges coated with close, gray-brown scales often tinged with red. + + [Illustration: _See page 65_ + + HORSE-CHESTNUT IN BLOSSOM] + + [Illustration: _See page 83_ + + WEEPING WILLOW] + +In its youth the swamp white oak is comely and symmetrical, its untidy +moulting habit concealed by the abundant foliage. One botanist calls +this species _bicolor_, because the polished yellow-green upper surfaces +contrast so pleasantly with the white scurf that lines each leaf +throughout the summer. Yellow is the autumn color. Never a hint of red +warms this oak of the swamps, even when planted as a street or park tree +in well-drained ground. + + + =The Basket Oak= + + _Q. Michauxii_, Nutt. + +The basket oak is so like the preceding species as to be listed by +some botanists as the southern form of _Q. platanoides_. They meet on +a vague line that crosses Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Both have +large leaves silver-lined, with undulating border, of the chestnut oak +pattern. Both are trees of the waterside, tall, with round heads of +gnarled limbs. The red-tinged white bark sets the basket oak apart +from all others. Its head is broader and its trunk stouter than in the +other species. The paired acorns are almost without stalks, the nuts +large, the kernels sweet. In autumn, farmers turn their hogs into the +woods to fatten on this oak-mast. The edibility of these nuts may +account for the common name, "cow oak." + +The wood splits readily into thin, tough plates of the summer wood. +This is because the layer formed in spring is very porous. Bushel +baskets, china crates, and similar woven wares are made of these oak +splints. The wood is also used in cooperage and implement +construction, and it makes excellent firewood. + + + =The Live Oak= + + _Q. Virginiana_, Mill. + +The live oak with its small oval leaves, without a cleft in the plain +margins, looks like anything but an oak to the Northerner who walks +along a street planted with this evergreen in Richmond or New Orleans. +It is not especially good for street use, though often chosen. It +develops a broad, rounded dome, by the lengthening of the irregular +limbs in a horizontal direction. The trunk becomes massive and +buttressed to support the burden. + +The "knees" of this oak were in keenest demand for ship-building +before steel took the place of wood. In all lines of construction, +this lumber ranks with the best white oak. The short trunk is the +disadvantage, from the lumberman's viewpoint. Its beauty, when +polished, would make it the wood _par excellence_ for elegant +furniture, except that it is difficult to work, and it splits easily. + +The Spanish moss that drapes the limbs of live oaks in the South gives +them a greenish pallor and an unkempt appearance that seems more +interesting than beautiful to many observers. It is only when the +sight is familiar, I think, that it is pleasing. Northern trees are so +clean-limbed and so regular about shedding their leaves when they +fade, that these patient hosts, loaded down with the pendent skeins of +the tillandsia, seem to be imposed upon. In fact, the "moss" is not a +parasite, sapping the life of the tree, but a lodger, that finds its +own food supply without help. + + + =California White Oak= + + _Q. lobata_, Née. + +The California white oak far exceeds the Eastern white oak in the +spread of its mighty arms. The dome is often two hundred feet in +breadth and the trunk reaches ten feet in diameter. Such specimens are +often low in proportion, the trunk breaking into its grand divisions +within twenty feet of the ground. The ultimate spray is made of +slender, supple twigs, on which the many-lobed leaves taper to the +short stalks. Dark green above, the blades are lined with pale +pubescence. The acorns are slender, pointed, and often exceed two +inches in length. Their cups are comparatively shallow, and they fall +out when ripe. + +The bare framework of one of these giant oaks shows a wonderful maze +of gnarled branches, whose grotesque angularities are multiplied with +added years and complicated by damage and repair. + +It is hard to say whether the grace and nobility of the verdure-clad +tree, or the tortuous branching system revealed in winter, appeals +more strongly to the admiration of the stranger and the pride of the +native Californian, who delights in this noble oak at all seasons. Its +comparatively worthless wood has spared the trees to adorn the +park-like landscapes of the wide middle valleys of the state. + + + =Pacific Post Oak= + + _Q. Garryana_, Hook. + +The Pacific post oak is the only oak in British Columbia, whence it +follows down the valleys of the Coast Range to the Santa Cruz +Mountains. It is a tree nearly one hundred feet high, with a broad, +compact head, in western Washington and Oregon. Dark green, lustrous +leaves, with paler linings, attain almost a leathery texture when full +grown. They are four to six inches long and coarsely lobed. In autumn +they sometimes turn bright scarlet. + +The wood is hard, strong, tough, and close-grained. It is employed in +the manufacture of wagons and furniture, and in ship-building and +cooperage. It is a superior fuel. + + +THE BLACK OAK GROUP + +A large group of our native oaks require two seasons to mature their +acorns; have dark-colored bark and foliage, have leaves whose lobes +are sharp-angled and taper to bristly points and tough acorn shells +lined with a silky-hairy coat. + + + =The Black Oak= + + _Q. velutina_, Lam. + +The black oak of the vast region east of the Rocky Mountains is the +type or pattern species. Its leathery, dark green leaves are divided +by curving sinuses into squarish lobes, each ending in one or more +bristly tips. The lobes are paired, and each has a strong vein from +the midrib. Underneath, the leaf is always scurfy, even when the +ripening turns its color from bronze to brown, yellow or dull red. + +Under the deep-furrowed, brown surface bark is a yellow layer, rich in +tannin, and a dyestuff called _quercitron_. This makes the tree +valuable for its bark. The wood is coarse-grained, hard, difficult to +work, and chiefly employed as fuel. + +A distinguishing trait of the bare tree is the large fuzzy winter bud. +The unfolding leaves in spring are bright red above, with a silvery +lining. + +The autumn acorn crop may be heavy or light. Trees have their "off +years," for various reasons. But always, as leaves and fruit fall and +bare the twigs, one sees, among the winter buds, the half-grown acorns +waiting for their second season of growth. + +The pointed nut soon loosens, for the cup though deep has straight +sides. The kernel is yellow and bitter. + + + =The Scarlet Oak= + + _Q. coccinea_, Moench. + +The scarlet oak is like a flaming torch set among the dull browns and +yellows in our autumnal woods. In spring the opening leaves are red; +so are the tasselled catkins and the forked pistils, that turn into +the acorns later on. This is a favorite ornamental tree in Europe and +our own country. Its points of beauty are not all in its colors. + +The tree is slender, delicate in branch, twig, and leaf--quite out of +the sturdy, picturesque class in which most oaks belong. The leaf is +thin, silky smooth, its lobes separated by sinuses so deep that it is +a mere skeleton compared with the black oak's. The trimness of the +leaf is matched by the neat acorn, whose scaly cup has none of the +looseness seen in the burly black oak. The scales are smooth, +tight-fitting, and they curl in at the rim. + +There is lightness and grace in a scarlet oak, for its twigs are slim +and supple as a willow's, and the leaves flutter on long, flexible +stems. Above the drifts of the first snowfall, the brilliance of the +scarlet foliage makes a picture long to be remembered against the blue +of a clear autumnal sky. + +The largest trees of this species grow in the fertile uplands in the +Ohio Valley. But the most brilliant hues are seen in trees of smaller +size, that grow in New England woods. In the comparatively dull-hued +autumn woods of Iowa and Nebraska the scarlet oak is the most vivid +and most admired tree. + + + =The Pin Oak= + + _Q. palustris_, Linn. + +The pin oak earns its name by the sharp, short, spur-like twigs that +cluster on the branches, crowding each other to death and then +persisting to give the tree a bristly appearance. The tree in winter +bears small resemblance to other oaks. The trunk is slender, the shaft +carried up to the top, as straight as a pine's. The branches are very +numerous and regular, striking out at right angles from the stem, the +lower tier shorter than those directly above them, and drooping often +to the ground. + +On the winter twigs, among the characteristic "pins," are the +half-grown acorns that proclaim the tree an oak beyond a doubt, and a +_black_ oak, requiring a second summer for the maturing of its fruit. +It is likely that there will be found on older twigs a few of the +full-grown acorns, or perhaps only the trim, shallow saucers from +which the shiny, striped, brown acorns have fallen. Hunt among the +dead leaves and these little acorns will be discovered for, though +pretty to look at, they are bitter and squirrels leave them where they +fall. + +The leaves match the slender twigs in delicacy of pattern. Thin, +deeply cut, shining, with pale linings, they flutter on slender stems, +smaller but often matching the leaves of the scarlet oak in pattern. +Sometimes they are more like the red oak in outline. In autumn they +turn red and are a glory in the woods. + +One trait has made this tree a favorite for shade and ornament. It has +a shock of fibrous roots, and for this reason is easily transplanted. +It grows rapidly in any moist, rich soil. It keeps its leaves clean +and beautiful throughout the season. Washington, D. C., has its +streets planted to native trees, one species lining the sides of a +single street or avenue for miles. The pin oaks are superb on the +thoroughfare that reaches from the Capitol to the Navy Yard. They +retain the beauty of their youth because each tree has been given a +chance to grow to its best estate. In spring the opening leaves and +pistillate flowers are red, giving the silvery green tree-top a warm +flush that cheers the passerby. In European countries this oak is a +prime favorite for public and private parks. + + + =The Red Oak= + + _Q. rubra_, Linn. + +The red oak grows rapidly, like the pin oak, and is a great favorite +in parks overseas, where it takes on the rich autumnal red shades that +give it its name at home. Such color is unknown in native woods in +England. + +The head of this oak is usually narrow and rounded; the branches, +short and stout, are inclined to go their own way, giving the tree +more of picturesqueness than of symmetry, as age advances. Sometimes +the dome is broad and rounded like that of a white oak, and in the +woods, where competition is keen, the trunk may reach one hundred and +fifty feet in height. + +The red oak leaf is large, smooth, rather thin, its oval broken by +triangular sinuses and forward-aiming lobes, that end in bristly +points. The blade is broadest between the apex and the middle, where +the two largest lobes are. No oak has leaves more variable than this. + +Under the dark brown, close-knit bark of a full-grown red oak tree is +a reddish layer that shows in the furrows. The twigs and leaf-stems +are red. A flush of pink covers the opening leaves, and they are lined +with white down which is soon shed. + +The bloom is very abundant and conspicuous, the fringe-like +pollen-bearing aments four or five inches long, drooping from the +twigs in clusters, when the leaves are half-grown in May. + +The acorns of the red oak are large, and set in shallow saucers, with +incurving rims. Few creatures taste their bitter white kernels. + + + =The Willow Oak= + + _Q. Phellos_, Linn. + +The willow oak has long, narrow, pointed leaves that suggest a willow, +and not at all an oak. The supple twigs, too, are willow-like, and the +tree is a lover of the waterside. But there is the acorn, seated in a +shallow, scaly cup, like a pin oak's. There is no denying the tree's +family connections. + +A southern tree, deservedly popular in cities for shade and ornamental +planting, it is nevertheless hardy in Philadelphia and New York; and +a good little specimen seems to thrive in Boston, in the Arnold +Arboretum. As a lumber tree, the species is unimportant. + + + =The Shingle, or Laurel, Oak= + + _Q. imbricaria_, Michx. + +The shingle or laurel oak may be met in any woodland from Pennsylvania +to Nebraska, and south to Georgia and Arkansas. It may be large or +small; a well-grown specimen reaches sixty feet, with a broad, +pyramidal, open head. + +The chief beauty of the tree, at any season, is the foliage +mass--dark, lustrous, pale lined, the margin usually unbroken by any +indentations. In autumn the yellow, channelled midribs turn red, and +all the blades to purplish crimson, and this color stays a long time. +It is a wonderful sight to see the evening sunlight streaming through +the loose, open head of a laurel oak. No wonder people plant it for +shade and for the beauty it adds to home grounds and public parks. + + + =The Mountain Live Oak= + + _Q. chrysolepis_, Liebm. + +The mountain live oak cannot be seen without climbing the western +slopes of the mountains from Oregon to Lower California, and eastward +into New Mexico and Arizona. On levels where avalanches deposit +detritus from the higher slopes, sufficient fertility and moisture are +found to maintain groves of these oaks, wide-domed, with massive, +horizontal branches from short, buttressed trunks--the Western +counterpart of the live oak of the South, but lacking the familiar +drapery of pale green moss. + +The leaves are leathery, polished, oval blades, one or two inches in +length, with unbroken margins, abundant on intricately divided, supple +twigs, that droop with their burden and respond to the lightest +breeze. The leaves persist until the bronze-green new foliage expands +to replace the old, and keep the tree-tops evergreen. + +The acorns are large, and their thick, shallow saucers are covered +with yellow fuzz. For this character, the tree is called the gold-cup +oak. In June, the copious bloom is yellow. Even at an altitude of +eight thousand feet the familiar gold-cup acorns are borne on shrubby +oaks not more than a foot high! + +The maximum height of the species is sixty feet. The wood is the most +valuable oak of the West Coast. It is used for wagons and agricultural +implements. + + + =The Live Oak= + + _Q. agrifolia_, Née. + +The live oak (_Q. agrifolia_, Née.) called also "Encina," is the +huge-limbed, holly-leaved live oak of the lowlands, that reaches its +greatest abundance and maximum stature in the valleys south of San +Francisco Bay. The giant oaks of the University campus at Berkeley +stretch out ponderous arms, in wayward fashion, that reach far from +the stocky trunk and often rest their mighty elbows on the ground. The +pointed acorns, usually exceeding an inch in length, are collected by +woodpeckers, and tucked away for further reference in holes they make +in the bark of the same oaks. + +From the mountain slopes to the sea, and from Mendocino County to +Lower California, groves of this semi-prostrate giant are found, +furnishing abundant supply of fuel, but no lumber of any consequence, +because the trunks are so short and the limbs so crooked. + + +THE HORSE-CHESTNUTS, OR BUCKEYES + + + =The Horse-chestnut= + + _Aesculus Hippocastanum_, Linn. + +At the head of this family stands a stately tree, native of the +mountains of northern Greece and Asia Minor, which was introduced into +European parks and planted there as an avenue tree when landscape +gardening came into vogue. By way of England it came to America, and +in Eastern villages one often sees a giant horse-chestnut, perhaps the +sole remnant of the street planting of an earlier day. + +Longfellow's "spreading chestnut tree" was a horse-chestnut. And the +boys who watched the smith at his work doubtless filled their pockets +with the shiny brown nuts and played the game of "conquerors" every +autumn as regularly as they flew their kites in spring. What boy has +not tied a chestnut to each end of a string, whirled them round and +round at a bewildering rate of speed and finally let them fly to catch +on telegraph wires, where they dangle for months and bother tidy +folks? + +The glory of the horse-chestnut comes at blooming time, when the +upturning branches, like arms of candelabra, are each tipped with a +white blossom-cluster, pointed like a candle flame. (_See +illustration, page 54._) Each flower of the pyramid has its +throat-dashes of yellow and red, and the curving yellow stamens are +thrust far out of the dainty ruffled border of the corolla. + +Bees and wasps make music in the tree-top, sucking the nectar out of +the flowers. Unhappily for us humans, caterpillars of the leopard and +tussock moths feed upon the tender tissues of this tree, defacing the +foliage and making the whole tree unsightly by their presence. + +Sidewalks under horse-chestnut trees are always littered with +something the tree is dropping. In early spring the shiny, wax-covered +leaf buds cast off and they stick to slate and cement most +tenaciously. Scarcely have the folded leaflets spread, tent-like, +before some of them, damaged by wind or late frosts or insects' +injury, begin to curl and drop, and as the leaves attain full size, +they crowd, and this causes continual shedding. In early autumn the +leaflets begin to be cast, the seven fingers gradually loosening from +the end of the leaf-stalk; then comes a day when all of the foliage +mass lets go, and one may wade knee deep under the tree in the dead +leaves. The tree is still ugly from clinging leaf-stems and the slow +breaking of the prickly husks that enclose the nuts. + +With all these faults, the horse-chestnut holds its popularity in the +suburbs of great cities, for it lives despite smoke and soot. Bushey +Park in London has five rows of these trees on either side of a wide +avenue. When they are in bloom the fact is announced in the newspapers +and all London turns out to see the sight. Paris uses the tree +extensively; nearly twenty thousand of them line her streets, and +thrive despite the poverty of the soil. + +The American buckeyes are less sturdy in form and less showy in +flower than the European species, but they have the horse-shoe print +with the nails in it where the leaf-stalk meets the twig. The brown +nuts, with the dull white patch which fastens them in the husk, +justifies the name "buckeye." One nibble at the nut will prove to any +one that, as a fruit, it is too bitter for even horses. Bitter, +astringent bark is characteristic of the family. + + + =The Ohio Buckeye= + + _Ae. glabra_, Willd. + +The Ohio buckeye has five yellow-green leaflets, smooth when full +grown, pale, greenish yellow flowers, not at all conspicuous, and +bitter nuts in spiny husks. The whole tree exhales a strong, +disagreeable odor. The wood is peculiarly adapted to the making of +artificial limbs. + +The great abundance of this little tree in the Ohio Valley accounts +for Ohio being called the "Buckeye State." + + + =The Sweet Buckeye= + + _Ae. octandra_, Marsh. + +The sweet buckeye is a handsome, large tree with greenish yellow, +tubular flowers and leaves of five slender, elliptical leaflets. +Cattle will eat the nuts and paste made from them is preferred by +bookbinders; it holds well, and book-loving insects will not attack +it. These trees grow on mountain slopes of the Alleghanies from +western Pennsylvania southward, and west to Iowa and Texas. + + + =The California Buckeye= + + _Ae. californica_, Nutt. + +The California buckeye spreads wide branches from a squat trunk, and +clothes its sturdy twigs with unmistakable horse-chestnut leaves and +pyramids of white flowers. Sometimes these are tinted with rose, and +the tree is very beautiful. The brown nuts are irregular in shape and +enclosed in somewhat pear-shaped, two-valved husks. + +This western buckeye follows the borders of streams from the +Sacramento Valley southward; they are largest north of San Francisco +Bay, in the canyons of the Coast Range. + +Shrubby, red-flowered buckeyes, often seen in gardens and in the +shrubbery borders of parks, are horticultural crosses between the +European horse-chestnut and a shrubby, red-flowered native buckeye +that occurs in the lower Mississippi Valley. + + +THE LINDENS, OR BASSWOODS + +This tropical family, with about thirty-five genera, has a single tree +genus, _tilia_, in North America. This genus has eighteen or twenty +species, all told, with representatives in all temperate regions of +the Northern Hemisphere, with the exception of Central America, +Central Asia, and the Himalayas. + +Tilia wood is soft, pale-colored, light, of even grain, adaptable for +wood-carving, sounding-boards of pianos, woodenwares of all kinds, and +for the manufacture of paper. The inner bark is tough and fibrous. It +has been used since the human race was young, in the making of ropes, +fish nets, and like necessities. It was a favorite tying material in +nurseries and greenhouses until the more adaptable raffia came in to +take its place. The bark of young trees is stripped in spring to make +the shoes of the Russian peasantry. An infusion of basswood flowers +has long been a home remedy for indigestion, nervousness, coughs, and +hoarseness. Experiments in Germany have successfully extracted a table +oil from the seed-balls. A nutritious paste resembling chocolate has +been made from its nuts, which are delicious when fresh. In winter the +buds, as well as the tiny nuts, stand between the lost trapper and +starvation. The flowers yield large quantities of nectar, and honey +made near linden forests is unsurpassed in delicacy of flavor. + +About the time of Louis XIV, the French fashion arose of planting +avenues to lindens, where horse-chestnuts had formerly been the +favorite tree. The fashion spread to England of bordering with "lime +trees" approaches to the homes of the gentry. "Pleached alleys" were +made with these fast-growing trees that submitted so successfully to +severe pruning and training. All sorts of grotesque figures were +carved out of the growing lime trees in the days before topiary work +in gardens submitted to the rules of landscape art, and slower growing +trees were chosen for such purposes. + +In cultivation, lindens have the virtues of swift growth, superb +framework, clean, smooth bark, and late, profuse, beautiful and +fragrant bloom, which is followed by interesting seed clusters, winged +with a pale blade that lightens the foliage mass. One fault is the +early dropping of the leaves, which are usually marred by the wind +soon after they reach mature size. Propagation is easy from cuttings +and from seed. + + + =The American Linden, or Basswood= + + _Tilia Americana_, Linn. + +The American linden or basswood is a stately spreading tree reaching +one hundred and twenty feet in height and a trunk diameter of four +feet. The bark is brown, furrowed, and scaly, the branches gray and +smooth, the twigs ruddy. The alternate leaves are obliquely +heart-shaped, saw-toothed, with prominent veins that branch at the +base, only on the side next to the petiole. (_See illustration, page +86._) Occasionally the leaf blades are eight inches long. A dense +shade is cast by a linden tree in midsummer. + +The blossoms, cream-white and clustered on pale green, leaf-like +blades, open by hundreds in June and July, actually dripping with +nectar, and illuminating the platforms of green leaves. A bird flying +overhead looks down upon a tree covered with broad leaf blades +overlapping like shingles on a roof. It must look underneath to see +the flowers that delight us as we look up into the tree-top from our +station on the ground. + +In midsummer the linden foliage becomes coarse and wind-whipped; the +soft leaf-substance is attacked by insects that feed upon it; plant +lice deface them with patches of honey-dew, and the sticky surfaces +catch dust and soot. Riddled and torn, they drop in desultory fashion, +their faded yellow not at all like the satisfying gold of beech and +hickory leaves. + + [Illustration: _See page 31_ + + THE BLACK WALNUT + + The young shoots are velvety and aromatic. The pistillate + flowers, in groups of 3 to 5, are on terminal spikes] + + [Illustration: _See page 37_ + + SHAGBARK HICKORY IS KNOWN AND NAMED BY ITS LOOSE, + STRIPPING BARK] + +The flight of basswood seeds on their wing-like blades goes on +throughout the winter. This alone would account for the fact that +basswoods greatly outnumbered all other trees in the virgin forests of +the Ohio Valley. The seeds are not the tree's sole dependence. Suckers +grow up about the stump of a tree the lumberman has taken, or the +lightning has stricken. Any twig is likely to strike root, and any +cutting made from a root as well. + +The finest specimen I know grew from a walking-stick cut in the woods +and thrust into the ground, by a mere chance, when the rambler reached +home. It is the roof tree of a mansion, tall enough to waft its +fragrance into the third-story windows, and to reach high above the +chimney pots. + +The range of this tree extends from New Brunswick to Dakota and south +to Virginia and Texas. Its wood is used for carriage bodies, +furniture, cooperage, paper pulp, charcoal, and fuel. + + + =The Bee Tree, or White Basswood= + + _T. heterophylla_, Vent. + +The bee tree or white basswood of the South has narrower leaves than +the species just described, and they vary in form and size; but always +have linings of fine, silvery down, and the fruits are fuzzy. A +wonderful, dazzling play of white, pale green, and deeper shades is +seen when one of these trees flutters its leaf mass against a +background, sombre with hemlocks and an undergrowth of rhododendron. +The favorite haunts of this species are the sides of mountain streams. +Wild bees store their hoard of honey in the hollow trunks of old +trees; and it is the favorite holiday of many country folk to locate +these natural hives and despoil them. In order to do this the tree +must come down, and the revenge of the outraged swarm is sometimes a +high price to pay for the stolen sweets. + +This linden is found from Ithaca, New York, southward along the +Appalachian Mountains to northern Alabama, and westward into Illinois +and Tennessee. It is best and most abundant in the mountains of +eastern Tennessee and North Carolina, at a considerable altitude. + + + =The Downy Basswood= + + _T. pubescens_, Ait. + +The downy basswood has leaves that are green on both sides, but its +young shoots and leaf-linings are coated with rusty hairs. It is a +miniature throughout of the American basswood, except that the blade +that bears the flower-cluster is rounded at its base, while the others +taper narrowly to the short stem. This species occurs on Long Island, +and is sparingly seen along the coast from the Carolinas to Texas. + + + =The Common Lime= + + _T. vulgaris_ + +"Unter den Linden," the famous avenue in Berlin, is planted with the +small-leaved common lime of Europe, beside which the American basswood +is a coarse-looking tree. Very disappointing docked trees they are, +along this thoroughfare; for city streets are never places where a +tree can reach its best estate. In the rural sections of France and +Germany this tree reaches noble stature and great age. + +Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist, had his name from a fine linden tree, +when his peasant father rose to the dignity of a surname. "Linn" is +the Swedish word for linden. "Carl Linne," meaning "Charles of the +linden tree," it was at first when he played as a boy in the shadow of +its great branches. "Carolus Linnaeus" he became when he was appointed +professor of the university at Upsala, and through all time since. + +Gerarde discourses quaintly upon the linden tree in his "Grete +Herball" published in England in 1597. "The male tree," he says, "is +to me unknown." We smile at his notion that there are male and female +trees in this family, but we wonder at the accuracy of observation +evinced by one who lived and wrote before the science of botany had +any existence. Evidently Master Gerarde had a good pair of eyes, and +he has well expressed the things he saw. I quote a paragraph: + +"The female line, or linden tree waxeth very great and thicke, +spreading forth its branches wide and fare abroad, being a tree which +yieldeth a most pleasant shadow, under and within whose boughs may be +made brave summer houses and banqueting arbors, because the more that +it is surcharged with weight of timber and such like, the better it +doth flourish. The bark is brownish, very smooth and plaine on the +outside, but that which is next to the timber is white, moist and +tough, serving very well for ropes, trases and halters. The timber is +whitish, plaine, and without knots; yea, very soft and gentle in the +cutting and handling. The leaves are smooth, greene, shining and +large, somewhat snipt or toothed about the edges: the floures are +little, whitish, of a good savour, and very many in number; growing +clustered together from out of the middle of the leaf: out of which +proceedeth a small whitish long narrow leafe: after the floures +succeed cornered sharp pointed nuts, of the bignesse of hasell nuts. +This tree seemeth to be a kinde of elme, and the people of Essex +(whereas great plenty groweth by the waysides) do call it broad-leafed +elme." + + + + +PART III + +THE WATER-LOVING TREES + + The Poplars--The Willows--The Hornbeams--The Birches--The + Alders--The Sycamores, or Buttonwoods--The Gum Trees--The Osage + Orange + + +THE POPLARS + +The poplars are plebeian trees, but they have a place to fill and they +fill it with credit. They are the hardy, rude pioneers that go before +and prepare the way for nobler trees. Let a fire sweep a path through +the forest, and the poplar is likely to be the first tree to fill the +breach. The trees produce abundant seed, very much like that of +willows, and the wind sows it far and wide. The young trees love the +sun, and serve as nurse trees to more valuable hardwoods and conifers, +that must have shade until they become established. By the time the +more valuable species are able to take care of themselves, the poplars +have come to maturity and disappeared, for they are quick-growing, +short-lived trees. The wind plays havoc with their brittle branches. +Seldom has a good-sized poplar tree any claim to beauty. + +Tenacity of life, if not of fibre, belongs to the poplar tribe. Twigs +strike root and the roots send up suckers from underground: cutting +off these suckers only encourages them to fresh activity. The only +way to get rid of the young growth that springs up about an old tree +is to use the grubbing-hoe thoroughly and patiently. + +Poplar blossoms, borne in catkins, show the close relationship between +this genus and the willows. The leaves, however, are always broad and +leathery, and set on long stems. Twenty-five species are known, twelve +of which are American. + + + =The White Poplar= + + _Populus alba_, Linn. + +The white poplar is sometimes called the silver-leaved poplar because +its dark, glossy leaves are lined with cottony nap. This sprightly +contrast of light and shade in the foliage is most unusual, and very +attractive in early spring; but the leaf-linings collect soot and +dust, and this they carry to the end of the season--a fact which +should not be forgotten by those considering the advisability of +planting this tree in a city where much soft coal is burned. + +The white bark of this European poplar reminds us of the birch family, +though it has no silky fringe shedding from the surface. The leaves +often imitate the maple in the divisions of their margins, justifying +the name "maple-leaved poplar." + +As a dooryard tree this species has a wider popularity than it +deserves. The wind breaks the brittle branches, and when these +accidents threaten its life, the tree sends up suckers which form a +grove about the parent trunk, and defy all efforts to eradicate them, +until the grubbing-hoe and axe have been resorted to. + + + =The Black Poplar= + + _P. nigra_, Linn. + +The Lombardy poplar, a variety of the black poplar of Europe, is a +familiar tree figure along roadsides, and often marks boundary lines +between farms. Each tree is an exclamation point, its branches short +and numerous, rising toward the zenith. The roundish leaves that +twinkle on these aspiring branches make the tree pretty and +interesting when young--just the thing to accent a group of +round-headed trees in a park. But not many years are attained before +the top becomes choked with the multitude of its branches. The tree +cannot shed this dead wood and the beauty of its youth is departed. +The trunk grows coarse, warty, and buttressed at the base. Suckers are +thrown up from the roots. There is little left to challenge +admiration. Since the tree gives practically no shade, we must believe +that the first planters were attracted by its odd shape and its +readiness to grow, rather than by any belief in its fitness for avenue +and highway planting. + + + =The Cottonwood= + + _P. deltoidea_, Marsh. + +The cottonwood justifies its existence, if ever a tree did. On our +Western plains, where the watercourses are sluggish and few and often +run dry in midsummer, few trees grow; and the settler and traveler is +grateful for the cottonwoods. The pioneer on the Western prairie +planted it for shade and for wind-breaks about his first home. Many of +these trees attain great age and in protected situations are +magnificent though unsymmetrical trees, shaking out each spring a new +head of bright green, glossy foliage, each leaf responsive to the +lightest breeze. + +"Necklace-bearing poplar," it has been called, from the fact that +children find pleasure in stringing for beads the green, half-grown +pods containing the minute seeds. They also delight in gathering the +long, red caterpillar-like catkins of the staminate flowers, the +pollen bearers, from the sterile trees. A fertile tree is sometimes +counted a nuisance in a dooryard because its pods set free a great +mass of cotton that collects in window screens, to the annoyance of +housewives. But this seed time is soon over. + +Just these merits of quick growth, prettiness, and tenacity of life, +belong to the Carolina Poplar, a variety of native cottonwood that +lines the streets of the typical suburban tract opened near any +American city. The leaves are large and shine with a varnish which +protects them from dust and smoke. But the wind breaks the branches, +destroys the symmetry of the tree's head, and in a few years the +suburban community takes on a cheap and ugly look. The wise promoter +will alternate slow-growing maples and elms with the poplars so that +these permanent trees will be ready to take their places in a few +years. + + + =The Aspen= + + _P. tremuloides_, Michx. + +The trembling aspen, or quaking asp, is the prettiest tree of all the +poplar tribe. Its bark is gray and smooth, often greenish and nearly +white. An aspen copse is one of the loveliest things in the spring +landscape. In March the bare, angular limbs show green under their +bark, one of the first prophecies of spring; then the buds cast their +brown scales and fuzzy gray catkins are revealed. There are few shades +of olive and rose, few textures of silk and velvet that are not +duplicated as the catkins lengthen and dance like chenille fringe from +every twig. With the flowers, the new leaves open; each blade limp, +silky, as it unrolls, more like the finest white flannel than anything +else. (_See illustrations, pages 86-87._) Soon the leaves shed all of +this hairy, protective coat, passing through various tones of pink and +silver on their way to their lustrous, bright green maturity. Their +stems are flattened in a plane at right angles with the blade. Being +long and pliant besides, they catch the breeze on blade or stem, and +so the foliage is never still on the quietest of summer days. "Popple" +leaves twinkle and dance and catch the sunlight like ripples on the +surface of a stream, while the foliage of oaks and other trees near by +may be practically motionless. + + + =The Balsam Poplar= + + _P. balsamifera_, Linn. + +The balsam poplar is the balm of Gilead of the early settlers, the +Tacamahac of the Northern Indians. They squeezed the fragrant wax from +the winter buds and used it to seal up the seams in their birch-bark +canoes. The bees taught the Indian the uses of this glutinous +secretion, which the tree used to seal the bud-scales and thus keep +out water. When growth starts with the stirring of the sap, this wax +softens; then the bees collect and store it against a day of need. +Whether their homes be hollow trees or patent hives, weather-cracks +are carefully sealed up with this waterproof gum, which the bee-keeper +knows as "_propolis_." + +Forests of balm of Gilead cover much of the vast British possessions +north of the United States, and reach to the ultimate islands of the +Aleutian group. They dip down into the states as far as Nebraska and +Nevada. In cultivation, the species has proved itself a tree of +excellent habit, easily propagated and transplanted, and of rapid +growth. It has all the good points of the Carolina poplar and lacks +its besetting sin of becoming so soon an unsightly cripple. + + + =Narrow-leaved Cottonwood= + + _P. angustifolia_, James. + + + =Lance-leaved Cottonwood= + + _P. acuminata_, Rydb. + + + =Mexican Cottonwood= + + _P. Mexicana_, Wesm. + +These three cottonwoods line the banks of mountain streams at high +elevations in the great system of mountain chains that stretch from +British Columbia southward. The dancing foliage, bright green in +summer, golden in autumn, lends a charming color note to the dun +stretches of arid plain and the sombre green of pine forests. These +trees furnish the settler fuel, shade, and wind-breaks while he is +converting his "homestead" into a home. + + + =Black Cottonwood= + + _P. trichocarpa_, Hook. + +Farther west, covering the mountain slopes from Alaska to Mexico, and +liking even better the moist, rich lowlands, is the black cottonwood, +the giant of the genus, reaching two hundred feet in height, and +seven to eight feet in trunk diameter. Tall and stately, it lifts its +broad rounded crown upon heavy upright limbs. In the Yosemite the +dark, rich green of these poplar groves along the Merced River makes a +rich, velvet margin, glorious when it turns to gold in autumn. + + + =Swamp Cottonwood= + + _P. heterophylla_, Linn. + +The swamp cottonwood of the South has leaves of variable but +distinctly poplar form, always large, broadly ovate, with slim round +petioles. The white down of the unfolding leaves often persists into +midsummer. On account of the fluttering leaves the trees were called, +by the early Acadians, "_Langues de femmes_" a mild calumny traceable +to the herbalist, Gerarde, who compares them to "women's tongues, +which seldom cease wagging." + +The wood of poplars, soft, weak, and of slight value for fuel or +lumber, has within two decades come into a position of great economic +importance. Wood pulp is made of it, and out of wood pulp a thousand +articles, from toys to wheels of locomotives, are made. A state +forester declared: "If I could replace the maples in the state forest +by poplars to-day, I would do it gladly. It would be worth thousands +of dollars to the state." + + +THE WILLOWS + +Along the watercourses the willow family finds its most congenial +habitat. It is a very large family, numbering more than one hundred +and seventy species, which are, however, mostly shrubs rather than +trees. America has seventy species of willows, and new forms are +constantly being discovered, which are the results of the crossing of +closely related species. These "natural hybrids" have greatly confused +the botany of the willow family. + +Not more than half a dozen American willows ever attain the height of +good-sized trees, and many of these are more commonly found in the +tangled shrubbery of river banks, or covering long semi-arid strips of +ground far to the north, or on mountain sides where their growth is +stunted. Little trees, six inches high, bearing the characteristic +catkins and narrow leaves of the willow, are found on the arctic +tundras. + +The wood of willows is pale in color, soft in texture, and of very +little use as lumber or fuel, except in localities where trees are +scarce. The Indian depended upon the inner bark of the withy willow +for material for his fish nets and lines, and farmers in the pioneer +days took the tough, supple stems, when spring made the sap run +freely, for the binding together of the rails of their fences. Knotted +tight and seasoned, these twigs hardened and lasted for years. + +In Europe the white willow has long been used for the making of wooden +shoes, artificial limbs, and carriage bodies. Its wood makes the +finest charcoal for gunpowder. Willow wares, such as baskets and +wicker furniture, are as old as civilization, and that in its +primitive stages. It is a common sight in Europe to see groves of +trees from which the long twigs have been taken yearly for these uses. +The stumps are called "pollards" and the trees "pollarded willows" +whose discouraging task has been to grow a yearly crop of withes for +the basket-makers; yet each spring finds them bristling with the new +growth. + +The hosts of Cæsar invading England in the First Century found the +Britons defending themselves behind willow-woven shields, and living +in huts of wattled willows, smeared with mud. From that time to the +present the uses of these long shoots have multiplied. + +The roots of willows are fibrous and tough as the shoots. For this +reason they serve a useful purpose in binding the banks of streams, +especially where these are liable to flood. Nature seems to have +designed these trees for just this purpose, for a twig lying upon the +ground strikes root at every joint if the soil it falls on is +sufficiently moist. The wind breaks off twigs and the water carries +them down stream where they lodge on banks and sand bars, and these +are soon covered with billows of green. + +Willows start growth early in spring, putting out their catkins, the +two sexes on different trees, before the opening of the leaves. Before +the foliage is full grown, the light seeds, each a minute speck, +floats away in a wisp of silky down. Its vitality lasts but a day, so +it must fall on wet ground at once in order to grow. But the willow +family is quite independent of its seeds in the matter of propagation. +Chop the roots and twigs into bits and each will grow. Chop a young +willow tree into sticks and fence posts and each one, if it is stuck +green into the ground, covers itself with a head of leafy twigs before +the season is over. + + + =Weeping Willow= + + _Salix Babylonica_ + +The weeping willow, much planted in cemeteries and parks, came +originally from Asia and is remarkable for its narrow leaves that +seem fairly to drip from the pendulous twigs. (_See illustration, page +55._) The foliage has a wonderful lightness and cheerfulness of +expression, despite its weeping habit. + + + =The Pussy Willow= + + _S. discolor_, Muehl. + +The pussy willow is the familiar bog willow, whose gray, silky catkins +appear in earliest spring. A walk in the woods in late February often +brings us the charming surprise of a meeting with this little tree, +just when its gray pussies are pushing out from their brown scales. We +cut the twigs and bring them home and watch the wonderful color +changes that mark the full development of the flowers. Turning them in +the light, one sees under the sheen of silky hairs the varied and +evanescent hues that glow in a Hungarian opal. In midsummer a pussy +willow tree is lost among the shrubby growth in any woods. It is only +because it leads the procession of the spring flowers that every one +knows and loves it. (_See illustrations, pages 86-87._) + + +THE HORNBEAMS + +Two genera of little trees in the same family with the birches are +frequently met in the woods, often modestly hiding under the larger +trees. One is the solitary representative of its genus: the other has +a sister species. + +The hornbeams grow very slowly and their wood is close-grained, heavy, +and hard. In flexibility, strength, and ability to stand strain, it +rivals steel. Before metals so generally became competitors of woods +in construction work, hornbeam was the only wood for rake teeth, +levers, mallets, and especially for the beams of ox yokes. It outwore +the stoutest oak, the toughest elm. Springiness adapted it for fork +handles and the like. Bowls and dishes of hornbeam lasted forever, and +would never leak nor crack. "Ironwood" is the name used wherever the +wood was worked. + + + =American Hornbeam= + + _Carpinus Carolinianum_, Walt. + +The American hornbeam has bluish gray bark, very fine in texture, from +which the name "blue beech," is common in some localities. "Water +beech" points out the tree's preference for rich swamp land. + +The trunk and limbs are strangely swollen, sometimes like a fluted +column, oftener irregularly, the swelling under the bark suggesting +the muscular development of a gymnast's arm. + +In favorable places the hornbeams grow into regular oval heads, their +branches dividing into a multitude of wiry, supple twigs. Crowded +under oaks and other forest growth, they crouch and writhe; and their +heads flatten into tangled masses of foliage. + +The delicate leaves, strong-ribbed, oval, pointed, turn to red and +orange in autumn. (_See illustration, page 87._) The paired nutlets +are provided with a parachute each, so that the wind can sow them +broadcast. This wing is leafy in texture, shaped like a maple leaf, +and curved into the shape of a boat. After they have broken apart, the +nutlets hang by threads, tough as hornbeam fibres always are. At +last, away they sail, to start new trees if they fall in moist soil. + +The European hornbeam was a favorite tree for making the "pleached +alleys," of which old-world garden-lovers were proud. A row of trees +on each side of a promenade were pruned and trained to cover an +arching framework, and to interlace their supple branches so that at +length no other framework was needed, and one walked through a tunnel +of green so closely interlaced as to make walls and roof that shut out +light and wind and rain! Hedges, fences, and many fancies of the +gardener were worked out with this hornbeam, so willingly did it lend +itself to cutting and moulding into curious forms. + + + =Hop Hornbeam= + + _Ostrya Virginiana_, Willd. + +The hop hornbeam has habits like the other ironwood and an equal +reputation for the hardness of its wood. The tree, however, wears +scaly, shaggy brown bark, suggesting in its manner of scaling off the +shagbark hickory. Its nutlets are packed separate in loose papery +bags, and together form a loose, cone-like cluster, like the fruit of +a hop vine. The wind scatters these buoyant little bags, that travel +far. + +This tree often twists in growing, and the trunk shows spiral furrows. +"Hard-tack," "beetle-wood," "lever-wood"--all take us back to the +pioneer who put this wood to such good uses, and who was glad to have +these little trees growing in his wood-lot. In hickories, even, he had +not the equal of them for strength and hardness. + + [Illustration: _See page 70_ + + THE AMERICAN LINDEN + + The broad leaves are unsymmetrical. Dry seed-balls are + scattered by winter winds, the leathery bracts serving as + wings] + + [Illustration: _See page 78_ + + TREMBLING ASPEN + + Catkins and newly opened, flannel-like leaves] + + [Illustration: _See page 84_ + + THE PUSSY WILLOW + + 1--Mature staminate flower. + 2--Immature staminate flowers. + 3--Mature pistillate flowers] + + [Illustration: _See page 85_ + + THE AMERICAN HORNBEAM + + A fruiting branch showing the thin beech-like leaves and the + seeds on their leafy triangular bracts] + + + =Knowlton's Ironwood= + + _O. Knowltoni_, Cov. + +Knowlton's ironwood is found nowhere but in a thick grove on the +southern slope of the canyon of the Colorado in Arizona, about seventy +miles north of Flagstaff. Here these trees are numerous, crouching +under oaks, their twisted branches ending in drooping twigs, bearing +the characteristic pale green hops in autumn, small oval leaves, and +the catkin flowers in spring. Such a restricted distribution for a +distinct species of trees is unmatched in the annals of botany. + + +THE BIRCHES + +Grace and gentility of appearance are attributes of this most +interesting, attractive, and valuable family of trees. _Shabby_ +gentility, one may insist, thinking of the untidy, frayed-out edges +that adorn the silky outer bark of almost every birch tree in the +woods. (_See illustration, page 102._) Not one of them, however, but +lends a note of cheerfulness to the landscape. There is beauty and +daintiness in leaf, flower, and winged seed, and despite the +inferiority of most birch wood, the history of the family is a long +story of usefulness to the human race. + +About thirty species of birches grow in the Northern Hemisphere, ten +of them are North American. The white birch of Europe extends across +the northern half of Asia, and is cultivated in delicate cut-leaved +and weeping forms, as a lawn and park tree in this country. + + + =The Canoe Birch= + + _Betula papyrifera_, Marsh. + +The canoe birch or paper birch is the noblest member of the family. +(_See cover of book._) Ernest Thompson Seton calls it "The White Queen +of the Woods--the source of food, drink, transport, and lodging to +those who dwell in the forest--the most bountiful provider of all the +trees." Then he enumerates the sweet syrup yielded by its sap; the +meal made by drying and grinding the inner bark; the buds and catkins +upon which the partridge feeds; and the outer bark, which is its best +gift to primitive man. + +"The broad sheets of this vegetable rawhide, ripped off when the +weather is warm, and especially when the sap is moving, are tough, +light, strong, pliant, absolutely waterproof, almost imperishable in +the weather; free from insects, assailable only by fire. It roofs the +settler's shack and the forest Indian's wigwam. It supplies cups, +pails, pots, pans, spoons, boxes; under its protecting power the +matches are safe and dry; split very thin, as is easily done, it is +the writing paper of the woods, flat, light, smooth, waterproof, +tinted, and scented; but the crowning glory of the birch is this--it +furnishes the indispensable substance for the bark canoe, whose making +is the highest industrial exploit of the Indian life." + +From the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from our northern tier of states +to the arctic seas, woodsmen, red and white, have found this +white-barked tree ready to their hand, their sure defense against +death by cold and by starvation. The weather is never so wet but that +shreds of birch bark burn merrily to start a campfire, and the timber +of the trunk burns readily green or dry. + + + =The White Birch= + + _B. populifolia_, Marsh. + +The white birch is a small, short-lived tree that grows in swampy +ground, its bark chalky white or grayish, with triangular rough +patches of black, where branches are or have been. (The canoe birch +has a clean bole, chalky white, with none of these ugly black +patches.) + +A vagabond tree it is, with thin pointed leaves and long pencil-like +catkins and seed cones. The chief contributions of the poplar-leaved +birch to the well-being of men are that it clothes with beauty the +most uninviting situations, and that it comes again, after fire or +other general slaughter, promptly and abundantly, from stump and +scattered seed. + + + =The Yellow Birch= + + _B. lutea_, Michx. + +The yellow birch shows gleams of yellow under every rent in its gray, +silky, frayed-out surface. Here is a timber tree of considerable size +and value: its hard wood furnishes the frames of northern sledges; the +knots and burs make good mallets; the curiously knotted roots show a +curly grain, valuable to the cabinet-maker. From New England to +Minnesota, and south along the Appalachian range, this tree is found, +always telling its name by the color of its shaggy bark. + + + =The Red Birch= + + _B. nigra_, Linn. + +Red birch or river birch wears its name in its chocolate-hued or +terra-cotta bark, whose scaly surface flaunts a series of tattered +fringes to the very twig ends. Tall and graceful fountains of living +green, these birches lean over stream borders from Minnesota and New +York to the Gulf of Mexico, and reach westward to the foothills of the +Rockies. Close-grained and strong, the pale brown wood is used for +furniture, shoe lasts, and a multitude of woodenwares. In the bayous +of the lower Mississippi, where its roots and the base of the trunk +are inundated for half the year, the tree reaches its greatest size. +The cones stand erect and shed their heart-shaped, winged seeds in +June--an exception to the autumn-fruiting of all other birches. + + + =The Cherry Birch= + + _B. lenta_, Linn. + +The cherry birch has dark, irregularly checked bark like the wild +cherry, but the oval, pointed leaf, the catkin flowers, and the cone +fruits of its family. Birch beer is made of its aromatic sap and +wintergreen oil is extracted from the leaves. Indians shred the inner +bark and dry it in the spring when it is rich in starch and sugar. +These shreds, like vermicelli, are boiled with fish and form a +nourishing dish. The wood is heavy, hard, and close-grained, valuable +for the manufacture of furniture and implements, especially wheel +hubs, and for fuel. It is one of the handsomest, most symmetrical, and +most luxuriant of all our birch trees, and a worthy addition to any +park. + + +THE ALDERS + +Closely related to the hornbeams and birches is a genus of small +water-loving trees that grow rapidly and serve definite, special uses +in the Old and New World. The genus _alnus_ includes twenty species, +nine of which grow in North America; six of these reach the height of +trees. + + + =The Black Alder= + + _Alnus glutinosa_, Gaertn. + +Of the alders, the black alders of Europe is the largest and most +important timber tree. Its range includes western Asia and northern +Africa. It was introduced successfully into our Northeastern states in +colonial times and has become naturalized in many localities. These +trees sometimes reach seventy feet in height and a trunk diameter of +three feet. Their dark green foliage, glutinous when the leaves unfold +in the spring, ranks these giant alders among the beautiful and +picturesque trees. + +The lumberman esteems alder wood only for special purposes. It grows +in water and its wood resists decay better than any other kind when +saturated through indefinite periods. In the old days it was the wood +for the boat-builder. The piles of the Rialto in Venice and along the +canals of Amsterdam and other Dutch cities are of black alder. Water +pipes and troughs, pumps, barrel staves, kneading troughs, sabots and +clogs were made of alder wood. The bark and cones are rich in tannin +and a yellow dye used in making ink. Willow and alder make the best +charcoal for gunpowder. Warty excrescences on old trees and twisted +roots furnished the inlayer with small but beautifully veined and very +hard pieces, beautiful in veneer work when polished. In America the +black alder is often met in horticultural varieties. The daintiest are +the cut-leaved forms, of which _imperialis_, with leaves fingered like +a white oak, is a good example. + +One of the best uses to which alders are put in Europe is planting in +hedges along borders of streams, where their closely interlacing roots +hold the banks from crumbling and keep the current clear in midstream. +No English landscape is more beautiful than one through which a little +river winds, its banks and the boggy spots tributary to it softened by +billows of living green. "He who would see the alder in perfection +must follow the banks of the Mole and Surrey through the sweet vales +of Dorking and Wickleham." + + + =Seaside Alder= + + _A. maritima_, Nutt. + +The seaside alder shares with the witch hazel the peculiar distinction +of bearing its flowers and ripening its fruit simultaneously in the +fall of the year. The alder comes first, hanging out its golden +catkins in clusters on the ends of the season's shoots in August and +September. Nothing is left of them when the witch hazel scatters its +dainty stars along the twigs in October and November. The seaside +alder follows stream borders near but not actually on the seacoast, +through eastern Delaware and Maryland, but ranges comfortably on drier +soil as far west as Oklahoma and is hardy in gardens and parks as far +north as Boston, where it blooms profusely and is much admired for +both flowers and glossy foliage through the late summer. + + + =Oregon Alder= + + _A. Oregona_, Nutt. + +The Oregon or red alder reaches eighty feet in height and its trunk +may exceed three feet in diameter. This Western tree exceeds the Old +World alder in size. The smooth, pale-gray bark reminds us of the +beech and sets this tree apart from the white alder whose bark is +brown and deeply furrowed. The flowers and cone fruits are very large. +The ovate leaves are cut-toothed and often lobed. This is the alder of +the West Coast, largest where it comes down to the sea near the shores +of Puget Sound, but climbing the mountains and canyon sides wherever +there is water, from Sitka to Santa Barbara. The reddish brown wood is +light, easily worked, and beautifully satiny when polished. In +Washington and Oregon it is largely used in the manufacture of +furniture. The Indian dug-outs are made of the butts of large trees. + + +THE SYCAMORES, OR BUTTONWOODS + + + =The Buttonwood= + + _Platanus occidentalis_, Linn. + +Our eastern buttonwood is a tree to which, in America, we supply the +name sycamore. Its European counterpart is the plane tree of the Old +World. It is one of the easiest trees to recognize, for its most +prominent trait is fairly shouted at us from a distance, whenever one +of these trees comes within the range of our vision. The smooth bark +that covers the branches is thin, very brittle, and has the habit of +flaking off in irregular plates, leaving white patches under these +plates that contrast sharply with the dingy olive of the unshed areas. +On old trunks the bark is reddish brown and breaks into small, +irregular plates; but above, and out among the branches, the tree +looks downright untidy, and as though it had been splashed with +whitewash by some careless painter. (_See illustrations, pages +102-103._) + +White birches grow in copses in low ground, a whole regiment of their +white stems slanting upward. But the ghostly sycamore is apt to stand +alone along the river-courses, scattered among other water-loving +trees. The tree is wayward in its branching habit, its twigs irregular +and angular. When the leaves are gone, it is a distressed-looking +object, dangling its seed-balls in the wind until the central, bony +cob is bare, the seeds having all sailed away on their hairy +parachutes. + +In the warmer South our buttonwood is a stalwart, large-limbed tree of +colossal trunk, that shelters oaks and maples under its protecting +arms. And there are some large specimens on Long Island. + +The buttonwood leaf in a general way resembles a maple's, being as +broad as long, with three main lobes at the top. The leaf stem forms a +tent over the bud formed in summer and containing the leafy shoot of +the next year. The leaf scar, therefore, is a circle and the leaf base +a hollow cone. At first a sheathing stipule, like a little leafy +ruffle, grows at the base of each leaf, but this is shed before +midsummer. + + + =Oriental Plane= + + _P. Orientalis_, Linn. + +The oriental plane is almost as familiar a tree as our native species, +for it is planted as a street tree in every city and village, and is a +favorite shade and lawn tree besides. The city of Washington has set +the example and so has Philadelphia. One third of the street trees of +Paris are plane trees. + +The chief merits of this tree immigrant are its perfect hardiness, its +fine, symmetrical, compact pyramid, its freedom from injury by smoke +and dust, and its rapid growth in the poor soil of the parkings of +city and village. In leaf and fruit and bark-shedding habit, it is +easily recognized as a sycamore, though in this species more than one +ball dangles from each stem. + +The exactions of city life limit the number of tree species that will +do well. Our native sycamore patiently endures the foul breath of +factory chimneys, and helps, in the smallest, downtown city parks, to +make green oases in burning deserts of brick and stone pavements. But +it is subject to the ravages of insect and fungous enemies to a +greater extent than the oriental species. + + +THE GUM TREES + +Southern people talk more about "gum trees" than people in the North. +Two of our three native species of Nyssa belong solely to southern +swamps, and the third, which comes north to Canada, is oftener called +by other names. All these trees are picturesque, with twiggy, +contorted branches; tough, cross-grained wood; alternate, simple, +leathery, but deciduous leaves, beautiful at all seasons; minute +flowers and fleshy, berry-like fruits. + + + =The Sour, or Black, Gum= + + _Nyssa sylvatica_, Marsh. + +The sour or black gum of the South has a wide range, being hardy to +southern Ontario and Maine. To the New Englander this is the +"pepperidge"; the Indians called it "tupelo"; but the woodsman, North +and South, calls it the gum tree, as a rule. "Black gum" refers to its +dark gray, rough bark, which is broken into many-sided plates. By +this, it is easily distinguished from the "red gum" or liquid amber, +which grows in the same situations, but is not related to it. "Sour +gum" refers to the acid, blue-black berries, one to three in a +cluster, ripe in October. + +We shall know this tree by its tall, slender trunk, clothed with +short, ridged, full-twigged, horizontal branches. With no claim to +symmetry, the black gum is a striking and picturesque figure in +winter. It is beautiful in summer, covered with the dark polished +leaves, two to four inches long. In autumn patches of red appear as +the leaves begin to drop. This is the tupelo's signal that winter is +coming. Soon the tree is a pillar of fire against yellowing ashes and +hickories. The reds of the swamp maple and scarlet oak are brighter, +but no tree has a richer color than this one. A spray brought in to +decorate the mantelpiece lasts till Christmas holly displaces it. The +leaves, being leathery, do not curl and dry, as do thin maple leaves, +in the warm air of the house. + + + =The Cotton Gum= + + _N. aquatica_, Marsh. + +The cotton gum is draped in cottony white down as the new shoots start +and the leaves unfold in spring. In midsummer this down persists in +the leaf-linings, lightening the dark green of the tree-tops. The dark +blue fruits of this species have no culinary value. The wood is used +for crating material. The tree reaches its maximum height--one hundred +feet--in the cypress swamps of Louisiana and Texas, its abundant, +corky roots adapting it to its habitat. + + + =The Sweet Gum= + + _Liquidamber styraciflua_, Linn. + +The sweet gum is a tall tree with a straight trunk, four to five feet +in diameter, with slender branches covered with corky bark thrown out +in wing-like ridges. At first the head is regular and pyramidal, but +in old age it becomes irregularly oblong and comparatively narrow. The +bark is reddish brown, deeply furrowed between rough scaly plates, +marked by hard, warty excrescences. + +The leaves are lobed like a maple's, but more regularly, so as to form +a five-pointed star. Brilliant green in summer, they become streaked +with crimson and yellow. Wherever these gum trees grow, the autumn +landscape is painted with the changeful splendor of the most gorgeous +sunset. "The tree is not a flame, it is a _conflagration_!" Often +along a country road the rail fence is hidden by an undergrowth of +young gum trees. Their polished star leaves may pass from green into +dull crimsons and then into lilacs and so to brown, or they may flame +into scarlets and orange instead. Always, the foliage of the sweet gum +falls before it loses its wonderful colors. + +The flowers of the sweet gum are knobby little bunches; the swinging +balls covered with curving horns contain the winged seeds, small but +shaped like the key of the maple. One recognizes the gum tree in +winter by these swinging seed-balls, an inch in diameter, like the +balls of the buttonwood, except that those are smooth. (_See +illustrations, pages 102-103._) The best distinguishing mark of sweet +gums in winter are the corky ridges on the branches, and the +star-shaped leaves under the trees. Sweet gum sap is resinous and +fragrant. Chip through the bark, and an aromatic gum soon accumulates +in the wound. The farther South one goes, the more copious is the +exudation. In Mexico a Spanish explorer described, in 1651, "large +trees that exude a gum like liquid amber." This is the "copalm balm" +gathered and shipped each year to Europe from New Orleans and from +Mexican ports. The fragrant gum, _storax_ or _styrax_, derived from +forests of the oriental sweet gum in Asia Minor, is used as incense in +temples of various oriental religions. It blends with frankincense and +myrrh in the censers of Greek and Roman Catholic churches. It is used +in medicines also, and as a dry gum is the standard glove perfume in +France. + +Beautiful and interesting in every stage of growth, our native sweet +gums are planted largely in the parks of Europe and are earning +recognition at home, through the efforts of tree-lovers who would make +the most of native species in ornamental planting. + +The name, gum tree, is applied to our tupelos, and to the great tribe +of Australian eucalyptus trees, now largely planted in the Southwest. + + + =The Osage Orange= + + _Toxylon pomiferum_, Raff. + +Related to figs and mulberries, but solitary in the genus _toxylon_, +is the osage orange, a handsome round-headed tree, native of eastern +North America, whose fleshy roots and milky, bitter, rubbery sap +reveal its family connections with the tropical rubber plants. (_See +illustration, page 119._) The fruits are great yellow-green globes, +four to five inches in diameter, covered on the outside by crowded, +one-seeded berries. This compound fruit reveals the tree's +relationship to both figs and mulberries. + +The aborigines, especially of the Osage tribe, in the middle +Mississippi Valley, cherished these trees for their orange-yellow +wood, which is hard, heavy, flexible, and strong--the best bow-wood to +be found east of the Rocky Mountains. When the settlers came the sharp +thorns with which the branches are effectually armed appealed strongly +to the busy farmers and the tree was widely planted for hedges. +Nurserymen produced them by thousands, from cuttings of root and +branch. These trees made rapid growth and seemed most promising as a +solution of the fencing problem, but they did not prove hardy in Iowa +and neighboring states. Even now remnants of those old winter-killed +hedges may be found on farm boundaries, individual trees having been +able to survive. + +The native osage orange timber is about all gone, for the rich bottom +lands where it once grew most abundantly in Oklahoma and Texas have +been converted into farm land. However, the growing of osage orange +timber for posts is on the increase. Systematically maintained, +plantations pay well. The wood is exceptionally durable in soil. Good +prices are paid for posts in local markets. Twenty-five posts can be +grown to the rod in rows of a plantation; they grow rapidly and send +up new shoots from the roots. + +The brilliant, leathery leaves and conspicuous green fruits make this +native bow-wood a very striking lawn tree. It holds its foliage well +into the autumn and turns at length into a mass of gold. It harbors +few insects, has handsome bark, and is altogether a distinguished, +foreign-looking tree. + +Experiments of feeding osage orange leaves to silkworms have been +successfully made at different times, but nowhere in America has silk +culture succeeded. Since the white mulberry is hardy here and its +foliage is the basis of the silk-growing industry in the Old World, it +is futile to look for substitutes in the osage orange or any other +tree. + + + + +PART IV + +TREES WITH SHOWY FLOWERS AND FRUITS + + The Magnolias--The Dogwoods--The Viburnums--The Mountain + Ashes--The Rhododendron--The Mountain Laurel--The Madroña--The + Sorrel Tree--The Silver Bell Trees--The Sweet Leaf--The Fringe + Tree--The Laurel Family--The Witch Hazel--The Burning Bush--The + Sumachs--The Smoke Tree--The Hollies + + +THE MAGNOLIAS + +Four of the ten genera in the magnolia family are represented in North +America. Of these, two are trees. All are known by their large, +simple, alternate leaves, with margins entire; their showy, solitary, +terminal flowers, perfect and with all parts distinct; and their +cone-like fruits, compounded of many one- or two-seeded follicles, +shingling over each other upon a central spike. The wood is soft and +light throughout the family, and the roots are fleshy. The sap is +watery and the bark is bitter and aromatic. + +The genus _magnolia_, named by Linnaeus in honor of Pierre Magnol, a +French botanist, includes twenty species; twelve are native to eastern +and southern Asia, two to Mexico, and six to eastern North America. +They are of peculiar interest to horticulturists and to the general +public, because they have the largest flowers of any trees in +cultivation. A white blossom from six inches to a foot across is bound +to attract attention and admiration when set off by a whorl of +lustrous evergreen leaves. The petals of most magnolia blossoms are +notably thick and waxy in texture and deliciously fragrant. Last but +not least are the cone-like fruits, which flush from pale green to +rose as they ripen against the dark, leathery foliage; at maturity +their follicles open in a peculiar fashion and hang out their bright +red seeds on slender elastic threads. Foliage, flowers, or cones alone +would make magnolias superb as ornamental trees. All these qualities +combined have given them a preëminent place in every country where +ornamental planting is done. North America is fortunate in having so +large a number of species that assume tree form. + +When you see a magnolia in the North blossoming before the leaves, you +may be sure it is an exotic species, and if the flowers are colored +you may be equally sure that it is a hybrid between two oriental +species, and belongs to the group of which the type is _M. +Soulangeana_. The owner may be a magnolia enthusiast, able to show you +on his premises both parents of this interesting and beautiful hybrid. + + + + [Illustration: _See page 87_ + + THE TATTERED, SILKY BARK OF THE BIRCHES] + + [Illustration: _See page 93_ + + BLOTCHED BARK OF THE SYCAMORE, AND THE SEED-BALLS THAT HANG ON + ALL WINTER] + + [Illustration: _See page 97_ + + THE WARTY, RIDGED BARK, THE SWINGING SEED-BALLS, AND THE WINGED + SEEDS OF THE SWEET GUM] + + [Illustration: _See page 109_ + + TULIP TREE, FLOWER AND LEAVES] + + + =Yulan Magnolia= + + _Magnolia Yulan_ + +The Yulan magnolia, for centuries a favorite in Japanese gardens, +covers itself before the leaves appear with pure white, fragrant +flowers, bell-shaped and fully six inches across. In our Eastern +gardens it is quite as much at home, and though young trees are +oftenest seen, the older specimens are as large as any native +magnolia. This is one parent. The other is but a shrub, the purple +magnolia, _M. obovata_, that must be protected against the rigors of +our Northern winters. It blooms in May or June, and its purple +flowers, with rosy linings, are relatively small and almost scentless. +The children of this parentage get their tints of pink and rose and +crimson from this purple magnolia shrub. + +Splendid, hardy, fragrant, big-flowered varieties have arisen from +this cross. All are small trees, suitable for planting in city yards, +where they are decorative throughout the season. + + + =Starry Magnolia= + + _M. stellata_ + +The starry magnolia blooms in March or April, covering itself with +star-shaped white flowers made of strap-like petals that form a flat +whorl instead of a cup. This is the earliest magnolia and wonderfully +precocious, blooming when scarcely two feet high. + +The Southern states can grow the splendid Campbell's magnolia, which +is in its glory in the high mountain valleys of the Himalayas, where +it reaches one hundred feet in height. The fragrant flower-cups, from +six to ten inches in diameter, shade from pink to crimson. It is rare +in cultivation because it is not easy to grow, and northern +horticulturists fail utterly to grow it outdoors; but the fact that it +is the most beautiful of all exotic species must encourage its culture +in the South, and difficulties will be overcome when the tree's +peculiar needs are fully understood. + + + =The Great Laurel Magnolia= + + _M. foetida_, Sarg. + +The great laurel magnolia is oftenest seen in cultivation as a small +tree of pyramidal or conical habit, with stiff, ascending branches, +bearing a lustrous mass of leathery oval leaves, five to eight inches +long, lined with dull green, or with rusty down, persistent until the +second spring. When small these magnolia trees are as conventional as +the rubber plants in hotel lobbies, whose foliage resembles theirs. +But in the forests of Louisiana, where this tree reaches its greatest +perfection, it earns the characterization that Sargent gave it, "the +most splendid ornamental tree in the American forests." With a trunk +four feet thick, and its head lifted from fifty to eighty feet above +the ground and with each leaf cluster holding up a great white flower, +waxy as a camellia, seven to eight inches across, the tree is indeed +superb. William Bartram likened these flowers to great white roses, +distinctly visible from a distance of a mile. + +The purple heart of the flower, made by a spot of color at the base of +each petal, and the overpowering odor, rather sickening as the flowers +fade, lure insects to the nectar store at the bottom of the +flower-cup. This odor, disagreeable to many people, is the one +objection to this flower when brought indoors. A drawback that +florists discover is that the slightest bruise of the waxy petals +produces a brownish discoloration, which prevents the shipment of +these flowers. The splendid foliage, however, travels perfectly, and a +new and growing industry is the gathering of magnolia branches in +Southern woods for Christmas decoration. These branches are offered +in all Northern cities, and this demand threatens the extinction of +the tree, which until comparatively recent years has enjoyed immunity +because of the worthlessness of its soft wood. + +The tree's natural range is from the North Carolina coast to Tampa +Bay, and west along the Gulf Coast to Texas and southern Arkansas. As +an ornamental tree, it is safely planted in Philadelphia, but its life +is precarious farther north. It is widely grown in southern California +as a street tree, notably in Pasadena and in parks and gardens for its +blossoms, foliage, and fuzzy, horny cones. + + + =The Swamp Bay= + + _M. glauca_, Linn. + +The swamp bay has lustrous, bright green leaves with silvery linings. +In Florida and across to Texas and Arkansas it grows into a superb +evergreen tree, fifty to seventy-five feet in height. Northward along +the Atlantic Coast its growth is stunted as the climate becomes more +rigorous, until it reaches Massachusetts and Long Island, where it +becomes a many-stemmed shrub, whose beautiful leaves fall in the +autumn. On the streets of cities near the New Jersey swamps the +flowers of the swamp bay are offered for sale in May. The buds are +almost globular, and each one is surrounded by a cluster of new +leaves. To spring back these waxy white petals, that are marred by a +touch, is criminal; but it is the common practice with boys who hawk +these flowers on the streets. Most of the charm is gone from flowers +thus defiled by dingy fingers. + +The finest flowers are borne on strong young shoots. The florists +collect and handle them with extreme care. Much of the swamp land now +useless along the Atlantic seaboard could be profitably planted to +this magnolia, for the florist trade alone. The flowers bloom slowly +through a period of several weeks. The enterprising owner of tracts +planted to swamp bay could reap two harvests a year, almost from the +first season: the flowers in spring and the leafy shoots for holiday +decorations. In the South the leaves are evergreen. + + + =The Large-leaved Cucumber Tree= + + _M. macrophylla_, Michx. + +The large-leaved cucumber tree exceeds all other magnolias in the size +of its leaves and flowers. In fact, no tree outside the tropics can +match it, for its blades are almost a yard in length. The flowers are +great white bowls, sometimes a foot across, made of six white waxy +petals, much broader than the three protecting sepals outside. The +inner petals have purple spots at the base. The fruits are almost +globular, two to three inches long, turning red as they mature, +equally showy when the scarlet seeds dangle from the open follicles. + +These trees are at home in fertile valleys among the foothills of the +Alleghanies, from North Carolina to middle Florida, and west to +central Arkansas. Their range is not continuous. They occur in +scattered groups that have come from seed. + +The horticulturist has greatly aided nature in the spread of this tree +in this country and in Europe, where its flowers and leaves attract +universal attention. The mistake usually made is to plant it in the +middle of a lawn where the wind lashes the broad leaves into ribbons +before they have reached their full size. Every twig or leaf that +touches a petal mars it with a brown bruise. The only way to enjoy one +of these remarkable trees is to plant it in the most sheltered +situation, where the sunshine will reach it and the breezes will not. +Then the silver-lined foliage and the superb white blossoms can come +to perfection and the sight is worth going miles to see. + + + =The Cucumber Tree= + + _M. acuminata_, Linn. + +The cucumber tree is the hardiest of our native magnolias, +tropical-looking by reason of its heart-shaped leaves, six to ten +inches long. Its chosen habitat is rocky uplands, where the fleshy +roots can find moist soil. It ranges from western New York to +Illinois, Kentucky, and Arkansas, and follows the mountain foothills +through Pennsylvania and Tennessee into Alabama and Mississippi. + +The flowers are like tulips, and though large can scarcely be seen +among the new leaves, because they are all yellowish green in color. +The petals are leaf-like and the flowers have no fragrance to make up +for their lack of beauty. Imperfect pollination results in distorted, +fleshy cones that resemble cucumbers that have twisted and shrunken in +spots as they grew. These fruits turn from pink to red as they mature, +redeeming their ugly shape by their vivid color as the leaves turn +yellow. In September, the scarlet seeds hang out and the wind whips +them until they dangle several inches below the fruit. One by one they +drop and new cucumber trees come up from this planting. + +The wood of the cucumber tree is light, close-textured, weak, and pale +brown in color. It has only local use in cabinet-making and for +flooring. The tree is far more valuable in horticulture. It is a +splendid stock on which to graft less hardy magnolias. It is a superb +avenue and shade tree for Northern cities, and in this capacity it is +as yet little known. It grows vigorously from seed, and stands +transplanting, if care is used that the brittle roots are not +mutilated nor dried. + + + =The Umbrella Tree= + + _M. tripetala_, Linn. + +The umbrella tree has an umbrella-like whorl of leaves surrounding the +flower whose white cup stands above three recurving white sepals. The +whole tree suggests an umbrella, so closely thatched is its dome of +thin, bright green leaves. + +The stout contorted branches and twigs lack symmetry, from the forking +habit. Side twigs strike out at right angles from an erect branch, +then turn up into a position parallel with the parent branch, and bear +terminal flowers, which induce another branching system the following +year. Despite its angularity this is the trimmest and one of the +handsomest of our native magnolias, and it has the merit of hardiness +even in New England, where it attains large size. Its native range +extends from Pennsylvania near the coast, along the Atlantic seaboard, +and westward to southern Alabama and Arkansas. It loves swamp borders +and the banks of mountain streams, but behaves well in the moderately +rich soil of parks and gardens. + + + =The Tulip Tree= + + _Liriodendron tulipifera_, Linn. + +The tulip tree is a cousin, rather than a sister, to the foregoing +magnolias. It stands alone in its genus in America, but has a sister +species that grows in the Chinese interior. A tall, stately forest +tree, it reached two hundred feet in height, and a trunk diameter of +ten feet, in the lower Ohio Valley, when it was covered with virgin +forest. This species still holds its own as a valuable lumber tree on +mountain slopes of North Carolina and Tennessee. Smaller, but still +stately and beautiful, it is found in woods from Vermont to Florida +and west to Illinois, Arkansas, and Mississippi. + +In Europe the tulip tree has been a favorite since its discovery and +exportation by the American colonists. More and more it is coming to +be appreciated at home as a lawn and shade tree, for there is no time +in the year when it is not full of interest and beauty, and no time in +its life when it is not a distinct and beautiful addition to any +plantation. + +In the dead of winter young tulip trees are singularly straight and +symmetrical compared with saplings of other trees. There is usually a +grove of them, planted by some older tree that towers overhead, and +still holds up its shiny cones, that take months to give up their +winged seeds. The close, thick, intricately furrowed bark of the +parent tree contrasts sharply with the smooth rind of its branches and +the stems of the saplings. Tulip trees are trim as beeches until the +trunks are old. + +The winter twigs are set with oblong blunt leaf-buds. The terminal one +contains the flower, when the tree is old enough to bloom. (_See +illustration, page 103._) In spring the terminal buds of saplings best +show the peculiarity of the tree's vernation. Two green leaves with +palms together form a flat bag that encloses the new shoot. Hold this +bag up to the light and you see, as a shadow within, a curved petiole +and leaf. The bag opens along its edge seam, the leaf-stem +straightens, lifting the blade which is folded on the midrib. At the +base of the petiole stands a smaller flat green bag. As the leaf grows +to maturity the basal palms of its protecting bag shrivel and fall +away, leaving the ring scar around the leaf base. + +Now the growing shoot has carried up the second bag, which opens and +another leaf expands, sheds its leafy stipules, and a third follows. +The studies of this unique vernation delight children and grown-ups. +It is absolutely unmatched in the world of trees. + +The leathery blades of the tulip tree are from four to six inches +broad and long, with basal lobes, like those of a maple leaf, and the +end chopped off square. Occasionally there is a notch, made by the two +end lobes projecting a trifle beyond the midrib. The leaves are +singularly free from damage, keeping their dark lustrous beauty +through the summer, and turning to clear yellow before they fall. + +The winged seeds fall first from the top of the erect cones, the wind +whirling them far, because the flat blades are long and the seed-cases +light--many of them empty in fact. Far into winter a tulip tree seems +to be blossoming, because its bare branches are tipped with the +remnants of the seed cones, faded and shining almost white against the +dark branches. + +Tulip wood is soft and weak, pale brown, and light in weight. It is +easily worked and is used locally for house and boat-building. Wood +pulp consumes much of the yearly harvest. It is known as "poplar," +whose wood it resembles. Ordinary postal cards are made of it. The +bark yields a drug used as a heart stimulant. + + +THE DOGWOODS + +Foliage of exceptional beauty is the distinguishing trait of the trees +in the cornel family, from the standpoint of the landscape gardener +and the lover of the woods. Showy flowers and fruit belong to some of +the species; extremely hard, close-textured wood belongs to all; and +this means slow growth, which is a limitation in the eyes of the +planter who wishes quick results. But he who plants a cornel tree and +watches it season after season, finds it one of the most interesting +of nature studies through the whole round of the year. + +The dogwoods are slender-twigged trees of small size, with simple, +entire leaves, strongly ribbed, and with one exception, set opposite +upon the twigs. Fifty species are distributed over the Northern +Hemisphere; one crosses the equator into Peru. Four of the seventeen +species found in the United States are trees; the rest are shrubs, one +of them the low-growing bunchberry of our Northern woods. + + + =The Flowering Dogwood= + + _Cornus florida_, Linn. + +The flowering dogwood (_see illustration, page 134_) is a little tree +whose round, bushy, flat-topped head is made of short, horizontal +branches. The twigs hold erect in the winter a multitude of buds, +large, squat, enclosed in four scales, like the husk of a hickory nut. +All the delicate tints that the water-colorist delights in are found +in these buds and the twigs that bear them. When spring comes, these +scales loosen, expand, turn green, then fade into pure white--forming +the four banners, ordinarily called petals--of the bloom of the +dogwood. The true flowers are small and clustered in the centre. These +white expanses are merely modified bud scales, the botanist will tell +you, and the notch at the end is where the horny winter scale broke +away, while its base was growing into the large white palm. + +From March till May one finds the dogwood clothed in white (_see +illustration, page 118_), and the glossy leaves passing through +changing hues from rose to green. The wayward arrangement of the +blossoms on the branch is the delight of artists. Lured by the white +signals, bees and other nectar-loving insects come to the flowers, +cross-fertilizing them while they supply their own needs. In midsummer +the pale green clusters of berries replace the flowers, and when in +autumn the foliage, still glossy and smooth, changes to crimson and +scarlet, the berries are brighter still, until the birds have taken +every one. + +The bark of the dogwood is checkered like alligator skin but with deep +furrows that make it very rough. The wood is used for wood engraving +blocks, for tool handles, hubs, and cogs. But it is becoming very +scarce. The deplorable destruction of the dogwoods comes not so much +from the lumberman as from the irresponsible people who tear the trees +to pieces in blossoming time. The wanton mutilation of the dogwoods in +natural woodlands belonging to cities can be curbed only by policing +the tracts. The saving of every flowering dogwood tree is a duty owed +to his community by every wood-lot owner within the range of this +hardy, handsome tree. Though exterminated over much of its range, it +is able and willing to grow in any state east of the Mississippi +River. It is one of the most deservedly popular trees planted for +ornament in this country and in Europe. + + + =Western Dogwood= + + _C. Nuttallii_, Aud. + +The Pacific Coast outdoes the rest of the country in the size of its +forest trees. Superlatives in vegetation abound where the breath of +the Japan current tempers the air. The Western dogwood often reaches +one hundred feet in height in the forests near Seattle. Its flowers +have six, instead of four, of the petal-like, white bracts, each +narrower and pointed, and without the terminal notch. The tree in +blossom is more magnificent than the eastern species, for the flowers +are often twice as large, and the spectacle of one of these trees, +after the leaves turn to scarlet in autumn, and it leans against the +sombre evergreens that cover the mountain-side, is always startling, +even in a country where surprises are the rule. + + + =European Dogwood= + + _C. mas._ + +The European dogwood or cornel is often planted in the Eastern states +as an ornamental tree, but not for its flowers alone, though these +tiny, button-like clusters cover the bare branches in earliest spring. +The showy fruits look like scarlet olives hanging among the glossy +foliage in late summer. These fruits are edible, and in Europe are +used in preserves and cordials. + + +THE VIBURNUMS + +The honeysuckle family, which includes a multitude of ornamental +shrubs, furnishes two genera with three representatives. Handsome +foliage, showy flowers, and attractive fruits justify the popularity +of this family in gardens and parks. + +The viburnums are distributed over the Northern Hemisphere and extend +into the tropics. There are about one hundred species, including the +old-fashioned snowball bush, perhaps the best-known species in this +country. Discriminating gardeners have replaced it by the Japanese +snowball, because the latter has much more handsome foliage and +perfect flowers, instead of the barren flower cluster that has nothing +to show for itself once the bloom is past. This new species wears the +autumn decoration of bright red berries well into the winter. + + + =The Sheepberry= + + _Viburnum lentago_, Linn. + +In our native woods the sheepberry is a small round-headed tree, with +slim, drooping branches and oval leaves, finely cut-toothed and +tapering to wavy-winged petioles. In autumn these leathery leaves +change to orange and red, their shiny surfaces contrasting with the +dull lining, pitted with black dots. The fruit, a loose cluster of +dark blue berries, on branching red stems, is an attractive color +contrast, and the birds flutter in the trees until they have eaten the +last one. The fragrant white flowers light up the tree from April to +June with their flat clusters three to five inches across. The +opposite arrangement of the leaves and that short-winged petiole +identify the little tree, whether it grows by the swamp borders, along +the streams, or in parks and gardens. At any season it is good to look +upon. Its range covers the eastern half of the country, extending +almost to the Gulf of Mexico and west into Wyoming. + + + =The Rusty Nannyberry= + + _V. rufidulum_, Raff. + +The rusty nannyberry is easily distinguished by the rusty hairs that +clothe its new shoots and the stems and veins of the leaves. White +flower clusters are succeeded by bright blue berries of unusual size +and brilliance, ripe in October, on red-stemmed pedicles. The handsome +polished leaves are rounded at the tips. The wood of this little tree +has a very unpleasant odor, but this trait has no bearing upon its +merits as a garden ornament. It is found wild from Virginia to +Illinois and southward. In cultivation it is hardy in the latitude of +Boston. + + + =The Black Haw= + + _V. prunifolium_, Linn. + +The black haw has the characteristic flowers and fruit of its genus, +but is smaller throughout than the other two, and its branches are +stout. In European parks and gardens it is known as the "stagbush." +Its fruit turns dark when dead ripe, and persists well into the +winter. In the wilds, this little viburnum is found from southern New +England to Michigan, and south to Georgia and Texas. + + +THE MOUNTAIN ASHES + +The handsome foliage and showy flower clusters make the mountain ashes +a favorite group of little trees for border shrubberies and other +ornamental planting. The foliage is almost fern-like in delicacy and +it spreads in a whorl below the flower clusters in spring and the +scarlet berry clusters in autumn. Far into the winter after the +foliage has dropped the berries persist, supplying the birds with +food, especially in snowy winters, when their need is greatest, and +brightening the dull thickets of bare twigs on dreary days. + + + =Eastern Mountain Ash= + + _Sorbus Americana_, Marsh. + +The common eastern mountain ash reaches thirty feet in height--a +slender, pyramidal tree, with spreading branches and delicate leaves of +from thirteen to seventeen leaflets. The flat-topped cluster of creamy +white flowers (_see illustration, page 135_) appears in May and June, +above the dark yellow-green foliage; and the scarlet berries, ripe in +September when the leaves have turned yellow, may persist until spring. +Along the borders of swamps and climbing rocky bluffs, often scattered +in plum thickets, these trees are handsome at any season. Along the +mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina home remedies are made out of +the berries. From Newfoundland to Manitoba and southward the tree grows +wild and is planted for ornament in home grounds. + + + =Elder-leaved Mountain Ash= + + _S. sambucifolia_, Roem. + +The elder-leaved mountain ash overlaps the first species, and is even +more daring as a climber. It ranges from Labrador to Alaska, follows the +Rocky Mountains to Colorado, and in the Eastern states goes no farther +south than Pennsylvania. Its leaves are graceful and drooping like the +elder. The flowers and fruits are large; the whole tree tropical +looking, its open, pyramidal head giving each leaf a chance at the sun. + + + =European Mountain Ash= + + _S. Aucuparia_, Linn. + +Most common in cultivation is the European mountain ash called in +England the rowan tree. This trim round-headed species is very neat +and conventional compared with its wild cousins, but in the craggy +highlands of Scotland and Wales it much resembles our mountain ashes. + +Old superstitions cluster around the rowan tree in all rural sections. +These are preserved in the folk-lore and the literature of many +countries. Rowans were planted by cottage doors and at the gates of +church yards, being considered effectual in exorcising evil spirits. +Leafy twigs hung over the thresholds, crosses made of "Roan" wood +given out on festival days, were worn as charms or amulets. Milkmaids, +especially, depended upon these for the defeat of the "black elves" +who constantly tried to make their cows go dry, and unless prevented +got into the churns--and then the butter would never come! + +The farther north a tree can grow, the more likely it is to have close +relatives in the Old World. One mountain ash of Japan is hardly +distinguishable from our western species, and some authorities believe +that our two native species are but varieties of the rowan tree of +Europe. + + +THE RHODODENDRON + +The heath family, of about sixty-seven genera, distributed over the +temperate and tropical countries of the earth, has twenty-one genera +in the United States, seven of which have tree representatives. +Azaleas, the multitude of the heathers, the huckleberries, the +madroñas, call to mind flower shows we have seen--under glass, in +gardens, in parks, and among mountain fastnesses brightened by the +loveliness of the mountain laurel, azalea, and rhododendron. In this +wonderful family the leaves are simple and mostly evergreen. Rarely +are the fruits of any importance. It is the flowers in masses that +give the chief distinction to a family with over a thousand species, +which have been the subjects of study and cultivation through +centuries. The type of the family is the Scotch heather, immortalized +in song and story. In London the Christmas season is marked by the +sale of half a million little potted plants of heather! Each is about +a foot in height and bears a thousand tiny bells, rosy, with white +lips. This is the poor man's Christmas flower. It costs a shilling and +lasts a month or more. + + [Illustration: _See page 111_ + + FLOWERING DOGWOOD] + + [Illustration: _See page 99_ + + THE OSAGE ORANGE + + Flowers appear in June, after the lustrous leaves] + +Trees are scarce in the heath family. Shrubs are in the majority. The +azaleas, which the Belgian gardeners have brought to such perfection +and developed in such a great number of varieties, are among the best +known of the heaths. The profuse blossoms in potted azaleas entirely +extinguish the foliage, and the flowers are almost as lasting as if +they were artificial. + +The genus rhododendron in American woods is represented by a mountain +shrub and a tree. Both are evergreen and both are widely planted for +ornament during the entire season. Carloads of these wonderful plants +are shipped from the mountain slopes of the Alleghanies for mass +planting on rocky ground, and to cover embankments along the drives in +great estates. Because of the altitude of their native habitat, they +are hardy in New England, and even as far as the Great Lakes. In time +of bloom, these masses are the great flower show of the countryside, +and in winter nothing is more beautiful than the evergreen foliage of +rhododendrons, lifted out of the snow. + + + =Great Laurel or Rose Bay= + + _Rhododendron maximum_, Linn. + +Among the Alleghany Mountains, from Virginia southward, the great +laurel rises to a height of forty feet, and interlaces its boughs with +those of Fraser's magnolia and the mountain hemlock in the dense +forest cover. Thickets of rhododendron trees are common, and though +its stature is reduced, it follows the highlands into New York, and is +one of the most striking and beautiful shrubs in the Pennsylvania +mountains. Scattered and becoming more rare and more stunted, it +reaches Lake Erie and on into New Brunswick. The leaves crown each of +the stiff branches with an umbrella-like whorl, that stands guard in +winter time about a large scaly bud. In spring the scales fall and a +cone-like flower cluster rises. Each blossom is white, marked with +yellow or orange spots, in the bell-like corolla's throat; or the +flowers may be pale rose, with deeper tones in the unopened buds. A +great tree in blossom, with its flower clusters lighting up the +umbrella-like whorls of glossy, evergreen leaves, illuminates the +woods, and makes every other tree look commonplace beside it. + +In late summer, green capsules, each with a curving style at the top, +cluster where the flowers stood, but these are scarcely ornamental. +The evergreen leaves and the buds, full of promise for June +blossoming, are the beautiful features of rhododendrons in winter. + +The wonderful array of color and profusion of bloom, seen in an +exhibit of rhododendrons and azaleas, is the most convincing proof of +what crossing and careful selection can do in developing races of +flowering plants. The ancestry of all these tub-plants is a matter of +record, and goes back to a few comparatively insignificant wild +species, competing with all the rest of the native flora for a +livelihood. + + +THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL + +The mountain laurel (_Kalmia latifolia_, Linn.) grows from Nova Scotia +to Lake Erie and southward through New England and New York, and along +the Alleghanies to northern Georgia. Hardier than the rhododendrons, +smaller in blossoms and in foliage, the laurel is in many points its +superior in beauty. In June and July the polished evergreen foliage of +the kalmia bushes is almost overwhelmed by the masses of its exquisite +pink blossoms, beside which the bloom of rhododendrons looks coarse +and crude in coloring. Coral-red fluted buds with pointed tips show +the richest color, making with the yellow-green of the new leaves one +of the most exquisite color combinations in any spring shrubbery. The +largest buds open first, spreading into wide five-lobed corollas, with +two pockets in the base of each forming a circle of ten pockets. Ten +stamens stand about the free central pistil, and the anther of each is +hid in a pocket of the corolla--the slender filament bent backward. +This is a curious contrivance for insuring cross-fertilization through +the help of the bees. (_See "Flowers Worth Knowing."_) + +Linnaeus commemorated in the name of this genus the devoted and +arduous labors of Peter Kalm, the Swedish botanist, who sent back to +his master at the university of Upsala specimens of the wonderful and +varied flora found in his travels in eastern North America. Most of +the names accredited to Linnaeus were given to plants he never saw +except as dried herbarium specimens from the New World. + + +THE MADROÑA + +The madroña (_Arbutus Menziesii_, Pursh.), another member of the Heath +family, is one of the superbly beautiful trees in the forests that +stretch from British Columbia southward into California. South of the +bay of San Francisco and on the dry eastern slopes of California +mountains it is stunted to a shrub, but on the high, well-drained +slopes through the coast region and in the redwood forests of northern +California it is a tree that reaches a hundred feet in height. + +John Muir writes: "The madroña, clad in thin, smooth, red and yellow +bark, with big, glossy leaves, seems in the dark coniferous forests of +Washington and Vancouver Island like some lost wanderer from the +magnolia groves in the South." All the year around this is one of the +most beautiful of American trees. It bears large conical clusters of +white flowers above the vivid green of its leathery leaves, that are +wonderfully lightened by silvery linings. In autumn the red-brown of +the branches is enriched and intensified by the luxuriant clusters of +scarlet berries against the red and orange of the two-year-old leaves. +Among the giant redwoods this tree commands the highest admiration. + + +THE SORREL TREE + +The sorrel tree, or sour-wood (_Oxydendrum arboreum_, DC.) belongs +among the heaths. Its vivid scarlet autumn foliage is its chief claim +to the admiration of gardeners. In spring the little tree is beautiful +in its bronze-green foliage, and in late July and August it bears long +branching racemes of tiny bell-shaped white flowers. This multitude of +little bells suggests the tree's relationship to the blossoming +heather we see in florists' shops. + +The leaves give the tree its two common names: they have a sour taste, +resembling that of the herbaceous sorrels. The twigs, even in the dead +of winter, yield this refreshing acid sap, that flows through the +veins of the membranous leaves in summer. Many a hunter, temporarily +lost in Southern woods, quenches his thirst by nibbling young shoots +of the sour-wood. + +After the flower comes a downy capsule, five-celled, with numerous +pointed seeds. The leaves are not unlike those of a plum tree except +that they attain a length of five to seven inches. In the woods from +Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, southward to Florida, Alabama, +Louisiana, and Arkansas this tree ranges, and we often see it in +cultivation as far north as Boston. It grows to its largest size on +the western slopes of the Big Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, attaining +here a height of sixty feet. In cultivation it is one of the little, +slender-stemmed, dainty trees, beautiful at any season. It is the sole +representative of its genus in the world, so far as botanists know. + + +THE SILVER BELL TREES + +The silver bell tree (_Mohrodendron tetraptera_, Britt.) earns its +name in May when among the green leaves the clustered bell flowers +gradually pale from green to white, with rosy tints that seem to come +from the ruddy flower-stems. A "snowdrop tree" may be eighty feet in +height, in the mountains of east Tennessee and western North Carolina, +but ordinarily we see it in gardens and parks as a delicate, +slender-branched tree, that stands out from every other species in the +border as the loveliest thing that blooms there. + +Not a moment in spring lacks interest if one has a little mohrodendron +tree to watch. For weeks the ruddy twigs grow ruddier by the opening +of leaf and flower buds; then comes the slow fading of the flowers, +when sun and rain seem to work together to bleach them into utter +purity of color and texture. Gradually the white bells fade and a +queer little green, tapering seed-case enlarges and ripens. Through +the late summer these pale green fruits are exceedingly ornamental as +the leaves turn to pale yellow. + +In cultivation, the silver bell tree is hardy in the New England +states, but in its native woods it grows north no farther than West +Virginia and Illinois. It is easily transplanted and pruned to bush +form, if one desires to keep the blossoming down where the perfection +of the flowers can be enjoyed at close range. + + + =Snowdrop Tree= + + _M. diptera_, Britt. + +A second species called the snowdrop tree skirts the swamps along the +South Atlantic and Gulf coast and follows the Mississippi bayous to +southern Arkansas. It is smaller in stature than the silver bell tree, +but has larger leaves and more showy flowers. The botanical names +record the chief specific difference between the two species: this one +has but two wings on its seed-cases, while the other has four. This +species is hardy no farther north than Philadelphia. The flowers have +their bells cleft almost to the base, whereas the bell of the other +species is merely notched at the top. + + +THE SWEET LEAF + +Two genera of trees in this country are temperate zone representatives +of a tropical family which furnishes benzoine, torax, and other +valuable balsams of commerce. It is easy to see that these trees are +strangers from warm countries, for many of their traits are singularly +unfamiliar. + + + =The Sweet Leaf= + + _Symplocos tinctoria_, L'Her. + +The sweet leaf is our sole representative of a large genus of trees +native to the forests of Australia and the tropics in Asia and South +America. They yield important drugs and dyestuffs, particularly in +British India. But the sweet leaf is a small tree, rarely over twenty +feet in height, with ashy gray bark, warty and narrowly fissured. In +earliest spring its twigs are clothed with yellow or white blossoms +that come in a procession and cover the tree from March until May, +preceding the leaves, and breathing a wonderful fragrance into the +air. The leaves are small, leathery, dark green, lustrous above, +deciduous in the regions of colder winters, persistent from one to two +years in the warmer part of its range. The flowers are succeeded by +brown berries that ripen in summer, or early autumn. The flesh is dry +about the single seed. + +Horses and cattle greedily browse upon the foliage, which has a +distinctly sweet taste. The bark and leaves both yield a yellow dye, +and the roots a tonic from their bitter, aromatic sap. + +"Horse sugar" is another local name for this little tree, which is +found sparingly from Delaware to Florida, west to the Blue Ridge +Mountains, and in the Gulf states to Louisiana and northward into +Arkansas and to eastern Texas. It is a shade-loving tree, usually +found under the forest cover of taller species, skirting the borders +of cypress swamps, and climbing to elevations of nearly three +thousand feet on the slopes of the Blue Ridge. + +A wonderful new species of _symplocos_ has come into cultivation from +Japan and will enjoy a constantly increasing popularity. Its fragrant +white blossoms, before the leaves, make the tree look like a hawthorn; +but its unique distinction is that the racemed flowers give place to +berries of a brilliant turquoise blue, which make this shrubby tree a +most striking and beautiful object in the autumn when the leaves are +turning yellow. + + +THE FRINGE TREE + +Native to the middle and southern portions of the United States is a +slender little tree (_Chionanthus Virginica_, Linn.), whose sister +species inhabits northern and central China. Both of them cover their +branches with delicate, fragrant white flowers, in loose drooping +panicles, when the leaves are about one third grown. Each flower has +four slender curving petals an inch long, but exceedingly narrow. In +May and June the tree is decked with a bridal veil of white that makes +it one of the most ethereal and the most elegant of lawn and park +trees at this supreme moment of the year. Later the leaves broaden and +reach six to eight inches in length, tapering narrowly to the short +petioles. Thick and dark green, with plain margins, and conspicuously +looped venation near the edges, these leaves suggest a young magnolia +tree. Blue fruits the size of plums succeed the flowers in September, +denying the magnolia theory and shading to black before they fall. The +flesh is dry and seeds solitary under the thick skin of the drupe. + +As in many other instances, European gardeners have led in the +appreciation of this American ornamental tree. However, New England +has planted it freely in parks and gardens, and popularity will follow +wherever it becomes known. Its natural distribution is from southern +Pennsylvania to Florida, and west to Arkansas and Texas. In +cultivation it is hardy and flourishes far north of its natural range. +No garden that can have a fringe tree should be without it. +Fortunately its wood is negligible in quantity, and the temptation to +chop down these trees does not come to the ignorant man with an axe. +Whoever goes to the woods in May is rewarded for many miles of +tramping if he comes upon a "snow-flower tree" in the height of its +blooming season, led perhaps by its delicate fragrance when the little +tree is overshadowed by the deep green of the forest cover. It is an +experience that will not be forgotten soon. + + +THE LAUREL FAMILY + +The laurel family, a large group of aromatic trees and shrubs found +chiefly in the tropics, includes with our sassafras, laurels, and bays +the cinnamon and camphor trees. + + + =California Laurel= + + _Umbellaria Californica_, Nutt. + +The California laurel climbs the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada +from the forests of southwestern Oregon to the San Bernardino range +near Los Angeles. "Up North" it is called pepperwood. It is a lover of +wet soil, so it keeps near streams. With the broad-leaved maple it +gives character to the deciduous growth near the northern boundaries +of California, where it reaches eighty to ninety feet in height, and a +trunk diameter of four to five feet. Sometimes it is tall, but usually +it divides near the ground into several large diverging stems, forming +a broad round head. In southern California, and at high elevations, it +oftenest occurs as a low shrub. + +The willow-like leaves, lustrous and evergreen, last often through the +sixth season. Unfolding in winter or early spring, they continue to +appear as the branches lengthen until late in the autumn, turning to +beautiful yellow or orange and falling one by one. Beginning during +the second season, they continue to drop, as new shoots loosen their +hold. These leaves are rich in an aromatic oil which causes them to +burn readily when piled green upon a campfire. Plum-like purple fruits +succeed the small white fragrant flowers, borne in clusters in the +axils of the leaves. The seeds germinate before the fruit begins to +decay. Indeed the plantlet has attained considerable size before the +acid flesh shows any signs of change. + +This tree is a superb addition to the parks and gardens of the Pacific +Coast. It is strikingly handsome in a land of handsome trees, native +and exotic. Its wood is the most beautiful and valuable produced in +the forests of Pacific North America for the interior finish of houses +and for furniture. It is heavy, hard, strong, fine-grained, light +brown, of a rich tone, with paler sap-wood, that includes the annual +growth of thirty or forty seasons. The leaves yield by distillation a +pungent, aromatic, volatile oil, and the fruit a fatty acid +commercially valuable. + + + =The Red Bay= + + _Persea Borbonia_, Streng. + +Another laurel native to stream and swamp borders, from Virginia to +Texas and north to Arkansas, is the red bay, whose bark, thick, red, +and furrowed into scaly ridges on the trunk, becomes smooth and green +on the branches. The evergreen leaves are narrowly oval, three to four +inches long, bright green, polished, with pale linings. The white +flowers are very minute bells borne in axillary clusters, succeeded in +autumn by blue or black shiny berries, one half inch long, one-seeded, +making a pretty contrast with the clear yellow of the year-old leaves +and the bright green of the new ones. + +This native laurel, lover of rich, moist soil, deserves the place in +cultivation more commonly granted its European cousin, _Laurus +nobilis_, Linn., the familiar tub laurel of hotel verandas in the +Northern states, and much grown out of doors in southern California +and in milder climates east. The tree is occasionally sixty to seventy +feet high, with trunk two to three feet in diameter. Such specimens +furnish the cabinet-maker and carpenter with a beautiful, bright red, +close-grained wood for fine interior finish and furniture. Formerly it +was used in the construction of river boats, but the timber supply is +now very limited. + + + =The Avocado= + + _P. gratissima_, Gaertn. + +In Florida and southern California the avocado or alligator pear is +being extensively cultivated. This laurel grows wild in the West +Indies, Brazil, Peru, and Mexico. Its berry attains the size of a +large pear. It has been developed in several commercial varieties, all +having smooth green or purple skin, and soft oily pulp like marrow +surrounding a single gigantic seed. It is usually cut in two like a +melon and eaten raw as a salad dressed with vinegar, salt, and pepper. +Once a stranger acquires the taste, he is extremely fond of this new +salad fruit. The growing of the trees is easy and very profitable. At +present the fruits are in great demand in city markets, and the prices +are too high for any but the rich to enjoy this luxury. + +Where a market is difficult to reach, the abundant oil is expressed +from these fruits and used for illumination and the manufacture of +soap. The seeds yield an indelible ink. + +It is interesting to the student of trees to note how many tropical +families have representation in North America, due to the fact that +Florida extends into the tropics, and the West Indies seem to form a +sort of bridge over which Central American and South American species +have reached the Floridian Keys and the mainland. + + + =The Sassafras= + + _Sassafras_, Karst. + +The sole remnant of an ancient genus is the aromatic sassafras +familiar as a roadside tree that flames in autumn with the star gum +and the swamp maples. In the deep woods it reaches a height of more +than a hundred feet and is an important lumber tree. In the arctic +regions and in the rocky strata of our western mountains, fossil +leaves of sassafras are preserved, and the same traces are found in +Europe, giving to the geologist proofs that the genus once had a much +wider range than now. But no living representative of the genus was +known outside of eastern North America, until the report of a recently +discovered sassafras in China. + +The Indians in Florida named the sassafras to the inquiring colonists +who came with Columbus. They explained its curative properties, and +its reputation traveled up the Atlantic seaboard. The first cargo of +home products shipped by the colonists back to England from +Massachusetts contained a large consignment of sassafras roots. To-day +we look for an exhibit of sassafras bark in drug-store windows in +spring. People buy it and make sassafras tea which they drink "to +clear the blood." "In the Southwestern states the dried leaves are +much used as an ingredient in soups, for which they are well adapted +by the abundance of mucilage they contain. For this purpose the mature +green leaves are dried, powdered (the stringy portions being +separated), sifted and preserved for use. This preparation mixed with +soups gives them a ropy consistence and a peculiar flavor, much +relished by those accustomed to it. To such soups are given the names +_gombo file_ and _gombo zab_." (_Seton._) + +Emerson says that in New England a decoction of sassafras bark gave to +the housewife's homespun woolen cloth a permanent orange dye. The name +"Ague Tree" originated with the use of sassafras bark tea as a +stimulant that warmed and brought out the perspiration freely for +victims of the malarial "ague," or "chills and fever." + +Sassafras wood is dull orange-yellow, soft, weak, light, brittle, and +coarse-grained, but it is amazingly durable in contact with the soil, +as the pioneers learned when they used it to make posts and fence +rails. It is largely used also in cooperage, and in the building of +light boats. Oil of sassafras distilled from the bark of the roots is +used for perfuming soaps and flavoring medicines. + +With all its practical uses listed above, we must all have learned to +know the tree if it grows in our neighborhood, and if we observe it +closely, month by month throughout the year, we shall all agree that +its beauty justifies its selection for planting in our home grounds, +and surpasses all its medicinal and other commercial offerings to the +world. + +In winter the sassafras tree is most picturesque by reason of the +short, stout, twisted branches that spread almost at right angles from +the central shaft, and form a narrow, usually flat, often +unsymmetrical head. The bark is rough, reddish brown, deeply and +irregularly divided into broad scaly plates or ridges. The branches +end in slim, pale yellow-green twigs that are set with pointed, bright +green buds, giving the tree an appearance of being thoroughly alive +while others, bare of leaves, look dead in winter. + +What country boy or girl has not lingered on the way home from school +to nibble the dainty green buds of the sassafras, or to dig at the +roots with his jack-knife for a sliver of aromatic bark? + +As spring comes on the bare twigs are covered with a delicate green of +the opening leaves, brightened by clusters of yellow flowers (_see +illustration, page 150_) whose starry calyxes are alike on all of the +trees; but only on the fertile trees are the flowers succeeded by the +blue berries, softening on their scarlet pedicels, if only the birds +can wait until they are ripe. + +Midsummer is the time to hunt for "mittens" and to note how many +different forms of leaves belong on the same sassafras tree. First, +there is the simple ovate leaf; second, a larger blade oval in form +but with one side extended and lobed to form a thumb, making the whole +leaf look like the pattern of a mitten cut out by an unskilled hand; +third, a symmetrical, three-lobed leaf, the pattern of a narrow mitten +with a large thumb on each side. Not infrequently do all these forms +occur on a single twig. Only the mulberry, among our native trees, +shows such a variety of leaf forms as the sassafras. There is quite as +great variation in the size of the leaves. One law seems to prevail +among sassafras trees: more of the oval leaves than the lobed ones are +found on mature trees. It is the roadside sapling, with its foliage +within easy reach, that delights boys and girls with its wonderful +variety of leaf patterns. Here the size of the leaves greatly +surpasses that of the foliage on full-grown trees, and the autumnal +colors are more glorious in the roadside thickets than in the +tree-tops far above them. + +Sassafras trees grow readily from seed in any loose, moist soil. A +single tree spreads by a multitude of fleshy root-stalks, and these +natural root-cuttings bear transplanting as easily as a poplar. Every +garden border should have one specimen at least to add its flame to +the conflagration of autumn foliage and the charming contrast of its +blue berries on their coral stalks. + + +THE WITCH HAZEL + +Eighteen genera compose the sub-tropical family in which _hamamelis_ +is the type. Two or three Asiatic species and one American are known. + +The witch hazel (_Hamamelis Virginiana_, Linn.) is a stout, +many-stemmed shrub or a small tree, with rough unsymmetrical leaves, +strongly veined, coarsely toothed, and roughly diamond-shaped. The +twigs, when bare, are set with hairy sickle-shaped buds. Nowhere in +summer would an undergrowth of witch hazel trees attract attention. +But in autumn, when other trees have reached a state of utter rest, +the witch hazel wakes and bursts into bloom. Among the dead leaves +which stubbornly cling as they yellow, and often persist until spring, +the tiny buds, the size of a pin-head, open into starry blossoms with +petals like gold threads. The witch hazel thicket is veiled with these +gold-mesh flowers, as ethereal as the haunting perfume which they +exhale. Frost crisps the delicate petals but they curl, up like +shavings and stay till spring. At no time is the weather cold enough +to destroy this November flower show. + +Among the blossoms are the pods in clusters, gaping wide if the seeds +are shed; closed tight, with little monkey faces, if not yet open. The +harvest of witch hazel seeds is worth going far to see. Damp weather +delays this most interesting little game. Dry frosty weather is ideal +for it. + +Go into a witch hazel thicket on some fine morning in early November +and sit down on the drift of dead leaves that carpet the woods floor. +The silence is broken now and then by a sharp report like a bullet +striking against the bark of a near-by trunk, or skipping among the +leaves. Perhaps a twinge on the ear shows that you have been a target +for some tiny projectile, sent to its mark with force enough to hurt. + + [Illustration: _See page 111_ + + BARK, BLOSSOM, FRUIT, AND WINTER FLOWER BUDS OF THE FLOWERING + DOGWOOD] + + [Illustration: _See page 116_ + + THE MOUNTAIN ASH + + The flat, crowded cluster of tiny white flowers is set in a + whorl of dark-green leaves in May or June] + +The fusillade comes from the ripened pods, which have a remarkable +ability to throw their seeds, and thus do for the parent tree what the +winged seeds of other trees accomplish. The lining of the two-celled pod +is believed to shorten and produce a spring that drives the seeds forth +with surprising force when they are loosened from their attachment. This +occurs when the lips part. Frost and sun seem to decide just when to +spring the trap and let fly the little black seeds. + +A young botanist went into the woods to find out just how far a witch +hazel tree can throw its seeds. She chose an isolated tree and spread +white muslin under it for many yards in four directions. The most +remote of the many seeds she caught that day fell eighteen feet from +the base of the tree. + +The Indians in America were the first people to use the bark of the +witch hazel for curing inflammations. An infusion of the twigs and +roots is now made by boiling them for twenty-four hours in water to +which alcohol has been added. "Witch hazel extract," distilled from +this mixture, is the most popular preparation to use for bruises and +sprains, and to allay the pain of burns. Druggists and chemists have +failed to discover any medicinal properties in bark or leaf, but the +public has faith in it. The alcohol is probably the effective agent. + +Witch hazel comes honestly by its name. The English "witch hazel" is a +species of elm to which superstitious miners went to get forked twigs +to use as divining rods. No one in the countryside would dream of +sinking a shaft for coal without the use of this forked twig. In any +old and isolated country district in America there is usually a man +whose reputation is based in his skilful use of a forked witch hazel +twig. Sent for before a well is dug, he slowly walks over the ground, +holding the twig erect by its two supple forks, one in each hand. When +he passes over the spot where the hidden springs of water are, the +twig goes down, without any volition of the "water-witch." At least, +so he says, and if water is struck by digging, his claims are +vindicated and scoffers hide their heads. + + +THE BURNING BUSH + +American gardeners cherish with regard that amounts almost to +affection any shrub or tree which will lend color, especially +brilliant color, to the winter landscape. Thus the holly, the Japanese +barberry, many of the haws, the mountain ash, and the rugosa rose will +be found in the shrubbery borders of many gardens, supplying the birds +with food when the ground is covered with snow, and sprinkling the +brightness of their red berries against the monotony of dull green +conifers. + +The burning bush (_Euonymus atropurpureus_, Jacq.) lends its scarlet +fruits to the vivid colors that paint any winter landscape. They hang +on slender stalks, clustered where the leaves were attached. Four +flattish lobes, deeply separated by constrictions, form each of these +strange-looking fruits. In October each is pale purplish in color and +one half an inch across. Now the husk parts and curls back, revealing +the seeds, each of the four enveloped in a loose scarlet wrinkled +coat. Until midwinter the little tree is indeed a burning bush, +glowing brighter as the advancing season opens wider the purple husks, +and the little swinging Maltese cross, made by the four scarlet +berries, is the only thing one sees, looking up from below. Birds take +the berries, though they are bitter and poisonous. + +In spring the slender branchlets of this little tree are covered with +opposite, pointed leaves, two to five inches long, and in their axils +are borne purplish flowers, with four spreading recurving petals. In +the centre of each is supported a square platform upon which are the +spreading anthers and styles. It does not require much botanical +knowledge to see a family relationship between this tree and the woody +vine we call "bitter-sweet"; the flowers and fruits are alike in many +features. + +In Oklahoma and Arkansas and eastern Texas the burning bush becomes a +good-sized tree and its hard, close-grained wood is peculiarly adapted +to making spindles, knitting needles, skewers, and toothpicks. +"Prickwood" is the English name. Chinese and Japanese species have +been added to our list of flowering trees and vines. Two shrubby +species of _Euonymus_ belong to the flora of North America, but the +bulk of the large family is tropical. + +Our dainty little American tree skirts the edges of deep woods from +New York to Montana, and southward to the Gulf. In cultivation it +extends throughout New England. "Wahoo," the common name in the South, +is probably of Indian origin. + + +THE SUMACHS + +The sumach family contains more than fifty genera, confined for the +most part to the warmer regions of the globe. Two fruit trees within +this family are the mango and the pistachio nut tree. Commercially +important also is the turpentine tree of southern Europe. The Japanese +lacquer tree yields the black varnish used in all lacquered wares. +The cultivated sumachs of southern Europe are important in the tanning +industry, their leaves containing from twenty-five to thirty per cent. +of tannic acid. + +In the flora of the United States three genera of the family have tree +representatives. The genus _Rhus_, with a total of one hundred and +twenty species, stands first. Most of these belong to South Africa; +sixteen to North America where their distribution covers practically +the entire continent. Of these, four attain the habit of small trees. + +Fleshy roots, pithy branchlets, and milky, or sometimes caustic or +watery juice, belong to the sumachs, which are oftenest seen as +roadside thickets or fringing the borders of woods. The foliage is +fern-like, odd-pinnate, rarely simple. The flowers are conspicuous by +their crowding into terminal or axillary panicles, followed by bony +fruits, densely crowded like the flowers. + + + =The Staghorn Sumach= + + _Rhus hirta_, Sudw. + +The staghorn sumach is named for the densely hairy, forking +branchlets, which look much like the horns of a stag "in the velvet." +The foliage and fruit are also densely clothed with stiff pale hairs, +usually red or bright yellow. + +The leaves reach two feet in length, with twenty or thirty oblong, +often sickle-shaped leaflets, set opposite on the stem, and +terminating in a single odd leaflet. Bright yellow-green until half +grown, dark green and dull above when mature, often nearly white on +the under surface, these leaves turn in autumn to bright scarlet, +shading into purple, crimson, and orange. No sunset was ever more +changeful and glorious than a patch of staghorn sumach that covers the +ugliness of a railroad siding in October. After the leaves have +fallen, the dull red fuzzy fruits persist, offering food to belated +bird migrants and gradually fading to browns before spring. + +The maximum height of this largest of northern sumachs is thirty-five +feet. The wood of such large specimens is sometimes used for +walking-sticks and for tabourets and such fancy work as inlaying. +Coarse, soft, and brittle, it is satiny when polished, and +attractively streaked with orange and green. The young shoots are cut +and their pith contents removed to make pipes for drawing maple sap +from the trees in sugaring time. + +But the best use of the tree is for ornamental planting. In summer, +the ugliness of the most unsightly bank is covered where this tree is +allowed to run wild and throw up its root suckers unchecked. The mass +effect of its fern-like foliage in spring is superb, when the green is +lightened by the fine clusters of pink blossoms. No tree carries its +autumn foliage longer nor blazes with greater splendor in the soft +sunshine of the late year. The hairy staghorn branches, bared of +leaves, hold aloft their fruits like lighted candelabra far into the +waning winter. For screens and border shrubs this sumach may become +objectionable, by reason of its habit of spreading by suckers as well +as seed. + +Its choice of situations is broken uplands and dry, gravelly banks. +Its range extends from New Brunswick to Minnesota and southward +through the Northern states, and along the mountains to the Gulf +states. In cultivation, it is found in the Middle West and on the +Atlantic seaboard, and is a favorite in central and northern Europe. + + + =The Dwarf Sumach= + + _R. copallina_, Linn. + +The black dwarf, or mountain sumach, is smaller, with softer, closer +velvet coating its twigs and lining its leaves, than the burly +staghorn sumach wears. It grows all over the eastern half of the +United States, even to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and rises +to thirty feet in height above a short, stout trunk in the mountains +of Tennessee and North Carolina. Its leaves are the most beautiful in +the sumach family. They are six to eight inches long, the central +stalk bearing nine to twenty-one dark green leaflets, lustrous above, +lined with silvery pubescence. A striking peculiarity is that the +central leaf-stem is winged on each side with a leafy frill between +the pairs of leaflets. In autumn, the foliage mass changes to varying +shades of scarlet and crimson. The flower clusters are copious and +loose, and the heavy fruits nod from their great weight and show the +most beautiful shades, ranging from yellow to dull red. Sterile soil +is often covered by extensive growths of this charming shrubby tree +which spreads by underground root-stocks. It is the latest of all the +sumachs to bloom. + +In the South the leaves are sometimes gathered in summer to be dried +and pulverized for use in tanning leather. A yellow dyestuff is also +extracted from them. It is a favorite sumach for ornamental planting +in this country and in Europe. + + + =The Poison Sumach= + + _R. Vernix_, Linn. + +The poison sumach is a small tree with slender drooping branches, +smooth, reddish brown, dotted on the twigs with orange-colored +breathing holes, becoming orange-brown and gray as the bark thickens. +The trunk is often somewhat fluted under a smooth gray rind. This is +one of the most brilliant and beautiful of all the sumachs, but +_unfortunately it is deadly poisonous, more to be dreaded than the +poison ivy of our woods_, and the poisonwood of Florida, both of which +are near relatives. By certain traits we may always know, with +absolute certainty, a poison sumach when we find it. _Look at the +berries. If they droop and are grayish white, avoid touching the +tree_, no matter how alluring the wonderful scarlet foliage is. +_Poison sumachs grow only in the swamps. We should suspect any sumach +that stands with its feet in the water_, whether it bears flowers and +fruit or not. The temptation is strongest when one is in the woods +gathering brilliant foliage for decoration of the home for the +holidays. The bitter poisonous juice that exudes from broken stems +turns black almost at once. This warning comes late, however, for as +it dries upon the hands it poisons the skin. Handled with care, this +juice becomes a black, lustrous, durable varnish, but it is not in +general use. + + + =The Smooth Sumach= + + _R. glabra_, Linn. + +The smooth sumach (_see illustrations, pages 150-151_) is quite as +familiar as the staghorn, as a roadside shrub. It forms thickets in +exactly the same way, and its foliage, flowers and fruit make it most +desirable for decorative planting, especially for glorious autumnal +effects. The stems are smooth and coated with a pale bluish bloom. +This is the distinguishing mark, at any season, of the sumach that +often equals the other species in height, but does not belong in this +book, for the reason that it never attains the stature of a tree. + + +THE SMOKE TREE + +A favorite tree in American and European gardens is the smoke tree +(_Cotinus_), a genus which has native representatives in both +continents. The European _C. Cotinus_, Sarg., was brought to this +country by early horticulturists and in some respects it is superior +to our native_ C. Americanus_, Nutt. Cultivation for centuries has +given the immigrant species greater vigor and hardiness, which +produces more exuberant growth throughout. Bring in a sapling of the +native tree and it looks a starveling by comparison. + +The glory of the smoke tree is the utter failure of its clustered +flowers to set seed. Branching terminal panicles of minute flowers are +held high above the dark green simple leaves. As they change in autumn +to brilliant shades of orange and scarlet, the seed clusters are held +aloft. The seeds are few but the panicles have expanded and show a +peculiar feathery development of the bracts that take the place of the +fruits. The clusters take on tones of pink and lavender and in the +aggregate they form a great cloud made up of graceful, delicate +plumes. At a little distance the tree appears as if a great cloud of +rosy smoke rested upon its gorgeous foliage. Or the haze may be so +pale as to look like mist. This wonderful development of the flower +cluster is unique among garden shrubs and it places _Cotinus_ in a +class by itself. No garden with a shrubbery border is complete without +a smoke tree, which is interesting and beautiful at any season. + +In its native haunts our American smoke tree is found in small +isolated groves or thickets, along the sides of rocky ravines or dry +barren hillsides in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, and in eastern +Tennessee and northern Alabama. + + +THE HOLLIES + +The holly family, of five genera, is distributed from the north to the +south temperate zones, with representation in every continent. It +includes trees and shrubs of one hundred and seventy-five species, +seventy of which grow in northern Brazil. The dried and powdered +leaves of two holly trees of Paraguay are commercially known as maté, +or Paraguay tea, to which the people of South America are addicted, as +we are to the tea of China. "Yerba maté" has a remarkable, stimulating +effect upon the human system, fortifying it for incredible exertions +and endurance. Indulged in to excess, it has much the effect of +alcohol. + +China and Japan have thirty different species of holly. America has +fourteen, four of which assume tree form; the rest are shrubby +"winterberries." + + + =European Holly= + + _Ilex aquifolium_, Linn. + +The holly of Europe is perhaps the most popular ornamental tree in the +world, cultivated in Europe through centuries, and now coming to be a +favorite garden plant wherever hardy in the United States. Some +indication of its popularity abroad is found in the fact that one +hundred and fifty-three distinct horticultural varieties are in +cultivation. The Englishman makes hedges of it, and depends upon it to +give life and color to his lawn and flower borders in the winter. The +fellfare or fieldfare, a little thrush, feeds upon the tempting red +berries in winter; but even when these dashes of color are all gone, +the brilliance of the spiny-margined leaves enlivens any landscape. + +Americans know the European holly chiefly through importations of the +cut branches offered in the markets for Christmas decoration. The leaf +is small, brilliantly polished, and very deeply indented between long, +spiny tips, giving it a far more decorative quality than the native +evergreen holly of the South. + +Many varieties of the European holly are found in American gardens, +particularly near eastern cities. North of Washington they must be +tied up in straw for the winter, and in the latitude of Boston it is a +struggle to keep them alive. From southern California to Vancouver, no +such precautions are necessary, and the little trees deserve a much +wider popularity than they yet enjoy. Grown commercially, they are the +finest of Christmas greens. + + + =American Holly= + + _I. Opaca_, Ait. + +The American holly also yields its branches for Christmas greens. In +the remotest village in the North one may now buy at any grocery store +a sprig of red-berried holly to usher in the holiday season. The tree +is a small one at best, slow-growing, pyramidal, twenty to forty feet +in height, with short, horizontal branches and tough, close-grained +white wood. It is rare to find so close an imitation of ivory, in +color and texture, as holly wood supplies. It is the delight of the +wood engraver, who uses it for his blocks. Scroll work and turnery +employ it. It is used for tool handles, walking-sticks, and +whip-stocks. Veneer of holly is used in inlay work. + +In southern woods and barren fallow fields where hollies grow, +collectors, without discrimination, cut many trees each autumn, strip +them of their branches, and leave the trunks to rot upon the ground. +The increasing demand for Christmas holly seriously threatens the +present supply, for no methods are being practised for its renewal. It +will not be long before the wood engraver will have to buy his blocks +by the pound, as he does the eastern boxwood. + +The range of this holly tree extends from southern Maine to Florida, +throughout the Gulf states, and north into Indiana and Missouri. + + + =The Yaupon= + + _I. vomitoria_, Ait. + +The yaupon is a shrubby tree of spreading habit, with +very small, oval, evergreen leaves and red berries. It +grows from Virginia to Florida and west to Texas and +Arkansas. A nauseating beverage, made by boiling its +leaves, was the famous "black drink" of the Indians. A +yearly ceremonial, in which the whole tribe took part, was +the persistent drinking of this tea for several days, the +object being a thorough cleansing of the system. + + + + +PART V + +WILD RELATIVES OF OUR ORCHARD TREES + + The Apples—The Plums—The Cherries—The Hawthorns—The + Service-berries—The Hackberries—The Mulberries—The Figs—The + Papaws—The Pond Apples—The Persimmons + + +THE APPLES + +The chance apple tree beside the road, with fruit too gnarly to eat, +is common on roadsides throughout New England. Occasionally one of +these trees bears edible fruit, but this is not the rule. Perhaps the +seed thus planted was from the core of a very delicious apple, nibbled +close, and thrown away with regret. But trees thus planted are +seedlings and seedling apple trees "revert" to the ancient parent of +the race, the wild apple of eastern Asia. Horticulture began long ago +to improve these wild trees, and through the centuries improvement and +variation have stocked the orchards of all temperate countries with +the multitude of varieties we know. A visit in October to Nova Scotia +or to the Yakima Valley in Washington, is an eye-opener. Thousands of +acres of the choicest varieties of this most satisfying of all fruits +show the debt we owe to patient scientists, whose work has so enriched +the food supply of the world. + +The pear, the quince, and the curious medlar, with its core exposed at +the blossom end--all relatives of the apple--trace their lineage to +European and Asiatic wild ancestors. The Siberian crab, native of +northern Asia, is the parent of our hard-fleshed, slender-stemmed +garden crabapples. Japan has given us some wonderful apple trees, with +fruit no larger than cherries, cultivated solely for their flowers. +The ornamental flora of America has been greatly enriched by these +varieties. + +Four native apples are found in American woods. Horticulturists have +produced new varieties by crossing some of these sturdy natives with +cultivated apples, or their seedling offspring. + + + =The Prairie Crab= + + _Malus Ioënsis_, Britt. + +The prairie crabapple is the woolly twigged, pink-blossomed wild crab +of the woods, from Minnesota and Wisconsin to Oklahoma, Texas, and +Louisiana. It has crossed with the roadside "wilding" trees and +produced a hybrid known to horticulture as the Soulard apple, from its +discoverer. These wild trees bear fruit that is distinctly an +improvement upon that of either parent. It is regarded as a distinctly +promising apple for the coldest of the prairie states, and has already +become the parent of several improved varieties. + + + =The Wild Crab= + + _M. coronaria_. Mill. + +Throughout the wooded regions, from the Great Lakes to Texas and +Alabama, the wild crabapple brightens the spring landscape with its +rose-colored, spicy-scented blossoms. The little trees huddle +together, their flat tops often matted and reaching out sidewise from +under the shade of the other forest trees. The twigs are crabbed +indeed in winter, but they silver over with the young foliage in +April. The coral flower buds sprinkle the new leaves, and through May +a great burst of rose-colored bloom overspreads the tree-tops. It is +not sweetness merely that these flowers exhale, but an exquisite, +spicy, stimulating fragrance, by which one always remembers them. + +The pioneers made jellies and preserves out of the little green apples +(_see illustrations, pages 150-151_), which lost some of their acrid +quality by hanging on until after a good frost. There are those who +still gather these fruits as their parents and grandparents did. In +their opinion the wild tang and the indescribable piquancy of flavor +in jellies made from this fruit are unmatched by those of any other +fruit that grows. + + +THE PLUMS + +The genus _prunus_ belongs to the rose family and includes shrubs and +trees with stone fruits. Of the over one hundred species, thirty are +native to North America; but ten of them assume tree form, and all but +one are small trees. Related to them are the garden cherries and +plums, native to other countries, and the peach, the apricot, and the +almond, found in this country only in horticultural varieties. The +wood of _prunus_ is close-grained, solid, and durable, and a few of +the species are important timber trees. The simplest way to identify a +member of the genus is to break a twig at any season of the year and +taste the sap. If it is bitter and astringent with hydrocyanic acid +(the flavor we get in fresh peach-pits and bitter almonds), we may be +sure we have run the tree down to the genus _prunus_. + + + =The Wild Red Plum= + + _Prunus Americanus_, Marsh. + +The wild red or yellow plum forms dense thickets in moist woods and +along river banks from New York to Texas and Colorado. Its leafless, +gnarled, and thorny twigs are covered in spring with dense clusters of +white bloom, honey-sweet in fragrance, a carnival of pleasure and +profit to bees and other insects. In hot weather this nectar often +ferments and sours before the blossoms fall. The abundant dry pollen +is scattered by the wind. The plum crop depends more upon wind than +upon insects, for the pollination period is very brief. + +After the frost in early autumn, the pioneers of the prairie used +always to make a holiday in the woods and bring home by wagon-loads +the spicy, acid plums which crowded the branches and fairly lit up the +thicket with the orange and red color of their puckery, thick skins. +In a land where fruit orchards were newly planted, "plum butter" made +from the fruit of nature's orchards was gratefully acceptable through +the long winters. Even when home-grown sorghum molasses was the only +available sweetening, the healthy appetites of prairie boys and girls +accepted this "spread" on the bread and butter of noon-day school +lunches, as a matter of course. + + [Illustration: _See page 130_ + + FLOWERS, FRUIT, AND ODD LEAF PATTERNS OF THE SASSAFRAS TREE] + + [Illustration: _See page 141_ + + FOLIAGE AND FLOWER CLUSTER OF THE SMOOTH SUMACH] + + [Illustration: _See page 148_ + + BUDS, LEAVES, AND FRUIT OF THE WILD CRABAPPLE] + + [Illustration: _See page 151_ + + THE CANADA PLUM + + Its white, fragrant flowers turn pink in fading; and its stiff, + zigzag branches are beset with spiny stubs] + + + =The Canada Plum= + + _P. nigra._, Ait. + +The Canada plum (_see illustration, page 151_) whose range dips down +into the northern tier of states, is so near like the previous species +as to be called by Waugh a mere variety. Its leaves are broad and +large, and the flowers and fruit larger. A peculiarity of blossoming +time is that the petals turn pink before they fall. This tree +furnished the settler with a relish for his hard fare, and the +horticulturist a hardy stock on which to graft scions of tenderer and +better varieties of plums. It is a tree well worth bringing in from +the woods to set in a bare fence-corner that will be beautified by the +blossoms in spring, and in late summer by the bright orange-colored +fruit against the ruddy foliage. + +Exotic plums have greatly enriched our horticulture, giving us fruits +that vie with the peach in size and lusciousness. In New-England +gardens, the damsons, green gages and big red plums are imported +varieties of the woolly twigged, thick-leaved European, _P. +domestica_, which refused utterly to feel at home on its own roots in +the great middle prairies of the country. These European plums have +found a congenial home in the mild climate of the West Coast. + +Japan has furnished to the Middle West and South a hardy, prolific +species, _P. triflora_, generally immune to the black knot, a fungous +disease which attacks native plums. Crosses between the Japanese and +American native plums promise well. California now ranks first in +prune raising as an industry, with France a close second. Prunes are +the dried fruit of certain sweet, fleshy kinds of plums. Many +cultivated varieties of Japanese plums have enriched the horticulture +of our West Coast. + +The almond, now grown commercially in California, is the one member of +the genus prunus whose flesh is dry and woody, and whose pit is a +commercial nut. + + +THE CHERRIES + +Small-fruited members of the genus prunus, wild and cultivated, are +grouped under the popular name, cherries, by common consent. The pie +cherry of New-England gardens is _prunus cerasus_, Linn. It often runs +wild from gardens, forming roadside thickets, with small sour red +fruits, as nearly worthless as at home in the wilds of Europe and +Asia. This tree has, through cultivation, given rise to two groups of +sour cherries cultivated in America. The early, light-red varieties, +with uncolored juice, of which the Early Richmond is a familiar type, +and the late, dark-red varieties, with colored juice, of which the +English Morello is the type. + +The sweet cherry of Europe (_P. Avium_, Linn.) has given us our +cultivated sweet cherries, whose fruit is more or less heart-shaped. + +Japan celebrates each spring the festival of cherry blossom time, a +great national fête, when the gardens burst suddenly into the +marvelous bloom of _Sakura_, the cherry tree, symbol of happiness, in +which people of all classes delight. The native species (_P. +pseudo-Cerasus_), has been cultivated by Japanese artist-gardeners in +the one direction of beauty for centuries. Not in flowers alone, but +in leaf, in branching habit, and even in bark, beauty has been the +ideal toward which patience and skill have striven successfully. +"Spring is the season of the eye," says the Japanese poet. Of all +their national flower holidays, cherry blossom time, in the third +month, is the climax. + + + =The Wild Cherry= + + _Prunus Pennsylvanica_, Linn. + +The wild red, bird, or pin cherry grows in rocky woods, forming +thickets and valuable nurse trees to hardwoods, from Newfoundland to +Georgia, and west to the Rocky Mountains. The birds enjoy the ruddy +little fruits and hold high carnival in June among the shining leaves. +Many an ugly ravine is clothed with verdure and whitened with +nectar-laden flowers by this comparatively worthless, short-lived +tree; and in many burnt-over districts, the bird-sown pits strike +root, and the young trees render a distinct service to forestry by +this young growth, which is gone by the time the pines and hardwoods +it has nursed require the ground for their spreading roots. + + + =The Wild Black Cherry= + + _P. serotina_, Ehrh. + +The wild black cherry or rum cherry (_see illustration, page 166_), is +the substantial lumber tree of the genus, whose ponderous trunk +furnishes cherry wood, vying with mahogany and rosewood in the esteem +of the cabinet-maker, who uses cherry for veneer oftener than for +solid furniture. + +The drug trade depends upon this tree for a tonic derived from its +bark, roots, and fruit. Cherry brandies, cordials, and cherry bounce, +that good old-fashioned homebrewed beverage, are made from the +heavy-clustered fruits that hang until late summer, turning black and +losing their astringency when dead ripe. + +From Ontario to Dakota, and south to Florida and Texas, this tree is +found, reaching its best estate in moist, rich soil, but climbing +mountain canyons at elevations of from five to seven thousand feet. A +worthy shade and park tree, the black cherry is charmingly +unconventional, carrying its mass of drooping foliage with the grace +of a willow, its satiny brown bark curling at the edges of irregular +plates like that of the cherry birch. + + + =The Choke Cherry= + + _P. Virginiana_, Linn. + +The choke cherry is a miniature tree no higher than a thrifty lilac +bush, from the Eastern states to the Mississippi, but between Nebraska +and northern Texas it reaches thirty-five feet in height. The trunk is +always short, often crooked or leaning, and never exceeds one foot in +diameter. Its shiny bark, long racemed flowers and fruit, and the +pungent odor of its leaves and bark might lead one to confuse it with +a black cherry sapling. But there is a marked difference between the +two species. The choke cherry's odor is not only pungent, but rank and +disagreeable besides. The leaf of the choke cherry is a wide and +abruptly pointed oval. The fruit until dead ripe is red or yellow, and +so puckery, harsh, and bitter that children, who eat the black +cherries eagerly, cannot be persuaded to taste choke cherries a second +time. + +Birds are not so fastidious; they often strip the trees before the +berries darken. It is probably by these unconscious agents of seed +distribution that choke-cherry pits are scattered. From the Arctic +Circle to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Rocky +Mountains this worthless little choke cherry is found in all wooded +regions. + + +THE HAWTHORNS + +In the same rose family with apples, plums, cherries, and +service-berries is listed the genus _Crataegus_, a shrubby race of +trees, undersized as a rule, with stiff, zigzag branches set with +thorns. Over one hundred species have been described by Charles +Sargent in his "Manual of Trees of North America," published in 1905. + +The centre of distribution for the hawthorn is undoubtedly the eastern +United States. From Newfoundland the woods are full of them. A few +species belong to the Rocky Mountain region, a few to the states +farther west. Europe and Asia each has a few native hawthorns. + + + =The English Hawthorn= + + _Crataegus oxyacantha_, Linn. + +The English hawthorn is the best-known species in the world. When it +first came into cultivation, no man knows. Englishmen will tell you it +has always formed the hedge-rows of the countryside. This is the +"blossoming May." The sweetness of its flowers, snowy white, or pink, +or rose-colored, turns rural England into a garden, while linnets and +skylarks fill the green lanes with music. + +American "forests primeval" were swept with the woodman's axe before +the hawthorns had their chance to assert themselves sufficiently to +attract the attention of botanists and horticulturists. The showy +flowers and fruits, the vivid coloring of autumn foliage, and the +striking picturesqueness of the bare tree, with its rigid branches +armed with menacing thorns, give most of these little trees +attractiveness at any season. They grow in any soil and in any +situation, and show the most remarkable improvement when cultivated. +Their roots thrive in heavy clay. When young the little trees may be +easily transplanted from the wild. They come readily from seed, though +in most species the seed takes two years to germinate. + +With few exceptions, the flowers of our hawthorns are pure +white, perfect, their parts in multiples of five--a family trait. Each +flower is a miniature white rose. Rounded corymbs of these flowers on +short side twigs cover the tree with a robe of white after the leaves +appear. In autumn little fleshy fruits that look like apples, cluster +on the twigs. Inside the thick skin, the flesh is mealy and sweetish +around a few hard nutlets that contain the seed. As a rule, the fruits +are red. In a few species they are orange; in still fewer, yellow, +blue, or black. + +It is not practicable to describe the many varieties of our native +hawthorns in a volume of the scope of this one. A few of the most +distinctive species only can be included, but no one will ever confuse +a hawthorn with any other tree. + + + =The Cockspur Thorn= + + _C. Crus-galli_, Linn. + +The cockspur thorn is a small, handsome tree, fifteen to twenty feet +high, with stiff branches in a broad round head. The thorns on the +sides of the twig are three to four inches long, sometimes when old +becoming branched, and reaching a length of six or eight inches. Stout +and brown or gray, they often curve, striking downward as a rule, on +the horizontal branches. The leaves, thick, leathery, lustrous, dark +green above, pale beneath, one to four inches long, taper to a short +stout stalk, seeming to stand on tiptoe, as if to keep out of the way +of the thorns. From the ground up, the tree is clothed in bark that is +bright and polished, shading from reddish brown to gray. The flowers +come late, in showy clusters; and the fruit gleams red against the +reddening leaves. As winter comes on the leaves fall and the branches +are brightened by the fruit clusters which are not taken by the birds +(_see illustration, page 167_). All the year long the cockspur thorn +is a beautiful, ornamental tree and a competent hedge plant, popular +alike in Europe and America. + + + =The Scarlet Haw= + + _C. pruinosa_, K. Koch. + +The scarlet haw found from Vermont to Georgia, and west to Missouri, +prefers limestone soil of mountain slopes, and is more picturesque +than beautiful. The foliage is distinctive; it is dark, blue-green, +smooth, and leathery, pale beneath, and turns in autumn to brilliant +orange. In summer the pale fruit wears a pale bloom but at maturity it +is dark purplish red and shiny. + + + =The Red Haw= + + _C. mollis_, Scheele + +The red haw is the type of a large group, ample in size, fine in form +and coloring, of fruit and foliage. This tree reaches forty feet in +height, its round head rising above the tall trunk, with stout +branchlets and stubby, shiny thorns. + +The twigs are coated with pale hairs, the young leaves, and ultimately +the leaf-linings and petioles are hairy, and the fruits are downy, +marked with dark dots. + +The only fault the landscape gardener can find with this red haw, is +that its abundant fruit, ripe in late summer, falls in September. The +species is found from Ohio to Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. + + + =The Scarlet Haw= + + _C. coccinea_, Linn. + +The scarlet haw, native of the Northeastern states, is one of the +oldest native thorns in cultivation. It is a favorite in New England +gardens, because of its abundant bloom, deep crimson fruit and vivid +autumn foliage. It is a shrubby, round-headed tree, with stout +ascending branches, set with thorns an inch or more in length. + + + =The Black Haw= + + _C. Douglasii_, Lindl. + +In the West the black haw is a round-headed, native tree found from +Puget Sound southward through California and eastward to Colorado and +New Mexico. It is a round-headed tree reaching forty feet in height, +in moist soil. Its distinguishing feature is the black fruit, ripe in +August and September, lustrous, thin-fleshed, sweet, one-half an inch +long. The thorns are stout and sharp, rarely exceeding one inch in +length. The leathery dark-green leaves, one to four inches long, +commend this black-fruited thorn of the West to the Eastern +horticulturists. It has proved hardy in gardens to the Atlantic +seaboard and in Nova Scotia. + + +THE SERVICE-BERRIES + +A small genus of pretty, slender trees related to apples, and in the +rose family, has representatives in every continent of the Northern +Hemisphere, and also in North Africa. Their natural range is greatly +extended by the efforts of horticulturists, for the trees are among +the best flowering species. + + + =The Service-berry= + + _Amelanchier Canadensis_, T. & G. + +The Eastern service-berry, June-berry, or shad-bush, is often seen in +parks and on lawns; its delicate, purple-brown branches covered in +April, before the oval leaves appear, with loose, drooping clusters of +white flowers. (_See illustration, page 182._) Under each is a pair of +red silky bracts and the infant leaves are red and silky, all adding +their warmth of color when the tree is white with bloom. The blossoms +pass quickly, just about the time the shad run up the rivers to spawn. +We may easily trace this common name to the early American colonists +who frugally fished the streams when the shad were running, and noted +the charming little trees lighting up the river banks with their +delicate blossoms, when all the woods around them were still asleep. +In June the juicy red berries call the birds to a feast. Then the +little tree quite loses its identity, for the forest is roofed with +green, and June-berries are quite overshadowed by more self-assertive +species. + +The borders of woods in rich upland soil, from Newfoundland to the +Dakotas and south to the Gulf, are the habitat and range of this +charming little tree. + + + =The Western Service-berry= + + _A. alnifolia_, Nutt. + +The Western service-berry grows over a vast territory which extends +from the Yukon River south through the Coast Ranges to northern +California and eastward to Manitoba and northern Michigan. In the rich +bottom lands of the lower Columbia River, and on the prairies about +Puget Sound, it reaches twenty feet in height, and its nutritious, +pungent fruits are gathered in quantities and dried for winter food by +the Indians. Indeed, the horticulturists consider this large juicy +fine-flavored, black berry quite worthy of cultivation, as it grows in +the wild to one inch in diameter--the average size of wild plums. + + +THE HACKBERRIES + +Fifty or sixty tropical and temperate-zone species of hackberries +include two North American trees which have considerable value for +shade and ornamental planting. One hardy Japanese species has been +introduced; three exotic species are in cultivation in the South. One +is from South Africa, a second from the Mediterranean basin, and a +third from the Orient. + +It is easy to mistake the hackberry for an elm; the habits of the two +trees lead the casual observer astray. The leaf is elm-like, though +smaller and brighter green than the foliage of the American elm. A +peculiarity of the foliage is the apparent division of the petiole +into three main ribs, instead of a single midrib. At base, the leaves +are always unsymmetrical. The bark is broken into thick ridges set +with warts, separated by deep fissures. + +The absence of terminal buds induces a forking habit, which makes the +branches of a hackberry tree gnarled and picturesque. The hackberry is +not familiarly known by the inhabitants of the regions where it grows, +else it would more commonly be transplanted to adorn private grounds +and to shade village streets. + + + =The Hackberry= + + _Celtis occidentalis_, Linn. + +The hackberry reaches one hundred and twenty-five feet in height in +moist soil along stream borders or in marshes. It is distributed from +Nova Scotia to Puget Sound, and south to Florida, Tennessee, Missouri, +Texas, and New Mexico. The beauty of its graceful crown is sometimes +marred by a fungus which produces a thick tufting of twigs on the ends +of branches. The name, "witches' brooms" has been given to these +tufts. Growths of similar appearance and the same name are produced by +insect injury on some other trees. + +The fruit of the hackberry is an oblong, thin-fleshed sweet berry, +purple in color, one fourth to one half inch long. It dries about the +solitary seed and hangs on the tree all winter, to the great +satisfaction of the birds. (_See illustration, page 183._) + +Emerson says: "The wood is used for the shafts and axle-trees of +carriages, the naves of wheels, and for musical instruments. The root +is used for dyeing yellow, the bark for tanning, and an oil is +expressed from the stones of the fruit." + +The best use we can make of the hackberry tree is to plant it for +shade and ornament. It is easily transplanted, for the roots are +shallow and fibrous, so that well-grown trees may be moved in winter +time. The autumn yellow of the foliage is wonderfully cheerful, and +the warty bark, checked into small thick plates, is interesting at any +season. + + + =European Nettle Tree= + + _C. Australis_ + +The European nettle tree is supposed to have been the famous "lotus" +of classical literature. Homer tells of the lotus-eaters who, when +they tasted the sweet fruit, straightway forgot their native land or +could not be persuaded to return. This innocent tree, against which +the charge has never been proved, bears a better reputation for the +qualities of its wood. It is as hard as box or holly, and as beautiful +as satin-wood when polished. Figures of saints and other images are +carved out of it. Hay-forks are made of its supple limbs. Rocky +worthless land is set apart by law in some countries for the growing +of these trees. Suckers from the roots make admirable ramrods, +coach-whip stocks and walking-sticks. Shafts and axle-trees of +carriages are made of the larger shoots; oars and hoops are supplied +from these coppiced trees. From northern Africa, throughout Europe, +and on to India, the tree is planted for shade, and its foliage is +used as fodder for cattle. + +THE MULBERRIES + +The mulberry family includes fifty-five genera and nearly a thousand +species of temperate-zone and tropical plants. The genus _ficus_ alone +includes six hundred species. Hemp, important for its fibrous, inner +bark, and the hop vine are well known herbaceous members of the +mulberry family, which stands botanically between the elms and the +nettles--strange company, it would seem, but justified by fundamental +characteristics. Three genera of this family have tree forms in +America--the mulberry, the Osage orange, and the fig. Two native +mulberries and three exotic species are widely cultivated for their +fruit, their wood, and as ornamental trees. Weeping mulberries are +among the most popular horticultural forms. + + + =The Red Mulberry= + + _Morus rubra_, Linn. + +The red mulberry grows to be a large dense, round-headed tree, with +thick fibrous roots and milky sap. Its alternate leaves, three to five +inches long, are variable in form, often irregularly lobed, very +veiny, usually rough, blue-green above, pale and pubescent beneath, +turning yellow in early autumn. The inconspicuous flower spikes are +succeeded by fleshy aggregate fruits like a blackberry, sweet, juicy, +dark purple or red, each individual fruit single-seeded. Birds and +boys alike throng the trees through the long period during which these +berries ripen. They are hardly worthy to rank with the cultivated +mulberries as a fruit tree. But planted in poultry yards and hog +pastures the dropping fruits are eagerly devoured by the occupants of +these enclosures. + +The chief value of the tree lies in the durability of its +orange-yellow wood, which, though coarse-grained, soft and weak, is +very durable in the soil and in contact with water. Hence it has +always commended itself to fence- and boat-builder. It is sometimes +planted for ornament, but its dropping fruit is a strong objection to +it as a street or lawn tree. + +One of the mulberry's chief characteristics is its tenacity to life. +Its seeds readily germinate and cuttings, whether from roots or twigs, +strike root quickly. Indians discovered that rope could be made out of +the bast fibre of mulberry bark. They even wove a coarse cloth out of +the same material. The early settlers of Virginia, who found the red +mulberry growing there in great abundance, dreamed in vain of silk +culture as an industry based upon this native tree. Their hopes were +not realized. Silk culture has never yet become a New-World industry. + + + =The White Mulberry= + + _M. alba_, Linn. + +The white mulberry is a native of northern China and Japan. From this +region it has been extensively introduced into all warm temperate +climates. Its white berries are of negligible character. It is the +leaves that give this oriental mulberry a unique position in the +economic world. They are the chosen food of silkworms. No substitute +has ever robbed this tree of its preëminence, maintained for many +centuries in its one field of usefulness. + +The hardy Russian mulberries are derived from _M. alba_. These have +done much to enrich the horticulture of our Northern states, but the +parent tree, though it thrives in the eastern United States and in the +South, has not been the means of establishing silk culture on a paying +basis in this country. + + + =The Black Mulberry= + + _M. nigra_, Linn. + +The black mulberry, probably a native of Persia, has large, dark red, +juicy fruits, for which it is extensively cultivated in Europe. In +this country it is hardy only in the Southern and the Pacific Coast +states. It is the best fruit tree of its family, yet no mulberry is +able to take rank among profitable fruit trees. The fruits are too +sweet and soft, and they lack piquancy of flavor. They ripen a few at +a time and are gathered by shaking the trees. + +The dark green foliage of the black mulberry gives ample shade +throughout the season. Planted in the garden or in the border of the +lawn where no walk will be defaced by the dropping fruits, the +mulberry is a particularly desirable tree because it attracts some of +our most desirable song-birds to build on the premises. Given a +mulberry tree and a bird-bath near by, and the smallest city lot +becomes a bird sanctuary through the summer and a wayside inn for +transients during the two migratory seasons. + + +THE FIGS + +The genus _ficus_ belongs to all tropical countries, and this +remarkable range accounts for the six hundred different species +botanists have identified. The rubber plant, popular in this country +as a pot and tub plant, is one of the best-known species. In its East +Indian forest home it is the "Assam Rubber Tree." It may begin life as +an air plant, fixing its roots in the crotch of another tree, in which +a chance seed has lodged. A shock of aërial roots strikes downward and +reaches the ground. After this the tree depends upon food drawn from +the earth. The supporting host tree is no longer needed. The young +rubber tree has by this time a trunk stiff enough to stand alone. + +Assam rubber, which ranks in the market with the best Brazilian crude +rubber, comes from the sap of this wild fig tree, _Ficus elasticus_. +Clip off a twig of your leathery-leaved rubber plant and note the +sticky white sap that exudes. In the highest priced automobile tires +you find the manufactured product. + +Dried figs have always been an important commercial fruit. These +imported figs are from trees that are horticultural varieties of a +wild Asiatic species, _Ficus Carica_. Smyrna figs are best for drying. +They form a delicious, wholesome sweet, which has high food value and +is more wholesome than candy for children. Tons of this dried fruit +are imported each year from the countries east of the Mediterranean +Sea. Now California is growing Smyrna figs successfully. + +The banyan tree of India is famous, striking its aërial rootlets +downward until they reach the ground and take root, and thus help +support the giant, horizontal limbs. These amazing trees, members of +the genus _ficus_, sometimes extend to cover an acre or more of +ground. To walk under one is like entering the darkness of a forest of +young trees. By the clearing away of most of these aërial branches, a +great arbor is made for the comfort of people in regions where the +sun's rays are overpowering in the middle of the day. + +Our own fig trees in North America are but sprawling parasitic trees, +unable to stand alone. They are found only in the south of Florida, +and therefore are generally unknown. + + [Illustration: _See page 153_ + + FLOWERS AND FRUIT OF THE WILD BLACK CHERRY] + + [Illustration: _See page 156_ + + A FRUITING BRANCH OF THE COCKSPUR THORN] + + + =The Golden Fig= + + _Ficus aurea_, Nutt. + +The golden fig climbs up other trees and strangles its host with its +coiling stems and aërial roots. One far-famed specimen has grown and +spread like a banyan tree, its trunk and head supported by secondary +stems that have struck downward from the branches. Smooth as a beech +in bark, crowned with glossy, beautiful foliage, like the rubber +plants, this parasitic fig is a splendid tropical tree, but the host +that supports all this luxuriance is sacrificed utterly. The little +yellow figs that snuggle in the axils of the leaves turn purple, +sweet, and juicy as they ripen. They are sometimes used in making +preserves. An interesting characteristic of the wood of the golden fig +is its wonderful lightness. Bulk for bulk, it is only one fourth as +heavy as water. + + +THE PAPAWS + +Two of the forty-eight genera of the tropical custard-apple family are +represented by a solitary species each in the warmer parts of the +United States. Important fruit and ornamental trees in the tropics of +the Old World are included in this family, but their New-World +representatives are not the most valuable. However, they have a +sufficient number of family traits to look foreign and interesting +among our more commonplace forest trees; and because their +distribution is limited they are not generally recognized in gardens, +where they are planted more for curiosity than for ornament. + + + =The Papaw= + + _Asimina triloba_, Dunal. + +The papaw has the family name, custard-apple, from its unusual fruit, +whose flesh is soft and yellow, like custard. The shape suggests that +of a banana. The fruits hang in clusters and their pulp is enclosed in +thick dark brown skin, wrinkled, sometimes shapeless, three to five +inches long. Dead ripe, the flesh becomes almost transparent, +fragrant, sweet, rather insipid, surrounding flat, wrinkled seeds an +inch long. The fruit is gathered and sold in local markets from +forests of these papaws which grow under taller trees in the alluvial +bottom lands of the Mississippi Valley. In summer the leaves are +tropical-looking, having single blades eight to twelve inches long, +four to five inches broad, on short, thick stalks. These leaves are +set alternately upon the twig, and cluster in whorls on the ends of +branches. The flowers appear with the leaves and would escape notice +but for their abundance and the unusual color of their three large +membranous petals. At first these axillary blossoms are as green as +the leaves; gradually the dark pigment overcomes the green, and the +color passes through shades of brownish green to dark rich wine-red. +The full-grown foliage by midsummer has become very thin in texture, +and lined with pale bloom. The tree throughout exhales a sickish, +disagreeable odor. The fruit is improved in flavor by hanging until it +gets a nip of frost. + +This "wild banana tree" is the favorite fruit tree of the negroes in +the Black Belt. Its hardiness is surprising. From the Southern states, +it ranges north into Kansas, Michigan, New York, and New Jersey. + + + =The Melon Papaw= + + _Carica Papaya_, Linn. + +The melon papaw does not belong to the custard-apple family, but it +grows in southern Florida and throughout the West Indies, and has the +name of our little "wild banana tree," so it may as well have mention +here, as it is the sole representative of the true Papaw family, and +it is universally cultivated for its fruit in the warm regions of the +world. By selection the fruit has been improved until it ranks as one +of the most wholesome and important of all the fruits in the tropics. +In Florida the papaw grows on the rich hummocks along the Indian +River, and on the West Coast southward from Bay Biscayne. It is very +common on all the West Indian Islands. It grows like a palm, with tall +stem crowned by huge simple leaves, one to two feet across, deeply +lobed into three main divisions, and each lobe irregularly cut by +narrow sinuses. The veins are very thick and yellow, and the hollow +leaf-stalks lengthen to three or four feet. The bark of this tree is +silvery white--a striking contrast with the lustrous head of foliage. +The flowers are waxy, tubular, fragrant, turning their yellow petals +backward in a whorl. On fertile trees the fruits mature into great +melons, sometimes as large as a man's head; but these are the +cultivated varieties. Wild papaws rarely exceed four inches long, and +usually they are smaller. When full grown the fruit turns to bright +orange-yellow. The succulent pulp separates easily from the round +seeds. + +In the West Indies, the trees often branch and attain much greater +size than in Florida, where fifteen feet is the maximum, in the wilds. + +The leaves of this papaw contain, in their abundant sap, a solvent, +_papain_, which has the property of destroying the connective tissue +in meats. They are bruised by the natives and tough meat, wrapped +closely in them, becomes tender in a few hours. The fruits are eaten +raw and made into preserves. Negroes use the leaves also as a +substitute for soap in the washing of clothes. + + +THE POND APPLES + +The pond apple (_Anona glabra_, Linn.) is our only representative of +its genus that reaches tree form and size, and it is the second of our +native custard-apples. It comes to us _via_ the West Indies, and +reaches no farther north than the swamps of southern Florida. It is a +familiar tree on the Bahama Islands. Thirty to forty feet high, the +broad head rises from a short trunk, less than two feet in diameter, +but very thick compared with the wide-spreading, contorted branches +and slender branchlets. It is often buttressed at the base. The leaves +are oval and pointed, rarely more than four inches long, bright green, +leathery, paler on the lower surface, plain-margined. The flowers in +April form pointed, triangular boxes by the touching of the tips of +the yellowish white petals, whose inner surfaces near the base have a +bright red spot. + +The fruit, which ripens in November, is somewhat heart-shaped, four to +six inches long, compound like a mulberry. The smooth custard-like +flesh forms a luscious mass between the fibrous core and the surface, +studded with the hard seeds. Fragrant and sweet, these wild pond +apples have small merit as fruit. Little effort has been made to +improve the species horticulturally. Its rival species in the West +Indies have a tremendous lead which they are likely to keep. + + + =The Cherimoya= + + _Anona Cherimolia_, Mill. + +The cherimoya, native of the highlands of Central America, has long +been cultivated, and its fruit has been classed, with the pineapple +and the mangosteen, as one of the three finest fruits in the world. +Certainly it deserves high rank among the fruits of the tropics. This +also has been introduced into cultivation in southern Florida, but its +culture has assumed much more importance in California, where it seems +to feel quite at home. + +The tree is a handsome one, with broad velvety bright green leaves, +deciduous during the winter months. It grows wherever the orange is +hardy, and its fruit, heart-shaped or oval, green or brown, is about +the size of a navel orange. Conical protuberances cover the surface +and enclose a mass of white, custard-like pulp, with the flavor of the +pineapple, in which are imbedded twenty or thirty brown seeds. A +taste for this tropical pond apple is as easily acquired as for the +pineapple, which has become universally popular. Every garden in the +Orange Belt should have a cherimoya tree for ornament and for its +fruit. + + +THE PERSIMMONS + +The persimmon tree of the Southern woods belongs to the ebony family, +which contains some important fruit and lumber trees, chiefly confined +to the genus _diospyros_, which has two representatives among the +trees of North America. Doubtless a climate of longer summers would +enable our persimmon trees to produce wood as hard as the ebony of +commerce, whose black heart-wood and thick belt of soft yellow +sap-wood are the products of five different tropical species of the +genus--two from India, one from Africa, one from Malaysia and one from +Mauritius. The beautiful, variegated wood called _coromandel_ is +produced by a species of ebony that grows in Ceylon. + +Fossil remains of persimmon trees are found in the miocene rocks of +Greenland and Alaska, and in the later cretaceous beds uncovered in +Nebraska. These prove that _diospyros_ once had a much wider range +than now, extending through temperate to arctic regions, whereas now +our two persimmons and the Chinese and Japanese species, are the only +representatives outside the tropics. + + + =The Persimmon= + + _Diospyros Virginiana_, Linn. + +The persimmon will never be forgotten by the Northerner who chances to +visit his Virginia cousins in the early autumn. Strolling through the +woods he notes among other unfamiliar trees a tall shaft covered with +black bark, deeply checked into squarish plates. The handsome round +head, held well aloft, bears a shock of angular twigs and among the +glossy, orange-red leaves hang fruits the size and shape of his +Northern crabapples. The rich orange-red makes it extremely +attractive, and the enthusiasm with which the entire population +regards the approaching persimmon harvest focuses his interest +likewise upon this unknown Southern fruit. He is eager to taste it +without delay, and usually there is no one to object. Forthwith he +climbs the tree, or beats a branch with a long pole until a good +specimen is obtained. Its thin skin covers the mellow flesh--but the +first bite is not followed by a second. The fruit is so puckery that +it almost strangles one. + +But after the frosts and well on into the winter the persimmons grow +more sweet, juicy, and delicious, and lose all their bitterness and +astringency. To find a few of these sugary morsels in the depths of +the woods at the end of a long day's hunting is a reward that offsets +all disappointments of an empty bag. No fruit could be more utterly +satisfying to a dry-mouthed, leg-weary, hungry boy. + +The opossum is the chief competitor of the local negro in harvesting +the persimmon crop. Individual trees differ in the excellence of their +fruit. These special trees are "spotted" months before the crop is fit +to eat. It would seem as if the opossums camp under the best persimmon +trees and take an unfair advantage, because they are nocturnal beasts +and have nothing to do but watch and wait. One thing solaces the +negro, when he sees the harvest diminish through the unusual industry +and appetite of his bright-eyed, rat-tailed rival. He knows what +brush-pile or hollow tree shelters the opossum, while he sleeps by +day. Every persimmon the opossum steals helps to make him fat and +tender for the darkey's Thanksgiving feast, so it is only a question +of patience and strategy to recoup his losses by feasting on his fat +'possum neighbor, and to boast to the friends who join him at the +feast, of the contest of wits at which he came off victorious. + +In summer time a persimmon tree is handsome in its oval pointed +leaves, often six inches long, with pale linings. The flowers that +appear in axillary clusters on the sterile trees are small, yellowish +green and inconspicuous. On the fertile trees the flowers are solitary +and axillary. The fruit is technically a berry, containing one to +eight seeds. + +The following first impressions of persimmons in Virginia woods are +from the pen of a traveler in the early part of the seventeenth +century, whom Pocahontas might have introduced to a fruit well known +to the Indians: + + * * * * * + +"They have a plumb which they call pessemmins, like to a medler, in +England, but of a deeper tawnie cullour; they grow on a most high +tree. When they are not fully ripe, they are harsh and choakie, and +furre in a man's mouth like allam, howbeit, being taken fully ripe, yt +is a reasonable pleasant fruiet, somewhat lushious. I have seen our +people put them into their baked and sodden puddings; there be whose +tast allows them to be as pretious as the English apricock; I confess +it is a good kind of horse plumb." + + * * * * * + +"'Simmon beer" and brandy are made from the fruit, and its seeds are +roasted to use when coffee is scarce. The inner bark of the tree has +tonic properties, and the country folk use it for the allaying of +intermittent fevers. The wood is used in turnery, for shoe lasts, +plane stocks and shuttles. It is a peculiarity of the persimmon tree +that almost one hundred layers of pale sap-wood, the growth of as many +years, lie outside of the black heart-wood, upon which the reputation +of ebony rests. + + +The Japanese Persimmon + +Kaki + +The native persimmon of Japan has been developed into an important +horticultural fruit. China also has species that are fruit trees of +merit. In the fruit stalls of all American cities, the Japanese +persimmon is found in its season, the smooth, orange-red skin, easily +mistaken for that of a tomato as the fruits lie in their boxes. The +pointed cones differ in form, however, and the soft mellow flesh, with +its melon-like seeds and leathery calyx at base, mark this fruit as +still a novelty in the East. + +In southern California no garden is complete without a Japanese +persimmon tree to give beauty by its cheerful, leathery, green leaves +and its rich-colored fruits. But the beginner will establish a grave +personal prejudice against this fruit unless he wait until it is dead +ripe, for it has the astringent qualities of its genus. No fruit is +more delicate in flavor than a thoroughly ripe kaki, so soft that it +must be eaten with a spoon. + +The Department of Agriculture at Washington has established a number +of varieties of these oriental fruit trees in the warmer parts of the +United States. Our native persimmons are being used as stock upon +which to graft the exotics. A distinct addition to the fruits of this +country has thus been made and the public is fast learning to enjoy +the luscious, wholesome Japanese persimmons. + + + + +PART VI + +THE POD-BEARING TREES + + The Locusts--The Acacias or Wattles--Other Pod-bearers + + +Whenever we see blossoms of the sweet-pea type on a tree or pods of +the same type as the pea's swinging from the twigs, we may be sure +that we are looking at a member of the pod-bearing family, +_leguminosae_, to which herbaceous and woody plants both belong. The +family is one of the largest and most important in the plant kingdom, +and its representatives are distributed to the uttermost parts of the +earth. Four hundred and fifty genera contain the seven thousand +species already described by botanists. Varieties without number +belong to the cultivated members of the family, and new forms are +being produced by horticulturists all the time. This great group of +plants has fed the human race, directly and indirectly, since the +First Man appeared on earth. Clovers, alfalfas, lentils, peas, beans +yield foodstuffs rich in all the elements that build flesh and bone +and nerve tissues. They take the place of meat in vegetarian +dietaries. + +Besides foods, the pod-bearers yield rubber, dyestuffs, balsams, oils, +medicinal substances, and valuable timber. A long list of ornamental +plants, beautiful in foliage and flowers, occurs among them, chiefly +of shrub and tree form. + +Last, but not least, among their merits stands the fact that +leguminous plants are the only ones that actually enrich the soil they +grow in, whereas the rest of the plant creation feed upon the soil, +and so rob it of its plant food and leave it poorer than before. + +Pod-bearers have the power to take the nitrogen out of the air, and +store it in their roots and stems. The decay of these parts restores +to the soil the particular plant food that is most commonly lacking +and most costly to replace. Farmers know that after wheat and corn +have robbed the soil of nitrogen, a crop of clover or cow peas, plowed +under when green and luxuriant, is the best restorer of fertility. It +enriches by adding valuable chemical elements, and also improves the +texture of the soil, increasing its moisture-holding properties, which +commercial fertilizers do not. + +Seventeen genera of leguminous plants have tree representatives within +the United States. These include about thirty species. Valuable timber +trees are in this group. All but one, the yellow-wood, have compound +leaves, of many leaflets, often fern-like in their delicacy of +structure, and intricacy of pattern. With few exceptions the flowers +are pretty and fragrant in showy clusters. The ripening pods of many +species add a striking, decorative quality to the tree from midsummer +on through the season. Thorns give distinction and usefulness to +certain of these trees, making them available for ornamental hedges. + + +THE LOCUSTS + +Three representatives of the genus _robinia_ are among our native +forest trees. They are known in early summer by their showy, pea-like +blossoms in full clusters, and their compound leaves, that have the +habit of drooping and folding shut their paired leaflets when night +comes on, or when rain begins to fall. The pods are thin and small, +splitting early, but hanging late on the twigs. + + + =The Black Locust= + + _Robinia Pseudacacia_, Linn. + +The black or yellow locust is a beautiful tree in its youth, with +smooth dark rind and slender trunk, holding up a loose roundish head +of dark green foliage. Each leaf is eight to fourteen inches long, +of nine to nineteen leaflets, silvery when they unfold, and always +paler beneath. In late May, the tree-top bursts into bloom that is +often so profuse as to whiten the whole mass of the dainty foliage. +The nectar-laden, white flowers have the characteristic "butterfly" +form, the banner, wings, and keel of the type pease-blossom. (_See +illustration, page 198_). The bees lead the insect host that swarms +about them as long as a locust flower remains to offer sweets to the +probing tongues. Cross-fertilization is the advantage the tree gains +for all it gives. The crop of seeds is sure. + +The angled twigs of the black locust break easily in windy weather. +The rapid growth of the limbs spreads the narrow head, and its +symmetry is soon destroyed, unless the tree grows in a sheltered +situation. An old locust is usually an ugly, broken specimen, +ragged-looking for three-fourths of the year. The twigs look dead, +because their winter buds are buried out of sight! The bark is dull, +deeply cut into irregular, interlacing furrows, roughened by scales +and shreds on the ridges. In winter the pods chatter querulously, +as the wind plays among the tree tops. + +The black locust is found from Pennsylvania to Iowa, and south from +Georgia to Oklahoma. The lumber is coarse-grained, heavy, hard, and +exceptionally durable in contact with the soil or water. This makes +it especially adaptable for fence posts and boat bottoms. Crystals, +called _raphides_, in the wood cells, take the edges off tools used +in working locust lumber. Yet it is sought by manufacturers of mill +cogs and wheel hubs, and railroad companies plant the trees for +ties. + +The locust-borer has ruined plantations of this tree of late years, +and trees in the woods have become infested except in mountainous +regions not yet reached by the pest. Trees become distorted with +warty excrescences and the lumber is riddled with burrows made by +the larvae. Until the entomologist finds a remedy in some natural +parasite of the locust-borer, the outlook for locust culture seems +dark enough. No insecticide can reach an enemy that hides in the +trunk of the tree it destroys. + + + =The Clammy Locust= + + _R. viscosa_, Vent. + +The clammy locust has beautifully shaded pink flowers in clusters, +each blossom accented by the dark red, shiny calyx, and the +glandular exudation of wax, that covers all new growth. A favorite +ornamental locust, this little tree has been widely distributed in +this and other temperate countries of the globe. Its leaves are +delicately feathery, with the dew-like gum brightening them, as it +does also the hairy, curling pods that flush as they ripen. In +winter the twigs are ruddy. The trees grow wild on the mountains of +the Carolinas and nowhere else. + + + =The Honey Locust= + + _Gleditsia triacanthos_, Linn. + +The honey locust is a tall handsome flat-topped tree, with stiff +horizontal, often drooping branches, ending in slim brown polished +twigs, with three-branched thorns, stout and very sharp, set a +little distance above the leaf scar of the previous season. +Occasionally a thornless tree occurs. + +Inconspicuous greenish flowers, regular, bell-shaped, appear in +elongated clusters, the fertile and sterile clusters distinct, but +on the same tree. The leaves are almost full-grown when the blossoms +appear. Their feathery, fern-like aspect is the tree's greatest +charm in early June. When the pods replace the flowers they attract +attention and admiration as their velvety surfaces change from pale +green to rose and they curve, as they lengthen, into all sorts of +graceful and fantastic forms. The sweet, gummy pulp of the honey +locust pods is considered edible by boys, who brave the thorns to +get them. As the autumn approaches, the pulp turns bitter, and dries +around the shiny black seeds. The purple pods cling and rattle in +the wind long after the yellow leaves have fallen. One by one, they +are torn off, their S-curves tempting every vagrant breeze to give +them a lift. On the crusty surface of snowbanks and icy ponds, they +are whirled along, and finally lodge, to rot and liberate the seeds. +It takes much soaking to prepare the adamantine seeds for sprouting. +The planter scalds his seed to hasten the process. Nature soaks, +freezes, and thaws them, and thus the range of the honey locust is +extended. + +In the wild, this tree is found from Ontario to Nebraska, and south +to Alabama and Texas. It chooses rich bottom lands, but is found +also on dry gravelly slopes of the Alleghany Mountains. Trunks six +feet in diameter are still in existence, preserved from the early +forests of the Wabash Basin in Indiana. They tower nearly one +hundred and fifty feet above the ground, and their branches are a +formidable array of thorns (_see illustration, page 198_), that have +grown into proportions unmatched in trees of slender build and fewer +years. Such a veteran honey locust is one of the most picturesque +figures in a winter landscape. + +Honey locust wood is hard, coarse-grained, heavy, and durable in +contact with water and soil. It is made into wheel-hubs, +fence-posts, and fuel. In all temperate countries this species has +been used as a shade and ornamental tree and as a hedge plant. + + + =The Kentucky Coffee Tree= + + _Gymnocladus dioicus_, K. Koch + +The Kentucky coffee tree is the one clumsy, coarse member of a +family that abounds in graceful, dainty species. Its head is small +and unsymmetrical, above a trunk that often rises free from limbs +for fifty feet above ground. The branches are stiff and large, bare +until late spring, when the buds expand and the shoots are thrown +out. The leaves are twice compound, often a yard in length and half +as wide; the leaflets, six to fourteen on each of the five to nine +divisions of the main rib. No other locust can boast a leaf +numbering more than one hundred leaflets, each averaging two inches +in length. When the tree turns to gold in autumn, it is a sight to +draw all eyes. + +The flower spray is large, but the flowers are small, imperfect, +salver-form, purplish green--the fertile ones forming thick, clumsy +pods that dangle in clusters, and seem to weigh down the stiff +branchlets. The fresh pulp used to be made into a decoction used in +homeopathic practice. The ripe seeds were used in Revolutionary +times as a substitute for coffee. How the pioneer ever crushed them +is a puzzle to all who have tried to break one with a nut-cracker. +In China the fresh pulp of the pods of a sister species is used as +we use soap. + +The wood is not hard, but in other respects it resembles other +locust lumber. It is sometimes used in cabinet work, being a rich, +reddish brown, with pale sap-wood. + +The range of the coffee tree extends from New York to Nebraska, and +south through Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Oklahoma, with bottom +lands as the tree's preference. Nowhere is this species common. +Occasionally, it is planted as a street tree, in this country and +abroad. + + + =The Redbud= + + _Cercis Canadensis_, Linn. + +The redbud covers its delicate angled, thornless branchlets with a +profusion of rosy-purple blossoms, typically pea-like, before the leaves +appear. The unusual color, so abundant where little redbuds form +thickets on the outskirts of a woodland, leads to a very general +recognition of this tree among people who go into the April woods for +early violets. It vies with the white banner of the shad-bush, in doing +honor to the spring. Later, the broad heart-shaped leaves cover and +adorn the tree, concealing the dainty tapering pods that turn to purple +as the polished leaf blades, unmarred by insect or wind, change from +green to clear yellow before falling. + + [Illustration: _See page 159_ + + SERVICE-BERRY IN BLOSSOM + + The flowers appear in April, before the leaves] + + [Illustration: _See page 161_ + + THE HACKBERRY + + Leaves, berries, and (A) pistillate and (B) staminate flowers] + +Tradition has given this charming little locust tree the name, +"Judas-tree," from its European cousin, rumored to have been the one +upon which the choice of Judas fell when he went out and hanged +himself. It is an unearned stigma, better forgotten, for it does +prejudice the planter against a tree that should be on every lawn, +preferably showing its rosy flowers against a bank of evergreens. + +Its natural range extends from New Jersey to Florida and west from +Ontario to Nebraska and southward. The largest specimens reach fifty +feet in height in Texas and Arkansas, in river bottom lands, and in +the Southwest the tree is an abundant undergrowth--making a +beautiful woodland picture in early spring. + + + =The Yellow-wood= + + _Cladrastis lutea_, K. Koch. + +The yellow-wood was named by the wife of a pioneer, surely, for she +soaked the chips and got from them a clear yellow dye, highly prized +for the permanent color it gave to her homespun cotton and woolen +cloth that must have gone colorless, but for dyestuffs discoverable +in the woods. + +The satiny grain of the wood, and its close hard texture, commended +it to the woodsman, who used it for gun stocks. But the tree is too +small to be important for the lumber it yields. + +In winter the smooth pale bark of the "Virgilia," as the nurseryman +calls it, reminds one of the rind of the beech. The broad rounded +head, often borne on three or more spreading stems, is formed of +drooping graceful branches, ending in brittle twigs. Summer clothes +these twigs with a light airy covering of compound leaves, of seven +to eleven broadly oval leaflets, on a stalk less than a foot in +length. In autumn, the foliage turns yellow. + +White flowers, pea-like, delicate, fragrant, in clusters a foot +long, and so loose that the flowers seem to drip from the twig ends, +drape the tree in white about the middle of June, when the young +leaves show many tints of green to form a background for the +blossoms. + +This is the supreme moment of the year for one of the most charming +of trees, in any park that cherishes one of these virgilias. In the +wilds of eastern Tennessee, northern Alabama, and central Kentucky +the species is found in scattered places. But the wild trees have +scant food and they show it. The full beauty of the species is seen +only in cultivation, as one sees it in the Arnold Arboretum, and in +private gardens near Boston. Even the little pods, thin, satiny +pointed, add a harmonious note of beauty; their silvery fawn color +blending with the quiet Quaker drab worn by the tree all winter. +Fortunately, this hardy beautiful park tree is easily raised from +seeds and from root cuttings. It thrives on soil of many different +kinds. It has no bad habits, no superior, and few equals among +flowering trees. + + +THE ACACIAS, OR WATTLES + +Australia has contributed to southern California's tree flora a +large number of forms of the acacia tribe, shrubs and trees of +great variety and beauty of flowers and evergreen foliage. They are +hardy and perfectly at home, and are planted in such profusion as to +be the commonest of all street and ornamental trees. The leaves are +set on a branching pinnate stem, making them "twice compound" of +many tiny leaflets, fascicled on the sides of the twigs, alternate +on the terminal shoots of the season. The lacy, fern-like foliage of +most acacias would justify the planting of them for this trait +alone. But the abundant mass of bloom usually overwhelms the +tree-tops, obscuring the foliage with a veil of golden mesh. +Sometimes white, but oftenest yellow, the individual flowers are +very small; but they crowd in button-like heads or elongated spikes, +set close in axillary clusters. In their native woods these trees +flower much less freely than in the land of their adoption. The +curling pods are in most species and varieties ornamental, as they +pass through many color changes before they finally discharge their +seeds. + +Acacias compose a genus of four hundred species, and an untold and +constantly increasing number of cultivated varieties. The continent +of Australia has the greatest representation of native species. +Others belong to Africa--tropical, northern, and southern regions. +Asia, in its warmer southern territory, and in southwestern China, +has many native acacias. Tropical and temperate South America, the +West Indies, Central America, Mexico, the southwestern region of the +United States, and the islands of the South Pacific, all have +representatives of this wonderful and far-scattered genus. There is +no country interested in horticulture that does not grow acacias as +ornamental shrubs and trees, even if they must be grown under glass +the year round. In southern England the acacias, grown in open +ground, and known as "tassel trees," attain good size. + +Valuable lumber, tanbarks, dyes, perfumes, and drugs are yielded by +acacias. Gum Arabic is the dried sap of several oriental species, +particularly, _Acacia Arabica_, Linn. of Egypt and southern Asia. + +As a rule, acacias have slender branches armed with spines. Often +these are too small to attract notice, or to make the species useful +as a hedge plant. All spines are modifications of the stipules at +the base of leaf or leaflet. Thorns, however, are modified twigs, +strong, stiff and sharp, often branched. The honey locust shows true +thorns, not spines or prickles. The armament of canes of blackberry +is only skin deep. This means of defence is best called "prickles." + + + =The Black Acacia= + + _Acacia melanoxylon_ + +The black acacia, called at home in Australian woods, the +"blackwood-tree," for its black heart-wood, is a familiar street and +shade tree in California. In narrow parkings it is likely to +surprise the planter by outgrowing in a few years the space allotted +to it, and upheaving both cement walk and curb, by the irresistible +force of its thick roots. It is one of the large timber acacias, and +even in the cool climate of England reaches fifty feet. + +In suitable situations in California it grows much higher, and its +compact conical head of dense evergreen foliage, gives abundant +shade at all seasons. The flowers are white or cream-colored, +lightening the yellow-green of the new shoots and the dull, opaque +of the older leaves, with abundant clusters in earliest spring. The +succeeding fruits are curling thin pods that hang in brownish +sheaves, giving the tree a rusty look. Each seed is rimmed with a +frill of terra cotta hue that serves as a wing for its flight, when +detached by the wind. The roots send up suckers and the seeds are +quick to grow. So any one can have black acacias with little trouble +or expense. Its shedding of leaves and pods makes much litter, +however, a trait sometimes overlooked which seriously diminishes its +desirability as a street and shade tree. + + + =The Silver Wattle= + + _A. dealbata_ + +The silver wattle of nursery catalogues is named for its abundant, +silvery-pubescent, feathery foliage. Its flowers--fluffy golden +balls, small but abundant--make this a wonderfully showy tree. + +Sea-green and turquoise-blue leaves, with abundant canary-yellow +bloom, are traits of many different acacias in cultivation, all of +which are rapid growers, and soon repay the planter who wants quick +results. From being mere ornaments they rise to the stature of shade +trees, and merely multiply the charms that made them admired when +young. Varieties with sharp spines are employed as hedge plants. +Curious leaf forms and unusual, edgewise position of the foliage, +make us wonder at some of the glorious "golden wattles" and +"knife-leaved acacias," that bring us glimpses of the forests of +Australia and other strange far countries. + + +OTHER POD-BEARERS + + + =The Mesquite= + + _Prosopis juliflora_, DC. + +The mesquite or honey pod is one of the wonderful plants of the arid +and semi-arid regions from Colorado and Utah to Texas and southern +California. At best it is a tree sixty feet high along the rivers of +Arizona. In the higher and more desert stretches it is stunted to a +sprawling shrub, with numerous stems but a few feet high. Its leaves +are like those of our honey locust but very much smaller, and the +tree furnishes little shade. The bark of the trunk is thick, dark +reddish brown, shallowly fissured between scaly ridges. In winter +the tree looks dead enough, but the young shoots clothed with tender +green bring it to life in early spring, and the greenish fragrant +flowers, thickly set in finger-like clusters, appear in successive +crops from May to July. These are succeeded by pods four to nine +inches long in drooping clusters, each containing ten to twenty +beans. + +Not its beauty of leaf and blossom but its usefulness is what makes +this tree almost an object of worship to desert dwellers, red men +and white. The long fat pods supply Mexicans and Indians with a +nutritious food, green or ripe. Cattle feed upon the young shoots +and thrive, when other forage is scant or utterly lacking. The fuel +problem of the desert is solved by the mesquite in a way that is a +great surprise to the newcomer. His sophisticated neighbor takes +him on a wood-gathering expedition. Stopping where a shrubby +mesquite sprawls, he hitches his team to a chain or rope that lays +hold of the trunk, and hauls the plant out by its roots. And what +roots the mesquite has developed in its search for water! There is a +central tap root that goes down, down, sometimes sixty feet or more. +Secondary roots branch out in all directions, interlock, thicken, +and form a labyrinth of woody substance, in quantity and quality +that makes the timber above ground a negligible quantity. This wood +is cut into building and fencing materials--two great needs in the +desert. The waste makes good fuel, and every scrap is precious. +Posts, railroad ties, frames for the adobe houses, furniture, +fellies of wheels, paving blocks, and charcoal are made of this +wonderful tree's root system. A gum resembling gum-arabic exudes +from the stems. + + + =The Screw-bean= + + _P. pubescens_, Benth. + +The screw-bean or screw-pod mesquite is a small slender-trunked tree +with sharp spines at the bases of the hoary foliage. The marked +distinction between this species and the preceding one is in the +fruit, which makes from twelve to twenty turns as it matures, and +forms when ripe a narrow straight spiral, one to two inches long; +but when drawn out like a coiled spring the pod is shown to be more +than a foot in length. These sweet nutritious pods are a most useful +fodder for range cattle, and the wood is used for fencing and fuel. +This tree grows from southern Utah and Nevada through New Mexico and +Arizona into San Diego County, California, western Texas and +northern Mexico. + + + =The Palo Verde Acacia= + + _Cercidium Torreyanum_, Sarg. + +The palo verde is another green-barked acacia whose leaves are +almost obsolete. Miniature honey-locust leaves an inch long unfold, +a few here and there in March and April, but they are gone before +they fully mature, and the leaf function is carried on entirely by +the vivid green branches. Clustered flowers, like little yellow +roses, cover the branches in April, and the pointed pods ripen and +fall in July. + +In the Colorado desert of southern California, in the valley of the +lower Gila River in Arizona, on the sides of low canyons and on +desert sandhills into Mexico, this small tree, with its multitude of +leafless, ascending branches, is one of the brightest features on a +hopelessly dun-colored landscape. + + + =The Jamaica Dogwood= + + _Icthyomethia Piscipula_, A. S. Hitch. + +The Jamaica dogwood is a West Indian tree that grows also in +southern Florida and Mexico. It is one of the commonest tropical +trees on the Florida West Coast from the shores of Bay Biscayne to +the Southern Keys. The leaves are four to nine inches long, with +leaflets three to four inches in length, deciduous, vivid green, +making a tree fifty feet high an object of tropical luxuriance. Its +beauty is greatly enhanced in May by the opening of the pink, +pea-like blossoms that hang in drooping clusters a foot or more in +length. The necklace-like pods are frilled on four sides with thin +papery wings. + +The wood of this tree is very durable in contact with water, besides +being heavy, close-grained, and hard. It is locally used in +boat-building, and for fuel and charcoal. All parts of the tree, but +especially the bark of the roots, contain an acid drug of +sleep-inducing properties. In the West Indies the powdered leaves, +young branches, and the bark of the roots have long been used by the +natives to stupefy fish they try to capture. + + + =The Horse Bean= + + _Parkinsonia aculeata_, Linn. + +The horse bean or retama, native to the valleys of the lower Rio +Grande and Colorado River, is a small graceful pod-bearing tree of +drooping branches set with strong spines, long leaf-stems, branching +and set with many pairs of tiny leaflets. + +The bright yellow, fragrant flowers are almost perennial. In Texas +the tree is out of bloom only in midwinter. In the tropics, it is +ever-blooming. The fruit hangs in graceful racemes, dark +orange-brown in color, and compressed between the remote beans. As a +hedge and ornamental garden plant, this tree has no equal in the +Southwest. It is met with in cultivation in most warm countries. + + + =The Texas Ebony= + + _Zigia flexicaulis_, Sudw. + +The Texas ebony is a beautiful, acacia-like tree of southern Texas +and Mexico. One of the commonest and most beautiful trees on the +bluffs along the coast, south of the Rio Grande. Its leaves are +feathery, fern-like, its flowers in creamy clusters, its pods thick, +almost as large as those of the honey locust. The seeds are +palatable and nutritious, green or ripe. Immature, the pods are +cooked like string beans; ripe, they are roasted, and the pods +themselves are ground and used as a substitute for coffee. + +The wood is valuable in fine cabinet work, and because it is almost +indestructible in contact with the ground, it is largely used for +fence posts. It makes superior fuel. Besides being more valuable +than any other tree of the Rio Grande Valley, though it rarely +exceeds thirty feet in height, it is worthy of the attention of +gardeners as well as foresters in all warm temperate countries. +Prof. Sargent calls it the finest ornamental tree native to Texas. + + + =The Frijolito= + + _Sophora secundiflora_, DC. + +The frijolito or coral-bean is a small, slender narrow-headed tree, +with persistent, locust-like leaves, fragrant violet-blue flowers, +and small one-sided racemes. The pods are silky white, pencil-like, +constricted between the bright scarlet seeds. The tree grows wild in +canyons in southern Texas and New Mexico, forming thickets or small +groves in low moist limestone soil and stream borders. It is a close +relative of the famous pagoda tree of Japan, _S. Japonica_, +universally cultivated; and it deserves to be a garden tree +throughout the Southern states. + + + + +PART VII + +DECIDUOUS TREES WITH WINGED SEEDS + + The Maples--The Ashes--The Elms + + +THE MAPLES + +A single genus, _acer_, includes from sixty to seventy species, +widely distributed over the Northern Hemisphere. A single species +goes south of the equator, to the mountains of Java. All produce +pale close-grained, fairly hard wood, valued in turnery and for the +interior finish of houses. The clear sap of some American species is +made into maple sugar. + +The signs by which we may know a member of the maple family are two: +opposite, simple leaves, palmately veined and lobed; and fruits in +the form of paired samaras, compressed and drawn out into large thin +wings. No amount of improvement changes these family traits. No +other tree has both leaves and fruits like a maple's. + +The distribution of genus _acer_ is interesting. The original home +of the family is in the Far East. In China and Japan we may reckon +up about thirty indigo maples, while only nine are native to North +America. Of these, five are in the eastern half of the continent, +three in the West, and one grows indifferently on both sides of the +Great Divide. + + + =The Sugar Maple= + + _Acer saccharum_, Marsh. + +The sugar maple (_see illustration, page 198-199_) is economically the +most important member of its family in this country. As an avenue and +shade tree it is unsurpassed. It is the great timber maple, whose curly +and bird's-eye wood is loved by the cabinet-maker; and whose sap boiled +down, yields maple sugar--a delicious sweet, with the distinctive flavor +beloved by all good Americans. In October the sugar maple paints the +landscape with yellow and orange and red. Its firm broad leaves, +shallowly cleft into five lobes, are variously toothed besides. The +flowers open late, hanging on the season's shoots in hairy yellow +clusters. The key fruits are smooth and plump, with wings only slightly +diverging. They are shed in midsummer. + +Hard maple wood outranks all other maple lumber, though the curly grain +and the bird's-eye are accidental forms rarely found. Flooring makes +special demands upon this wood. Much is used in furniture factories; and +small wares--shoe lasts, shoe pegs and the like--consume a great deal. +As fuel, hard maple is outranked only by hickory. Its ashes are rich in +potash and are in great demand as fertilizer in orchards and gardens. + +The living tree, in the park, on the street, casting its shade about the +home, or glowing red among the trees of the woods, is more valuable than +its lumber. Slow-growing, strong to resist damage by storm, clean in +habit and beautiful the year round--this is our splendid rock maple. +Rich, indeed, is the city whose early inhabitants chose it as the +permanent street tree. + + + =The Black Maple= + + _A. nigrum_, Michx. + +The black maple is so like the sugar maple that they are easily +confused, but its stout branchlets are orange-colored, the leaves +are smooth and green on both sides, scantly toothed, and they droop +as if their stems were too weak to hold up the blades. The keys +spread more widely than those of the sugar maple. + +The black maple is the sugar maple of South Dakota and Iowa. It +becomes rarer as one goes east. It is an admirable lumber tree, as +well as a noble street and shade tree. + +Two soft maples are found in the eastern part of the country, their +sap less sweet, their wood softer than the hard maples, and their +fitness for street planting correspondingly less. + + + =The Red Maple= + + _A. rubrum_, Linn. + +The red maple is a lover of swamps. It thrives, however, on +hillsides, if the soil be moist; and is planted widely in parks and +along village streets. In beauty it excels all other maples. In +early spring its swelling buds glow like garnets on the brown twigs +(_see illustrations, pages 198-199_). The opening flowers have red +petals, and the first leaves, which accompany the early bloom, are +red. In May the dainty flat keys, in clusters on their long, +flexible stems, are as red as a cock's comb, and beautiful against +the bright green of the new foliage. In early September in New +England, a splash of red in the woods, across a swamp, is sure to +be a scarlet maple that suddenly declares its name. Against the +green of a hemlock forest these maples show their color like a +splash of blood. The tree is gorgeous. + +In winter the lover of the woods, re-visiting the scenes of his +summer rambles, knows the scarlet maple by the knotty, full-budded +twigs which gleam like red-hot needles set with coral beads, against +the clean-limbed, gray-trunked tree. The red maple never quite +forgets its name. + +As a street tree, it makes rapid progress when it once becomes +established, though it is apt to stand still for a time after being +transplanted. Its branches are short, numerous, and erect, making a +round head, admirably adapted to the resistance of heavy winds. It +is particularly suited to use in narrow streets. + + + =The Soft Maple= + + _A. saccharinum_, Linn. + +The soft maple or silver maple (_see illustration, page 199_) has a +white-lined leaf, cleft almost to the midrib and each division again +deeply cut. It is quick and ready to grow, and has been widely +planted as a street tree, especially in prairie regions of uncertain +rainfall. It is one of the poorest of trees for street planting, +because it has a sprawling habit and weak brittle wood. The heavy +limbs have great horizontal spread, and are easily broken by ice and +windstorms. When planted on streets, they require constant cutting +back to make them even safe. Thick crops of suckers rise from the +stubs of branches, but the top thus formed is neither beautiful nor +useful. + +Wier's weeping maple, a cut-leaved, drooping variety of this silver +maple, is often seen as a lawn tree, imitating the habit of the +weeping willow. + + + =The Oregon Maple= + + _A. macrophyllum_, Pursh. + +The Oregon maple grows from southern Alaska to Lower California, +along the banks of streams. The great leaves, often a foot in +diameter, on blades of equal length, are the distinguishing marks of +this stout-limbed tree, that grows in favorable soil to a height of +a hundred feet. In southern Oregon it forms pure forest, its huge +limbs forming magnificent, interlacing arches that shut out the sun +and make a wonderful cover for ferns and mosses far below. The wood +of this tree is the best hard-wood lumber on the West Coast. + + + =The Vine Maple= + + _A. circinatum_, Pursh. + +The vine maple reminds one of the lianas of tropical woods, for it +has not sufficient stiffness to stand erect. It grows in the bottom +lands and up the mountain sides, but always following watercourses, +from British Columbia to northern California. Its vine-like stems +spring up in clusters from the ground, spreading in wide curves, and +these send out long, slender twigs which root when they touch the +ground, thus forming impenetrable thickets, often many acres in +extent. + +The leaf is almost circular and cut into narrow equal lobes around +the margin; green in midsummer, it changes to red and gold in +autumn, and the woodsman, almost worn out with the labor of getting +through the maze these trees form, must delight, when he stops to +rest, in the autumn glory of this wonderful ground cover. + +These little maples lend a wonderful charm to the edges of forest +highways in the Eastern states. Like the hornbeams, hazel bushes, +and ground hemlock, they are lovers of the shade; and they fringe +the forest with a shrubbery border. + + + =The Striped Maple= + + _A. Pennsylvanicum_, Linn. + +The striped maple is quickly recognized by the pale white lines that +streak in delicate patterns the smooth green bark of the branches. +The leaves are large and finely saw-toothed, with three triangular +lobes at the top. The yellowish bell-flowers hang in drooping +clusters, followed by the smooth green keys, in midsummer. This tree +is called "Moosewood," for moose browse upon it. + +The shrubbery border of parks is lightened in autumn by the yellow +foliage of this little tree, and in winter the bark is very +attractive. "Whistlewood" is the name the boys know this tree by, +for in spring the bark slips easily, and they cut branches of +suitable size for whistles. + + + =The Mountain Maple= + + _A. spicatum_, Lam. + +The mountain maple is a dainty shrub with ruddy stems, large, +three-lobed leaves, erect clusters of yellow flowers and tiny brown +keys. It follows the mountains from New England to northern Georgia, and +from the Great Lakes extends to the Saskatchewan. + + [Illustration: _See page 180_ _See page 178_ + + THE THORNY TRUNK OF THE HONEY LOCUST, AND THE FOLIAGE AND + FLOWERS OF THE BLACK LOCUST] + + [Illustration: _See page 194_ + + SUGAR MAPLE + + Maple sugar is made in February; the trees bloom in May; their + seeds ripen in October] + + [Illustration: _See page 195_ + + THE RED MAPLE'S PISTILLATE (_left_) AND STAMINATE (_right_) + FLOWERS] + + [Illustration: _See page 196_ + + SEED KEYS AND NEW FOLIAGE OF THE SOFT OR SILVER MAPLE] + + + =The Dwarf Maple= + + _A. glabrum_, Torr. + +The dwarf maple ranges plentifully from Canada to Arizona and New +Mexico. Its leaves, typically three-lobed and cut-toothed, vary to a +compound form of three coarse-toothed leaflets. The winged keys are +ruddy in midsummer, lending an attractive dash of color to the woods +that border high mountain streams. + +Very common in cultivation are the Japanese maples--miniature trees, +bred and cultivated for centuries, wonderful in the variations in +form and coloring of their leaves. Tiny maple trees in pots are +often very old. Some leaves are mere skeletons. + +The Japanese people are worshippers of beauty and they delight +particularly in garden shows. In the autumn, when the maples have +reached perfection, the populace turns out in holiday attire to +celebrate a grand national fête. A sort of æsthetic jubilee it is, +like the spring jubilee of the cherry blossom. To each careful +gardener who has patiently toiled to bring his maples to perfection, +it is sufficient reward that the people make this annual pilgrimage +to view them. + + + =The Box Elder= + + _A. Negundo_, Linn. + +The box elder is the one maple whose leaves are always cleft to the +stem, making it compound of irregularly toothed leaflets. The +clusters of flattened keys, which hang all winter on the trees, +declare the kinship of this tree to the maples. + +Fast-growing, hardy, willing to grow in treeless regions, this tree +has spread from its eastern range throughout the plains, where +shelter belts were the first needs of the settlers. Pretty at first, +these box elders are soon broken down and unsightly. They should be +used only as temporary trees, alternating with elms, hard maples, +and ashes. Where they are neglected, or continue to be planted, the +character of the town or the premises must be cheap and ugly. + + + =The Norway Maple= + + _A. platanoides_, Linn. + +The Norway maple is counted the best maple we have for street +planting. Broad, thin leaves, three-lobed by wide sinuses, cover +with a thick thatch the rounded head of the tree. Green on both +sides, thin and smooth, these leaves seem to withstand remarkably +the smoke, soot, and dust of cities, and also the attacks of +insects. The keys are large, wide-winged, set opposite, the nutlets +meeting in a straight line. These pale green key clusters are very +handsome among the green leaves in summer--the tree's chief ornament +until the foliage mass turns yellow in autumn. A peculiarity of the +Norway maple is the milky juice that starts from a broken leaf-stem. + + + =The Sycamore Maple= + + _A. pseudo-platanus_, Linn. + +The sycamore maple is another European immigrant, whose broad leaf +is thick and leathery in texture, and pale underneath. Its +late-opening flowers are borne in long racemes, followed by the +small key fruits which cling to the twigs over winter, making the +tree look dingy and untidy. This tree has not the hardiness nor the +compact form of the Norway maple, and it is subject to the attack of +borers. + +It is the "sycamore" of Europe, famed as a lumber and an avenue tree +abroad, but with us it proves short-lived, and we have no reason for +choosing it. The copious seed production of the far preferable +Norway maple puts it within the reach of all. + + +THE ASHES + +Few large trees in our American woods have their leaves set opposite +upon the twig. Still fewer of the trees with compound leaves show +this arrangement. Consult the first broad-leaved tree you meet, and +the chances are that its leaves are set alternately upon the twigs. +There is a multitude of families in this class; but if the leaves +are paired and set opposite, we narrow the families to a very few. +Are the leaves simple? Then the tree may be a maple or a dogwood, or +a viburnum. Are the leaves opposite and compound? Then you have one +of two families. Are the leaflets clustered on the end of the +leaf-stalk? Then the tree is a buckeye or a horse chestnut--members +of the buckeye family. Are the leaflets set along the sides of the +central stem? Then the tree is an ash. A few exceptions may be +discovered, but the rule holds in the general forest area of North +America. + +Ash trees have lance-shaped, winged seeds, borne in profuse +clusters, and often held well into the winter. But there is no +season when the leaf arrangement cannot be at once determined by the +leaf scars, prominent upon the twigs; and under the tree there will +always be remnants of the cast-off foliage, to show that it is +compound. + +Ash trees are usually large and stately when full grown, with trunks +clothed in smooth bark, checked into small, often diamond-shaped +plates. This gives the trees a trim, handsome appearance in the +winter woods. As shade trees, ashes are very desirable, and they are +valuable for their timber. + +The near relatives of ashes surprise us. They belong to the olive +family, whose type is the olive tree of the Mediterranean region, +now extensively cultivated in California for its fruit. Privets, +lilacs, and forsythias, favorites in the gardens of all countries +that have temperate climates, are cousins to the ash tree. One of +its most charming relatives is the little fringe tree of our own +woods. Thirty species of ash are known; half of that number inhabit +North America. There are ash trees in every section of our country +except the extremes of latitude and altitude. Tropical ash trees are +native to Cuba, North Africa, and the Orient. + + + =The White Ash= + + _Fraxinus Americana_, Linn. + +The white ash is one of the noblest trees in the American forest, +the peer of the loftiest oak or walnut. When young it is slim and +graceful, but it grows sturdier as it approaches maturity, lifting +stout, spreading branches above a tall, massive trunk. In the forest +the head is narrow, but in the open the dome of a white ash is as +broad and symmetrical as that of a white oak. A gray rind covers +the young branches and the bark is gray. The foliage has white +lining and each of the seven leaflets has a short stalk. These are +all characters that distinguish the white ash from other species and +enable one to name it at a glance. In the South the white ash is +undersized and the wood is of poor quality. In the Northeastern and +Central states it is one of the most important and largest of our +timber trees, with wood more valuable than any other ash. Its uses +are manifold: it is staple in the manufacture of agricultural +implements, carriages, furniture, and in the interior finish of +buildings. Tool handles and oars are made of white ash and it is +superior as fuel. The reddish-brown heart-wood, with paler sap-wood, +is tough, elastic, hard, and heavy. It is not durable in soil and +becomes brittle with age. + +Ash trees are late in coming into leaf. When all the forest is green +and full of blossoms, the ash trees are still naked. Not until May +do the rusty yellow winter buds of the white ash swell and throw out +on separate trees their staminate and pistillate flower clusters +from the axils of last year's foliage. (_See illustration, page +214._) Then the leaves unfold; downy at first, becoming bright and +shiny above, but always with pale linings. On fertile trees the +inconspicuous flowers mature into pointed fruits, one to two inches +long. The wing is twice the length of the seed and is rounded to a +blunt point. The seed itself is round and pointed, on branching +stalks that form clusters from six to eight inches long. + +As a street tree the white ash deserves much more general favor in +cities than it has yet achieved, for it is straight and symmetrical, +and its light foliage grows in irregular, wavy masses, through which +some sunlight can always sift and let grass grow under the tree. +This tree is a rapid grower, perfectly hardy in most sections of the +country, and has no serious insect enemies. The foliage turns to +brownish purple and yellow in the autumn. + + + =The Black Ash= + + _F. nigra_, Marsh. + +The black ash is a lover of marshes, found from Newfoundland to +Manitoba, and from Virginia to Arkansas. Its blue-black winter buds, +the sombre green of its foliage, and the dark hues of its bark and +wood have justified the popular name of this handsome, slender tree. +The leaflets, oval and long-pointed, are sessile on the hairy leaf +stalk, except the terminal one. At maturity the leaves are a foot or +more in length, of seven to eleven leaflets, that turn brown and +fall early in autumn. The keys of the black ash are borne in open +panicles, eight to ten inches long; each has a short, flat seed, +with a broad blade, thin, rounded, and notched instead of pointed, +at the extremity. + +The wood of black ash has the tough, heavy coarse-grained qualities +of the white ash, but differs in being very durable and in being +easily split into thin layers--each a year's growth. The Indians +taught the early settlers to weave baskets out of black ash splints. +These splints are easily separated by bending the split wood over a +block. The strain breaks loose the tissue that forms the spring +wood, and separates the bands of tough, dense summer wood into +strips suitable for basket weaving. Black ash is used for chair +seats, barrel hoops, furniture, and cabinetwork. The saplings are +oftenest chosen for hop and bean poles. + +As a lawn tree, the black ash has little to recommend it for it +often dies of thirst in the loam of a garden. At best it is +short-lived. Planted in swampy ground, the tree spreads by seeds, +and suckers from the roots, soon forming extensive thickets, and +drinking up the moisture at a marvelous rate. + + + =The Red Ash= + + _F. Pennsylvanica_, Marsh. + +The red ash follows the courses of streams and lake margins from New +Brunswick to the Black Hills and south into Florida, Alabama, and +Nebraska. This tree is much planted for shade and ornament in New +England, and in other Eastern sections. The tree is small, spreading +into a compact though irregular head of twiggy, slender branches. +The yellow-green foliage, a foot long, of seven to nine short, +stalked, lustrous leaflets, is lightened by a pale pubescence on +petioles and leaf-linings. The same velvety down covers the new +shoots. Summer and winter this sign never fails. + +Red ash seeds are extremely long and slender, and have the most +graceful outlines of all the darts that various ash trees bear. The +heavy, round body has a wing twice its length by which the wind +carries the seeds far away. Very gradually an ash tree launches its +seeds. It is easy to understand why the family is so scattered +through any woods, for the wind is the sower. The reddish bark of +the twigs and trunk of this tree seems to be the justification for +its name. Its brown wood is inferior to white ash. + + + =The Green Ash= + + _F. Pennsylvanica_, Variety _lanceolata_, Sarg. + +The green ash has narrower, shorter leaves than the parent species +and usually more sharply saw-toothed margins. Instead of having pale +linings, the leaflets are bright green on both surfaces. This is the +ash tree of the almost treeless prairies from Dakota southward, +where it not only lives, but flourishes as well as in its native +habitat, the rich soil of stream banks farther east. Its range +crosses the Rocky Mountains and reaches the slopes of the Wasatch +Mountains in Utah. East of the Alleghanies the tree is little known. +It is in the West that it is the dominant ash. It is one of the few +important agencies which have turned the "Great American Desert" +into a land of shady roads and comfortable, protected homesteads. + + + =The Blue Ash= + + _F. quadrangulata_, Michx. + +The blue ash has four-angled twigs, often winged at the corners with +a thin plate of bark. The sap contains a substance that gives a blue +dye when the inner bark is macerated in water. The tree reaches one +hundred and twenty feet in height, above a slender trunk, and has +small spreading branches that terminate in stout twigs, +characteristically angled. + +The tree is occasionally cultivated in parks and gardens in the +Eastern states where it is a distinct addition to the list of +handsome shade trees. It is hardy, quick of growth, and unusually +free from the ills that beset trees. In the forests it reaches its +best estate on the limestone hills of the Big Smoky Mountains. Its +wood ranks with the best white ash and exceeds it in one particular; +it is the most durable ash wood when exposed alternately to wet and +dry conditions. It is used for vehicles, for flooring and for +handles of tools especially pitchforks. + + + =The Oregon Ash= + + _F. Oregona_, Nutt. + +The Oregon ash follows the coast south from Puget Sound to San +Francisco Bay, and from the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada +to those of the mountains of southern California. In southwestern +Oregon the tree reaches the height of eighty feet, with a trunk +three to four feet in diameter. The stout branches form a broad +crown where there is room, and the luxuriant foliage is wonderfully +light in color, pale green above, with silvery pubescent +leaf-linings. Of the five to seven leaflets, all are sessile or +short-stalked, except the terminal one, which has a stem an inch +long. All are oval and abruptly pointed, thick and firm in texture, +turning yellow or russet brown in autumn. The lumber is counted +equal to white ash and is one of the most valuable of deciduous +timber trees in the western coast states. + +A number of little ash trees, distinct in species from those +described already, are native to limited sections of the country. +All have the family traits by which they are readily recognized, if +seed form, leaf form, and leaf arrangement are kept in mind. In the +corner where Colorado, Nevada, and Utah meet, is an ash with its +leaf reduced to a single leaflet, but the seeds are profusely borne +to declare the tree's name to any one who visits its restricted +territory. In rich soil, three leaflets are occasionally developed. + + + =The European Ash= + + _F. Excelsior_, Linn. + +The _European ash_ is the large timber ash from the Atlantic Coast +of Europe to western Asia. The earliest writers have ranked its wood +next to oak in usefulness. It was known as "the husbandman's tree." +Its uses were listed at interminable length, for "ploughs, +axle-trees, wheel-rings, harrows, balls ... oars, blocks for +pulleys, tenons and mortises, poles, spars, handles, and stocks for +tools, spade trees, carts, ladders.... In short, so good and +profitable is this tree that every prudent Lord of a Manor should +employ one acre of ground with Ash to every twenty acres of other +land, since in as many years it would be more worth than the land +itself." + +The saplings, cut when three to six years old, made excellent fork +and spade handles on account of the toughness and pliability of +their fibre. Crates for china were made of the branches. Steamed and +bent, this wood lent itself to the making of hoops for barrels and +kegs. The cutting off of the main trunk set the roots to sending up +a forest of young shoots, ready for cutting again when they reached +the size for walking-sticks and whip-stocks. + +Quite independent of its lumber value, but possibly correlated with +it, was the great reputation the ash tree achieved in the myths and +superstitions of widely separated peoples. In south Europe, +tradition declared that a race of brazen men sprung from the ash +tree. In the North, the Norse mythology made _Igdrasil_, the ash, +the "World tree," from whose roots the whole race of men sprung. +The roots of this mythological tree penetrated the earth to its +lowest depths and its giant top supported the heavens. Wisdom and +knowledge gushed from its base as from a fountain, and underneath +were the abodes of the gods, giants, and the Fates. Superstitions of +all kinds have come down with the language of different peoples, +making the history of the ash tree a most interesting study. + +A Chinese ash yields a valuable white wax which exudes from the bark +of the twigs. _F. ornus_, Linn., native to south Europe and Asia +Minor, exudes a waxy secretion from bark and leaves. This is the +manna of commerce. Last but not least of the products of the ash +tree are the curious and beautiful contortions of the grain found in +"burls" on the trunks of old trees of many species. These +warty excrescences are eagerly bought by special agents for +cabinet-makers. Woodwork from these abnormal growths shows +exquisitely waved lines when polished, as delicate as those in a +banded agate. Fancy boxes, bowls, and other articles brought fancy +prices when made of "ram's horn" or "fiddleback" ash, which often +went under the trade name of green ebony. The black ash in America +is particularly subject to contortions of the grain. + + +THE ELMS + +Elms of sixteen distinct species are native to boreal and temperate +regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with this single exception: +western North America is without a representative. Europe has three +species, two of which extend their range into eastern Asia and +northern Africa. Southern and central Asia have their own species. +Five are native to our Eastern states. Two European species are in +cultivation in the North Atlantic states, especially in the +neighborhood of Boston, where they are as familiar as the native +species, in street planting. + +Elm trees are valuable for shade and for lumber; their wood is hard, +heavy, tough, pale in color, often difficult to split. The trees are +distinguished from others by their simple, unsymmetrical, +strong-ribbed leaves, saw-toothed, short-stalked, always unequal and +often oblique at the base of the blade. The flowers, usually +perfect, are inconspicuous, and the seeds are flat, entirely +surrounded by a thin papery wing, that forms two hooks at the tip. +Wind-carried, these seeds have had much to do with the wide +distribution of elms. + + + =The White Elm= + + _Ulmus Americana_, Linn. + +The white or American elm is widely known as a tall, graceful +wide-spreading tree, usually of symmetrical, vase shape, with +slender limbs and drooping twigs. (_See illustration, page 215._) It +has the rough furrowed bark characteristic of the genus, dark or +light gray, with paler branches and red-brown twigs. The leaves are +alternate, two to six inches long, broadest near the abruptly +pointed apex. Distinctly one-sided at the tapering base, the leaves +have a fashion of arranging themselves in a flat spray so as to +present almost a continuous leaf area to the sun. One spray overlaps +another, and leaves varying in size fit in to fill every little +corner to which sunlight comes. This "leaf mosaic" is not confined +to elms alone. It is especially noticeable on the southern border of +any dense wood. + +Winter offers the best opportunity for the study of tree forms. Our +common elm shows at least five different patterns. The first is the +"vase form," the commonest and most beautiful. This is best realized +by old trees which have had plenty of room. In it the branches +spread gradually upward at first but at a considerable height sweep +boldly out forming a broad, rounded, or flattened head. Second is +the "plume form," in which two or three main limbs rise to a great +height before branching, and then break into feathery spray. Trees +crowded in woods are likely to take this form. Third, the "oak tree +form" shows a horizontal habit of branching, and an angularity of +limbs usually more noticeable among oaks. Fourth, the "weeping +willow form," where trees have short trunks, from which the branches +curve rapidly outward and end in long, drooping branchlets. Fifth is +the "feathered elm," marked by a fringe of short twigs which outline +the trunk and limbs. This "feathering" is caused by the late +development of latent buds. It may occur in any of the tree types +just mentioned, but it is more noticeable in individuals of the +plume form. + +The American elm is very familiar for it grows everywhere east of +the Rocky Mountains. Not to know this tree is a mark of indifference +and ignorance. No village of any pride but plants it freely as a +street tree. It is hardy and cheerful, reflecting the indomitable +spirit of the pioneer, whom it accompanied by seed and sapling from +the Eastern states into the treeless territories of the Middle +West. With him the tree seized the land and made it yield a living. +Elms, which have outlived the cottonwoods and willows, are not so +large yet as the patriarchal trees in old New-England villages, yet +time alone is needed to match, in the valley of the Missouri, the +elms in the valley of the Connecticut. + +I think, with due appreciation of its summer luxuriance of foliage, +and the grace and strength of the elm's framework in winter, that +the moment of greatest charm in the life of a roadside elm comes in +the first warm days of late March. The brown buds on the sides of +the twigs are swelling and a flush of purple overspreads the tree, +while snow still covers the ground. A tremendous "fall of leaves" +ensues, for the tiny bud scales that enclose the elm flowers are but +leaves in miniature. The elms are in blossom! Each flower of each +cluster has a calyx with scalloped edges, and a fringe of four to +nine stamens hanging far out and surrounding the central solitary +ovary. The color is in the yellow anthers and the dark red calyx +lobes. + +Speedily, the stamens shrivel and pale green pendants, which are the +seeds, cluster upon the twigs. Winged for flight, these ripen and +are scattered before the leaves are fairly open, and the growth of +the season's shoots begins. Only the pussy willow, the quaking asp, +and the earliest maples bloom as early as the elm. How much they +have missed, who never saw an elm tree in blossom! + +The hubs of the "one-hoss shay" were of "ellum," its interlacing +fibres peculiarly fitting this wood for indestructibility. Saddle +trees, boat timbers, cooperage, and flooring employ it in +quantities. It is also used for flumes and piles, for it resists +decay on exposure to water. + + + =The Slippery Elm= + + _U. fulva_, Michx. + +The slippery elm is also known as the red elm and moose elm, because +its wood is red and moose are fond of browsing its young shoots. In +regions where moose are rarely seen, it is the small boy who browses +and often utterly destroys every specimen of this valuable tree. +Under the bark of young shoots a sweet substance is found, which +gives the tree its common name. What man lives who in the heydey of +youth has not had the spring craze for slippery elm bark, as surely +as he had the fever for kite-flying and playing marbles? The trees +in every fence row show the wounds of jack-knives; stripping the +bark, the boys scrape from its inner surface the thick, fragrant +mucilaginous _cambium_--a delectable substance that allays both +hunger and thirst. Fortunately the bark of the limbs supplies the +demand; many a veteran tree still suffers the pollarding process, +serving one generation of schoolboys after another. + +The inner bark, dried and ground and mixed with milk, forms a +valuable food for invalids. Poultices of slippery elm bark relieve +throat and chest ailments. Fevers and acute inflammatory disorders +are treated with the same bark, which has passed from the list of +mere home remedies to an established place on the apothecary's +shelf. + +How shall we tell a slippery elm tree from the American elm? By its +leaf in summer. The roughness of the foliage is one of its striking +characteristics. Crumple a leaf, and its surfaces grate harshly, for +they are covered with stiff, tubercular hairs. The leaves are +larger, often reaching seven inches in length. There is a reddish +or tawny pubescence on all young shoots, and especially on the bud +scales in winter. The tree itself, in winter or summer, is much more +coarse than its cousin. It is also unsymmetrical in habit, each limb +striking out for itself. Very often one meets a tree quite as +one-sided in form as its leaf, and this without any apparent reason. +But given a chance to grow without mutilation, the slippery elm +attains a height of seventy feet, forming a broad, open head, in +comparatively few years. It is well worth planting for its lumber +and for shade. + + + =The Rock Elm= + + _U. Thomasi_, Sarg. + +The rock elm or cork elm chooses dry, gravelly upland and low heavy +clay soil, on rocky slopes and river cliffs, from Ontario and New +Hampshire westward through northern New York, southern Michigan to +Nebraska and Missouri. It is more abundant and of largest size in +Ontario and in the southern peninsula of Michigan. + +Its leaf is small, thick, and firm, dark green, and turns to +brilliant yellow in the autumn. Its flowers and fruits are borne in +racemes. At any season, one knows this cork elm by the shaggy bark +on its stout limbs that make the tree resemble a bur oak. "Rock elm" +and "hickory elm" are names that refer to the hardness of the wood. +The wheelwright counts it the best of all elms. Compact, with +interlacing fibres, there are spring, strength, and toughness in +this wood which adapt it for bridge timbers, heavy agricultural +implements, wheel stocks, sills, and axe-handles. The name "cork +elm" refers to the corky bark which runs out in winged ridges, even +to the twigs. + + + [Illustration: _See page 202_ + + THE WHITE ASH + + Winter buds Pistillate flowers Staminate flowers] + + [Illustration: _See page 222_ + + A GROUP OF WHITE PINES] + + [Illustration: _See page 235_ + + LEAVES AND CONES OF THE SHORTLEAF PINE] + + [Illustration: _See page 210_ + + AMERICAN ELM] + + + =The Winged Elm= + + _U. alata_, Michx. + +The winged elm, or wahoo, is dainty and small, its leaves and the +two thin corky blades that arise on each twig befitting the smallest +elm tree in the family. Despite its corky wings, it has none of the +ruggedness of the cork elm, but is a pretty round-headed tree. It is +distributed from Virginia to Florida and west to Illinois and Texas. +"Mountain elm" and "small-leaved elm" are local names. "Wahoo" is +local also, belonging chiefly to the South. Even the little seed of +this tree is long and slender, its wing prolonged into two incurving +hooks. + + + =The English Elm= + + _U. campestris_, Linn. + +The English elm is often seen in the Eastern states, planted with +the American elm in parks and streets, where the two species +contrast strikingly. The English tree looks stocky, the American +airily graceful. One stands heavily upon its heels, the other on +tiptoe. One has a compact, pyramidal or oblong head, the other a +loose open one. In October the superb English elms on Boston Common +are still bright green, while their American cousins have passed +into "the sere and yellow leaf." + + + =The Scotch Elm= + + _U. montana_, Linn. + +The Scotch or wych elm is planted freely in parks and private +grounds. It is a medium-sized tree of rather more strict habit of +growth than the American elm. Before the leaves open the tree often +looks bright green from a distance. This appearance is due to the +winged seeds which are exceptionally large and crowd the twig in +great rosettes. + +One horticultural variety of this species is the weeping form known +as the Camperdown elm, which arches its limbs downward on all sides, +forming when full-grown a natural arbor. One often sees this tree +planted on lawns of limited extent, and so near the street as to +render utterly absurd its invitation to privacy. To serve that +reasonable and delightful end, the tree should be planted in a +retired corner of one's grounds, where an afternoon siesta may be +enjoyed undisturbed. + + + + +PART VIII + +THE CONE-BEARING EVERGREENS + + The Pines--The Spruces--The Firs--The Douglas Spruce--The + Hemlocks--The Sequoias--The Arbor-vitaes--The Incense + Cedar--The Cypresses--The Junipers--The Larches, or Tamaracks + + +The cone-bearers, or conifers, are a distinct race that we commonly +call evergreens. They include pines, hemlocks, spruces, firs, +sequoias, cypresses, cedars, and junipers. Besides these, the +tamaracks and the bald cypress must be included, although their +leaves are shed in the autumn. The term "evergreen" applies equally +well to magnolias, laurels, and many oaks. Birches and alders and +magnolias bear cone-like fruits. Notwithstanding such exceptions, +the cone-bearing trees are mostly evergreen, and their family traits +are so strongly marked that even the beginner in tree study +eliminates the exceptional instances early in his studies. + +The pines and their relatives in the coniferous group are an ancient +race, composed of proud old "first families." Along the shores of +the Silurian seas they stood up, straight and tall, their only +companions that stood erect, the giant horse-tails and tree ferns. +This was long before modern tree families had any existence. There +were no broad-leaved trees. In the coal measures are found the +mummied remains of these prehistoric conifers. The cycads in the +Everglades of Florida are some of their surviving representatives. +These are facing extinction, and the conifers, too, are declining. +They had reached their prime as a race when the broad-leaved trees +appeared upon the earth. The vigor of the new race enabled it to +seize the richest, well-watered regions. They drove the conifers to +seek the swamps, the exposed seacoasts, the barren and rocky +mountain slopes. Man has ruthlessly destroyed for timber the +coniferous forests of this country and much of the territory denuded +by the axe is either devoted to agriculture or has been seized by +broad-leaved species of trees, more tenacious of life and with seeds +more quick and sure to germinate than those of the conifers. The +time is not far distant, geologically speaking, when this ancient +and declining family of trees will exist only as man fosters it by +cultivation. + +The conifers have resinous wood, with stiff, needle-like or +scale-like leaves, and inconspicuous flowers of two sorts, borne in +clusters like catkins. The pistillate catkin matures into a woody +cone made of overlapping scales attached to a central stem. On each +scale are borne one or more winged seeds. + +The one character which is constant in the whole coniferous group +and sets it apart from the rest of the plant kingdom, is expressed +in the name _Gymnosperm_, applied to this botanical grand division. +It means "naked seed." There is no ovary in the flower. The naked +ovules are borne on the scales of the fertile spike or catkin, which +is held apart and erect in blossoming time. They are pollinated by +the wind, which sifts them with golden pollen dust, abundant in the +staminate catkins clustered on the same tree. Contact of pollen +grains and naked ovules is followed by their coalescence--the +"setting of seeds." + +The distinguishing trait of the higher plants that form the grand +division known as _Angiosperms_, is that the ovules are borne in a +closed ovary, and the pollen lodges on the end of a stigma. "Pollen +tubes" grow down through the long style, finally reach the hidden +ovule, and seed is set. This complicated process is found in the +majority of flowers one studies in botany classes. Gymnosperms, and +the still lower groups of flowerless ferns and mosses, are merely +glanced at by amateur botanists. The more primitive plant forms are +too difficult for beginners. + +The habit of the conifers is a character upon which we may depend. +With rare exceptions, there is a central shaft, "the leader," and +short horizontal branches in whorls forming platforms. The side +branches, also whorled, are generally flattened into a horizontal +spray. The leaves are narrow, needle-like, or scale-like, and waxy +or resinous. The tough fibre of the wood enables the conifers to +resist damage by wind and by ice. Snowflakes sift to the ground +instead of accumulating upon the branches and breaking them by their +cumulative weight. The wind, which pollinated the fertile flowers of +coniferous forests long before nectar-gathering insects came upon +the earth, is the harvester of their seeds. It scatters them far and +wide; each seed has a wing that adapts it to long journeys in front +of a gale. + +The resinous sap that courses through the veins of coniferous wood +seals up the bark, leaves, and cones against the invasion of +enemies, and acts as an antiseptic dressing for wounds. Without +these special adaptations to a life of hardship, the conifers would +never have held their own as they have done. They inhabit regions +where conditions discourage all but a few of the broad-leaved trees. + + +THE PINES + +In a forest of needle-leaved evergreens it is perfectly easy to +distinguish the pines by their leaves. Look along the twigs and you +will find the needles arranged in bundles, with a papery, enclosing +sheath at the base. Follow farther back and these sheaths are +missing, but on long stretches between the growing tip and the +leafless part of the branch the characteristic sheathed +needle-bundles declare this evergreen to be a pine. No other conifer +has this trait, no pine grows but shows it every day in the year. + +One half of the eighty known species of pines grow in North America. +Pure forests of great extent are found in the Southern states, in +the Great Lakes region, and on the mountain slopes in the western +and northern parts of the continent. Smaller areas occur in the +Eastern states. Very soon these forests must be spoken of in the +past tense, for a century of destructive lumbering has almost +cleared the Northeast of pine timber, and though the exploitation of +the pine forests of the South and about the Great Lakes came later, +as population increased in the Middle West, the work has progressed +much more rapidly. The idea of forest conservation, crystallized +into federal law by popular demand, has come too late to save from +wasteful exploitation the superb pine forests west of the Rockies. +Yet thousands of acres of forests are now under government control +and here a great object lesson in rational methods of forest +maintenance is being given. The pineries of the future depend upon +the success of methods there employed. + +The uses of pines are not all counted in terms of the lumberman. +There are pines for every situation, soil, and climate. On low +seaboard plains they come down to the highwater mark. They wade into +inundated swamps and climb to the timber line on arid, rocky +mountain-sides. The bravest species go out into the desert. Almost +as brave are those which survive the smoke and dust of cities like +Pittsburg and St. Louis, though theirs is a losing fight with +sulphurous fumes and cramped root space in the smoky town. As +shelter belts, as wind-breaks, as shade and ornamental trees, there +are pines in cultivation in all parts of the country, their winter +usefulness and beauty making them universally the choice of +home-makers, rich and poor. + +By-products of pine wood are chiefly turpentine, pitch, resin, and +oil, derived from the resinous sap. "Naval stores" these products +are called, for their consumption is greatest in shipyards. +Turpentine is extensively used in the arts and industries. If the +Southern pine forests are allowed to dwindle, the deficit in lumber +will not affect world commerce as disastrously as the cutting off of +the naval stores production. + +The lumberman's division of the pines is a convenient one. "Soft +pines" have soft, light wood, not heavily impregnated with resin. It +is the delight of wood-workers. "Hard pines" have heavy, +dark-colored wood, full of resin, which is a nuisance to the +carpenter, because it "gums up" his tools. The one little sign +enables us to distinguish hard and soft pines without examination +of the wood. Soft pines shed the papery sheath of their leaf bundles +before the leaves themselves begin to fall. Hard pines retain the +leaf sheath until the leaves are shed. A glance at any leafy pine +branch will enable us to determine to which of the two classes a +given tree belongs. + + +THE SOFT PINES + +The outward and visible sign of a soft pine is the loose, deciduous +sheath of its leaf bundles. The scales of its cones are usually +unarmed with horns or prickles. The wood is soft, light colored, +close-grained. The number of leaves in a bundle is the principal key +to the species. + + + =The White Pine= + + _Pinus Strobus_, Linn. + +The white pine (_see illustrations, pages 214-215_) is the only pine +east of the Rocky Mountains that bears its leaves in bundles of +five. This semi-decimal plan is found in three western soft pines +and two western hard pines; but in the East, a native tree with +needles in fives, leaves no doubt as to its name. From a distance +this plan of five can be seen in the five branches that form a +platform each year around the central shaft. + +Study a sapling pine and you see in its vigorous young growth the +fulfillment of nature's plan, before storms have broken any of the +branches and changed the mathematics of the pattern. Stroke the +flexible, soft leaves that sway graceful and lithe in the wind. If +it is spring, note that the terminal bud has pushed out, and around +it five-clustered buds are forming a circle of shoots. In autumn, +after the season's growth is finished, each twig ends in a single +bud, with a whorl of five buds around it. From the ground upward, +count the platforms of branches. Each whorl of five marks a year in +the tree's growth. The terminal bud carries the height a foot or two +upward, and its surrounding five buds grow in the horizontal plane, +forming the last and smallest platform of leafy shoots. Each branch +is a year younger than the shoot that bears it. Note throughout this +little tree the plan of five, from leaf cluster to largest branch. + +Now go to the largest white pine in your neighborhood, study the +plan of five in this tree, and find out the reason for any failures. +Notice the conflict between the branches in the close platforms. +Find branches where this conflict is in progress. Pick out the +winner. Read the age of the tree by the platforms of branches on the +trunk. + +No evergreen is more beautiful than a white pine grown in rich soil +in a situation sufficiently sheltered to defend its supple branches +from breakage by severe winds. Its soft, plume-like twigs are dark +blue-green, with pale lines lining each individual leaf. The young +shoots are yellowish green, and they lighten in a wonderful manner +the sombre coloring of the older foliage. At the bases of the new +shoots cluster the staminate catkins, in early June. Yellow and +becoming loose and pendulous as the wind shakes them, they are soon +empty of their abundant pollen, which drifts like gold dust and +fills the air. Among the youngest leaves, toward the end of the +shoot, the purplish rosy lips of the erect pistillate cone-flowers +catch the dust from neighbor trees, and their naked ovules absorb +it and set seed. Close shut are the lips again, against any other +invasion, while these ovules mature. We shall find them standing +erect until autumn, but next season they hang down with their added +weight, and at the end of the second summer the scales change from +green to brown, open and give their ripe winged seeds to the wind +for distribution. Because the tree is biennial-fruited, it always +carries two sizes of cones. The large ones are one year older than +the small ones. Ripe cones are five to ten inches long, with thin, +broad, unarmed scales, squarish at the tips. + +The most hopeful phase of the white pine problem to-day is the fact +that new forests are coming up naturally where the early lumbering +deforested great tracts in the Eastern states. Careful forestry +improves upon nature's method, and so the pines are being restored +on land unfit for agricultural crops. White pine is one of the most +profitable timber crops to plant at the present time. + + + =The Mountain Pine= + + _P. monticola_, D. Don. + +The mountain pine is scattered through mountain forests from the +Columbia River Basin in British Columbia to Vancouver Island, along +the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains to northern Montana and +Idaho, and south along the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges in +Washington and Oregon, well into California. From the bottom lands +of streams, where it is most abundant and reaches a height of one +hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, and a trunk diameter of five +to eight feet, it climbs to elevations of eight to ten thousand feet +on the California Sierras. The bark of young trees and on the +branches of old ones is smooth and pale-gray. The leaves, five in +the bundles, range from one to four inches in length, stiff, +blue-green, whitened by two to six stripes on the inner side. The +cones are twelve to eighteen inches long, with thickened, pointed +scales ending in an abrupt beak. The larger cone, denser, stiffer +foliage, and the white bark make this white pine of the western +mountains a great contrast to the Eastern white pine. + +Unlike many trees whose size diminishes with increase in altitude, +this white pine grows to majestic size at altitudes of nearly two +miles, its noble figure more striking and impressive because of the +dwindling size of its companions on the mountain-sides. The +lumberman looks with despair upon these giant white pines, quite out +of his reach. + +In the Arnold Arboretum in Boston a fine seedling specimen of this +western silver pine fruited when but twelve feet high, and proves +vigorous and altogether happy in this absolutely changed climatic +environment. In Europe the same success attends the cultivation of +these trees, which have become very popular in parks and private +grounds. Their introduction into our Eastern states can now be +assured of success. + + + =The Sugar Pine= + + _P. Lambertiana_, Dougl. + +The sugar pine (_see illustration, page 231_) belongs in the class +with those tree giants, the sequoias, with which it grows in the +mountain forests of Oregon and California. John Muir calls it "the +largest, noblest, and most beautiful of all the pine trees in the +world." Trees two hundred feet high, with trunk diameter of six to +eight feet, are not uncommon. The maximum given by Sargent is twelve +feet across the stump. The head of a sugar pine is rounded and +broad, with pendulous branches, tufted with stout, dark green +leaves, three to four inches long. The cones are the largest known, +reaching eighteen inches in length, rarely longer. The black or dark +brown seeds are one to five inches long, including the flat, blunt +wings. Indians, bears, and squirrels gather the abundant harvest of +these cones, which are rich in nutriment and pleasant to the taste. +Crystals of sugar form white masses like rock candy, but with a +taste of maple sugar, wherever a break in the bark of a sugar pine +permits the escape of the sweet sap. This gives the tree its name. +No other pine has sap with such a noticeable sugar content. + +Fortunately, these gigantic soft pines belong to the high Sierras +and do not go down to the sea, where lumbermen could sacrifice them +without effort. Nature has fenced them in by many barriers, and the +government, by reservation in national parks, insures the +preservation of some of the finest sugar pine groves, for the use +and inspiration of all the people. + +A visit to Yosemite is the experience of a lifetime to any American. +Here grow the most gigantic trees in the world, and the sugar pines +are nobler even than the giant "big trees," for the latter are often +decrepit, while the sugar pines are hale and youthful by comparison. +Leaving behind the scrawny gray digger pines on the foothills, the +traveler enters the belt of the yellow pines, on the higher +elevations, and passing these he comes to the grand sugar pines +along the highest level of the stage road that leads into the +National Park. The road is no wider than the broad stumps of sugar +pines, scattered here and there. The standing trees amaze one with +their height and girth. + +It is impossible to shake off the impression that some magic has put +magnifiers in our eyes; for trees, beetling cliffs, and rushing +cataracts are bigger than their counterparts in other regions of the +world far-famed for their scenery. The sugar pine trunks seem like +great builded columns, too large for any real tree to grow, and the +"big trees" in the Mariposa Grove intensify this impression of +unreality. In a day or two the traveler becomes accustomed to his +surroundings. He goes out of the Park and down into the world of men +and affairs, his soul enlarged, his life enriched by an experience +he can never quite forget. He is a bigger, better man for his brief +association with Nature in her noblest manifestations. + +The wood of the sugar pine is soft, golden, satiny, fragrant, +inviting the woodworker through every one of his senses. A single +tree often yields five thousand dollars' worth of marketable lumber, +the finest, straight-grained soft pine in the world. + +The shame of the century is the wanton destruction of sugar pine +trees by vagrant shingle-makers and thieving mill-owners, who +despoiled the grandest trunks of their choicest wood, wastefully +leaving the bulk to cumber the ground and invite forest fires. Late +and slowly, but surely also is the popular mind awakening to the +fact that forests belong to the nation and should be conserved and +maintained for the whole people--not wasted for the temporary +enrichment of private owners, as forest wealth has been squandered +in past years. + + + =Rocky Mountain White Pine= + + _P. flexilis_, James + +The Rocky Mountain white pine inhabits mountain slopes from Alberta +to Mexico, including the Sierra Nevada range. In northern New Mexico +and Arizona it occasionally reaches eighty feet in height, but +ordinarily does not exceed fifty. Its rounded dome, as broad as an +oak, bravely dares the wind on exposed cliffs, and crouches as a +stunted shrub at altitudes of twelve thousand feet. The "limber +pine" it is called, from the toughness of its fibre, which alone +enables its long limbs to sustain the whipping they get. The leaves +form thick, beautiful dark-green tufts, which are not shed until the +fifth or sixth year. The cones are three to ten inches long, +purplish; scales rounded, abruptly beaked at the apex; narrow wings +entirely surround the seeds, which fall in September. + +This is the lumber pine of the semi-arid ranges of "The Great +American Desert"; the main dependence of builders, too, on the +eastern slopes of the Rockies in Montana. + + + =The White-bark Pine= + + _P. albicaulis_, Engelm. + +The white-bark pine is a rippled, gnarled, squatting tree, whose +matted branches, cumbered with needles and snow, make a platform on +which the hardy mountain-climber may walk with safety in midwinter. +It offers him a springy mattress for his bed, as well. The trunk is +covered with snowy bark that glistens like the icemantle that lies +on the treeless mountain-side just above the timber line. + +From a twelve-thousand-foot elevation on the Rocky Mountains, in +British Columbia and south to the Yellowstone, the tree clambers +down to the five-thousand-foot line, where it sometimes attains +forty feet in height; its dark green, rigid leaves persist from five +to eight years, always five in a bundle, and never more than two and +a half inches long. The cones, horny-tipped, dark purple, one to +three inches long, are ripe in August; the large sweet seeds are +gathered and eaten by Indians. In California the tree's range +extends into the San Bernardino Mountains. + + +THE TWO "FOXTAIL" PINES + +Two Western pines are distinguished by the common name "foxtail +pine," because the leaves are crowded on the ends of bare +branchlets. _P. Balfouriana_, M. Murr., has stiff, stout dark green +leaves with pale linings. The tree is wonderfully picturesque when +old, with an open irregular pyramid, on the higher foothills of the +California mountains, or crouching as an aged straggling shrub at +the timber-line. Its cones are elongated, the scales thickened and +minutely spiny at tip. + +The second five-leaved foxtail pine is _P. aristata_, Engelm., also +called the "prickle-cone pine," from the curving spines that arm the +scales of the purplish brown fruits. This is a bushy tree, with +sprawling lower branches and upper ones that stand erect and are +usually much longer, giving the tree a strange irregularity of form. +The leaves are short and crowded in terminal brushes. From a stocky +tree forty feet high, to a shrub at the timber line, this tree is +found near the limit of tree growth, from the outer ranges of the +mountains of Colorado to those of southern Utah, Nevada, northern +Arizona and southeastern California. In Eastern parks it is +occasionally seen as a shrubby pine with unusually interesting, +artistic cones. + + +THE NUT PINES + +The nut pines, four in number, supply Indians and Mexicans of the +Southwest with a store of food in the autumn, for the seeds are +large and rich in oils and they have keeping qualities that permit +their hoarding for winter. The four-leaved _P. quadrifolia_, Sudw., +scattered over the mountains of southern and Lower California, has +four leaves in a cluster, as a rule. A desert tree, its foliage is +pale gray-green, harmonizing with the arid mesas and low mountain +slopes, where it is found. The cones are small with few scales, but +the nut is five-eighths of an inch long and very rich. + +_P. cembroides_, Zucc., with two to three leaves, is the "piñon," +that covers the upper slopes of Arizona mountains with open forests +fifteen to twenty feet high. The leaves are one to two inches long, +dark green with pale lines, the branchlets orange-colored and matted +with hairs. The large nuts are very oily, and so abundant in the +mountains of northern Mexico that they are sold in large quantities +in every town. + + [Illustration: _See page 276_ + + EASTERN RED CEDARS AND HICKORY] + + [Illustration: _See page 225_ + + THE SUGAR PINE + + "The largest, noblest, and most beautiful of all pine trees in + the world"] + + +The piñon (_P. edulis_, Engelm.) ranges from the eastern foothills +of the Colorado Rockies to western Texas and westward to the eastern +borders of Utah, southwestern Wyoming, central Arizona and on into +Mexico, often forming extensive open forests, and reaching an +elevation of seven thousand feet. Short, stiff leaves in clusters of +two or three, dark green, ridged, stout, often persist for eight or +nine years. The tree is a broad compact pyramid; in age, dense, +round-topped, with stout branchlets and abundant globose cones. Each +scale covers two seeds, wingless, about the size of honey locust +seeds, oily, sweet, nutritious and of delicious flavor. This is the +pine nut _par excellence_, whose newest market is among +confectioners and fancy grocers throughout the states. + +The one-leaved nut pine (_P. monophylla_, Torr.), spreads like an +old apple tree, and forms a low, round-topped, picturesque head, its +lower limbs drooping to the ground. The reduction of the leaves in +the clusters to lowest terms, gives the tree a starved look, and the +eighteen or twenty rows of pale stomates on each leaf give the +tree-top a ghostly pallor. The vigor of the tree is expressed in its +abundant fruit, short, oblong, one to two inches in length, with +rich plump brown seeds upon which the Indians of Nevada and +California have long depended. The wood supplies fuel and charcoal +for smelters; and this stunted tree, rarely over twenty feet in +height, forms nut orchards for the aborigines and the scattered +population of whatever race, between altitudes of five and seven +thousand feet. From the western slopes of the Wasatch Mountains of +Utah, it ranges to the eastern slopes of the southern Sierra Nevada, +to their western slopes at the head waters of King's River, and +southward to northern Arizona and to the mountains of southern +California. + +John Muir says: + + "It is the commonest tree of the short mountain ranges of the + Great Basin. Tens of thousands of acres are covered with it, + forming bountiful orchards for the red man. Being so low and + accessible, the cones are easily beaten off with poles, and + the nuts are procured by roasting until the scales open. To + the tribes of the desert and sage plains these seeds are the + staff of life. They are eaten either raw or parched, or in the + form of mush, or cakes, after being pounded into meal. The + time of nut harvest is the merriest time of the year. An + industrious, squirrelish family can gather fifty or sixty + bushels in a single month before the snow comes, and then + their bread for the winter is sure." + + +THE PITCH PINES + +Pitch pines have usually heavy coarse-grained, dark-colored wood, +rich in resin--a nuisance to the carpenter. The leaf-bundles have +persistent sheaths. The cone scales are thick and usually armed. +"Hard pine" is a carpenter's synonym. The group includes some of the +most valuable timber trees in American forests. + + + =The Longleaf Pine= + + _P. palustris_, Mill. + +The longleaf pine is preëminent in importance in the lumber trade +and in the production of naval stores. It stretches in a belt about +one hundred and twenty-five miles wide, somewhat back from the +coast, all the way from Virginia to Tampa Bay and west to the +Mississippi River. Isolated forests are scattered in northern +Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. + +The trees are tall, often exceeding one hundred feet in height; with +trunks slender in proportion, rarely reaching three feet in +diameter. The narrow, irregular head is formed of short stout +twisted limbs on the upper third of the trunk. The leaves are from +twelve to eighteen inches long, forming dense tufts at the ends of +the branches. Being flexible they droop and sway on the ends of +erect branches like shining fountains, their emerald lightened by +the silvery sheaths that invest each group of three. + +Sapling longleaf pines have recently entered the market for +Christmas greens in Northern cities. This threatens the renewal of +longleaf forests that have fallen to the axe of the lumberman. +Unless Federal restriction comes to the rescue, there is little hope +of saving this young growth, for nothing can exceed in beauty a +three-foot sapling of longleaf pine as a Christmas decoration. + +The lumber of this species is the "Southern pine" of the builder. +Heavy, strong, yellowish brown, durable, it has a tremendous vogue +for flooring and the interior finish of buildings. It is used in the +construction of railway cars. Its durability in contact with water +accounts for its use in bridge-building, and for masts and spars of +vessels. A great deal of this lumber is exported for use in European +shipyards. It has replaced the dwindling supply of white pine for +building purposes throughout the North, and the strong demand for it +has been followed by lumbering of the most destructive and wasteful +type, because the forests are owned privately. + +In the early days the American colonists in Virginia tapped the +longleaf pine, collected the resin from the bleeding wounds, and +boiled it down for pitch and tar. These crude beginnings established +an industry now known as the "orcharding" of the longleaf pine. +After a century of wastefulness and wanton destruction of the trees, +it has become patent to all that scientific methods must be resorted +to in the production of turpentine and other products derived from +the living trees. Otherwise the dwindling industry will soon come to +an end. + +Resin is the sap of the tree. The first problem is to draw it in a +manner least wasteful of the product, and least dangerous to the +life of the tree. The second process is the melting of the collected +resin in a still and the drawing off of the volatile turpentine. +What is left solidifies and is known as _rosin_. + +"Boxing" the trees was the cutting of a grooved incision low on the +trunk, with a hollow at the base of the vertical trough to hold the +discharge of the bleeding sap-wood. Resin-gatherers visited the +tapped trees and emptied the pockets into buckets by means of a +ladle. They also scraped away the hardened sap and widened the +wounds to induce the flow from new tissues. This method cost the +life of the tree in two or three years, and it became a prey to +disease and a menace to the whole forest, as fuel for fires +accidentally started. Nowadays, all reasonable owners of longleaf +pine have discarded the old-fashioned boxing and installed methods +approved by the Department of Forestry. + +Tar was formerly derived from the slow burning of wood in a +clay-lined pit. The branches, roots and other lumber refuse, cut in +small sizes were heaped in a compact mound and covered with sods and +earth. Smoldering fires soon induced a flow of smoky tar, thick as +molasses, in the bottom of the pit. In due time the flow ceased, the +fires went out, and charcoal was the result of this slow burning. +Removing the charcoal, the tar became available for various +purposes; boiled until it lost its liquid character, it became tough +sticky _pitch_. This primitive pit method of extracting tar and +making charcoal has been abandoned wherever intelligence governs +the industry, and distillation processes have been installed. + + + =The Shortleaf Pine= + + _P. echinata_, Mill. + +The shortleaf pine ranks second to the longleaf in importance to the +lumber industries of the East and South. It ranges from Staten +Island, New York, to north Florida, and west through West Virginia, +eastern Tennessee, southern Missouri, Louisiana and eastern Texas. +It reaches its largest size and greatest abundance west of the +Mississippi River, where great forests, practically untouched thirty +years ago, have become the centre of the "yellow pine" industry, out +of which vast fortunes have been made. The wood is preferred by +builders, because it is less rich in resin, softer and therefore +more easily worked. Young trees yield turpentine and pitch, and with +the longleaf and the Cuban pine much forest growth has suffered +destruction in the production of these commodities. + +The slender tree equals the longleaf in height and bears its dark +green leaves in clusters of twos and threes, scattered on short +branches that form a narrow loose head. The pale green, stout +branchlets are lightened by the silvery sheaths of the young leaves +(_see illustrations, pages 214-215_) which are short only in +comparison with the companion species, the longleaf. The cones are +abundant; the seeds numerous, winged for flight, retaining their +vitality longer than most pine seeds. The tree is less sensitive to +injuries and has the propensity, unusual in the pine family, of +throwing up suckers from the roots. In open competition, this pine +will hold its own against the invasion of other trees, if only +allowed to do so. Much of the deforested territory, let alone, will +cover itself with a ripe crop of shortleaf pine lumber in a hundred +years. + + + =The Cuban Pine= + + _P. Caribaea_, Morelet + +The Cuban pine stands third in the triumvirate of lumber pines of +the South. This is the "swamp pine" or "slash pine," found in the +coast regions from South Carolina throughout Florida, and along the +Gulf Coast to the Pearl River in Louisiana. It is a beautiful +pine--tall, with dense crown of dark green leaves, in twos and +threes, eight to twelve inches long, falling at the end of their +second season, before they lose their brightness. A large part of +the turpentine of commerce has been derived from these coast +forests, as well as lumber, which takes its place in the Northern +market with the longleaf and the shortleaf. + +Natural reforestation has taken place in the Southeast, and a large +part of the turpentine exported by Georgia and South Carolina +to-day, is from second-growth Cuban pine, on land from which the +lumber companies have stripped the virgin growth. + + + =The Loblolly Pine= + + _P. Taeda_, Linn. + +The loblolly or old field pine chooses land generally sterile and +otherwise worthless. It grows in swamps along the Atlantic coast, +from New Jersey through the Carolinas, and follows the Gulf from +Tampa Bay into Texas. Inland, it is found from the Carolinas to +Arkansas and Louisiana. It has remarkable vitality of seed and +seedlings, which do equally well on sterile uplands, on water-soaked +ground, or where soil is light and sandy. It is very apt to take +possession of land once cleared for agriculture. The young trees +crowd together and grow with tremendous vigor the first years of +their lives, successfully holding large tracts in pure forests. The +limbs are short, thick, matted, forming a compact rounded head; the +leaves slender, stiff, twisted, pale-green, six to nine inches long, +in groups of threes. The wood is rich in resin, but differs greatly +in quality with age and the fertility of the soil. "Rosemary pine" +was heavy, hard, close-grained, with a thin rim of soft sap-wood. +This famous lumber, preferred by shipbuilders of many countries for +masts, grew in the virgin forest of the Carolinas. Giants were cut +in the rich marsh lands back from the Sounds. But the small loblolly +pine, grown on sandy soil, is but third-grade lumber, the +sap-wood three times as thick as the heart-wood and exceedingly +coarse-grained. One merit has recently been discovered in this +lumber, that formerly blackened before it was seasoned, by the +invasion of a fungous growth. It quickly absorbs creosote, which +renders it immune from decay. It is used in the building of docks, +cars, boats, and locally in house-building. Its wood makes a sharp, +quick heat when dried. It is used in bakeries and brick kilns, and +in charcoal-burning. + + + =The Pitch Pine= + + _P. rigida_, Mill. + +The pitch pine goes down to the very water's edge on the sand-dunes +along the New-England Coast, and spreads on worthless land from New +Brunswick to Georgia and west to Ontario and Kentucky. Occasionally +in cultivation the tree is symmetrical, and grows to considerable +size. In the most favorable situations, however, it rarely exceeds +fifty feet in height, with gnarled rough branches, oftenest +irregular in form and becoming painfully grotesque with age. The +persistence of its clustered black cones adds to the tree's +ugliness; and the tufted, scant foliage has a sickly yellowish-green +color when new, and becomes darker and twisted the second year. The +cones are armed with stout thorns and often remain on the trees ten +or twelve years. The knots, particularly, are rich in resin--the +delight of camping parties. "Pine-knots" and "candlewood" are +household necessities in regions where these trees are the +prevailing species of pine. + +Starved as is its existence, the pitch pine springs up with amazing +vigor after a fire. Suckers are sent up about the roots of the +fire-killed trees, and the wind scatters the seeds broadcast for a +new crop. The chief merit of the tree is that it grows on worthless +land, and holds with its gnarled roots the shifting sand-dunes of +the New-England Coast better than any other tree. + + + =The Gray Pine= + + _P. divaricata_, Sudw. + +The gray pine goes farther north than any other pine, following the +McKenzie River to the Arctic Circle. From Nova Scotia to the +Athabasca River, it covers barren ground, reaching its greatest +height, seventy feet, in pure forests north of Lake Superior. In +Michigan it forms the "jack-pine plains" of the Lower Peninsula. As +a rule it is a crouching, sprawling tree, its twigs covered with +scant short dingy leaves in twos, averaging an inch in length. The +wood is a great boon to the regions this tree inhabits. It is light, +soft, weak, and close-grained; used for posts, railroad ties, +building material and fuel. Its seeds germinate better from cones +that have been scorched by fire. + + + =The Digger Pine= + + _P. Sabiniana_, Dougl. + +The digger pine is a western California tree of the semi-arid +foothill country. Gray-green, sparse foliage on the gnarled branches +gives the tree a forlorn starved look, as it stands or crouches, +singly or in scattered groups, along the gravelly sun-baked slopes. +The great cones, six to ten inches long, fairly loading the +branches, express most emphatically the vigor of the tree. The +thickened scales protrude at a wide angle from the central core, and +each bears a strong beak, triangular, flattened like a shark's +tooth, but curved. The rich oily nuts, as big as lima beans, furnish +a nourishing food to the Indians. The Digger tribe harvested these +nuts, and the pioneer gave the tree the tribal name. + + + =The Western Pitch Pine= + + _P. Coulteri_, D. Don. + +The Western pitch pine, most abundant in the San Bernardino and San +Jacinto Mountains, at elevations of about a mile above the sea, has +cones not unlike those of the digger pine, in the armament of their +scales. These are notable by being the heaviest fruits borne by any +pine tree. Occasionally they exceed fifteen inches in length and +weigh eight pounds. The seeds are one-half an inch in length, not +counting the thin wing, which is often an inch long. + +The leaves of this "big-cone" pine match the cones. They are stout, +stiff, dark blue-green, six to sixteen inches long, three in a +bundle, which has a sheath an inch or more in length. Crowded on the +ends of the branches, these leaves would entitle this tree to +qualify as a "foxtail" pine, except for the fact that the foliage +persists into the third and fourth year, which clothes the branches +far back toward the trunk and gives the tree a luxuriant crown. The +dry slopes and ridges of the Coast Ranges of California are +beautified by small groves and scattered specimens of this striking +and picturesque pine, so unlike its neighbors. Its wood is used only +for fuel. In European countries this is a popular ornamental pine, +planted chiefly for its great golden-brown cones. + + + =The Knob-cone Pine= + + _P. attenuata_, Lemm. + +The knob-cone pine inhabits the Coast Ranges from the San Bernardino +Mountains northward on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and +Cascade Mountains, into southwestern Oregon, where it forms pure +forests over large areas, its altitude limit being four thousand +feet. It is a tall slim tree of the hot dry fire-swept foothills, +and it comes again with absolute certainty after forest fires. The +clustered cones, three to six inches long, are amazingly hard and do +not open at maturity, but wait for the death of the tree. Leaves +three to seven inches long, in clusters of three, firm, rigid, pale +yellow or bluish green, cover the tree with a sparse thin +foliage-mass; but the branches, new and old, are covered with cones, +many of which are being swallowed up by the growth of wood on trunk +and limb. Thirty or forty years these cones may hang, their seeds +never released and never losing their vitality, until fire destroys +the tree. Then the scales open and the winged seeds are scattered +broadcast. They germinate and cover the deforested slopes with a +crop of knob-cone pine saplings that soon claim all standing room +and cover the scars of fire completely. + + + =The Monterey Pine= + + _P. radiata_, D. Don. + +The Monterey pine, like its companion, the Torrey pine, is +restricted to a very narrow area. They grow together on Santa Rosa +Island. At Point Pinos, south of Monterey Bay, this tree stands a +hundred feet in height, with trunks occasionally five to six feet in +diameter, its branches spreading into a round luxuriant, though +narrow, head. From Pescadero to San Simeon Bay, in a narrow belt a +few miles wide, and on the neighboring islands, this tree finds its +limited natural range; but the horticulturist has noted the silvery +sheen of its young growth and the rich bright green that never dulls +in its foliage. Its quick growth and handsome form in cultivation +make it the most desirable pine for park and shade planting in +California. Indeed it is a favorite park tree north to Vancouver +along the Coast. It has been introduced into Europe and is +occasionally met in parks in the Southeastern states. + + + =The Western Yellow Pine= + + _P. ponderosa_, Laws. + +The Western yellow pine forms on the Colorado Plateau the most +extensive pine forests of the American continent. Mountain slopes, +high mesas, dry canyon sides, even swamps, if they occur at +elevations above twenty-five hundred feet, furnish suitable habitats +for this amazing species, in some of its varying forms. From British +Columbia and the Black Hills it follows the mountains through the +Coast Ranges, Sierras, and the Great Continental Divide, to the +highlands of Texas and into Mexico, forming the most extensive pine +forests in the world. All sorts of construction work draw upon this +wonderful natural supply of timber, from the droughty western +counties of the Dakotas, Nebraska and Texas, to the Pacific Coast. + +The typical tree has thick plates of cinnamon-red bark, a massive +trunk, five to eight feet in diameter, one hundred to two hundred +feet high, with many short, thick, forked branches in a spire-like +head. In arid regions the trunk is shorter and the head becomes +broad and round-topped. Near the timber line and in swamps, the +trees are stunted and the bark is nearly black. + +The leaves of this pine tree are two or three in a bundle, stout, +dark yellow-green, five to eleven inches long, deciduous during +their third season. Their color has given the name to the species, +for the wood is not yellow, but light red, with nearly white +sap-wood. + +On the way to the Yosemite, the traveler meets the yellow +pine--splendid tracts of it--with the giant sugar pine, in open +park-like areas, where each individual tree has room to manifest the +noble strength of its tall shaft. + +The flowers appear in May, brightening the even color of the shiny +leaves with their pink or brown staminate clusters two or three +inches wide. The crimson pistillate cones hide at the ends of the +branches, lengthening into fruits three to ten inches in length, and +half as wide. Strong, recurving tips, armed with slender prickles, +are seen in the scales of the reddish-brown cones that fall soon +after they spread and liberate the winged seeds. These are produced +in abundance, are scattered widely by the wind, and accomplish the +renewal of these mountain forests. + +The bark is usually very thick at the bases of the trunks, reaching +eighteen inches on the oldest trees. With this cloak wrapped about +its living cambium, the yellow pine is able, better than most trees, +to survive a sweeping forest fire. + +Botanists have found _P. ponderosa_ extremely variable, and they +quarrel among themselves about species and variety, for the tree +endures many climates, adapts itself to varying conditions and +develops a type for each habitat and region. In old lake basins on +the Sierra slopes, "variety _Jeffreyi_, Vasey," is the name given to +the gigantic yellow pine, which there finds food and moisture in +abundance and reaches its finest proportions and its greatest lumber +value. + +In the Rocky Mountains, "variety _scopulorum_, Engelm.," is the +type. "But all its forms can be traced to a common origin and so the +parent species stands; and despite man's devastating axe the yellow +pine flourishes in the drenching rains and fog of the northern coast +at the level of the sea, in the snow-laden blasts of the mountains, +in the white glaring sunshine of the interior plateaus and plains, +and on the borders of mirage-haunted deserts, volcanoes, and lava +beds,--waving its bright plumes in the hot winds undaunted, blooming +every year for centuries, and tossing big ripe cones among the +cinders and ashes of nature's hearths." (_John Muir._) + + + =The Scrub Pine= + + _P. contorta_, Loud. + +The scrub pine is the humble parent of one of the splendid Western +lumber pines, whose description comes under its varietal name. Down +the coast of Alaska, usually in sphagnum bogs, on sand-dunes, in +tide-pools and deep swamps to Cape Mendocino, the indomitable, +altogether-admirable scrub pine holds its own against cold, salt air +and biting arctic blasts. No matter how stunted, gnarly and +round-shouldered these trees are, one thing they do, often when only +a few inches high: _they bear cones_, and keep them for years; and +each season add more. Up from the sea the scrub pine climbs, +ascending the Coast Ranges and western slopes of the Cascade +Mountains, changing its habit to a tree twenty to thirty feet tall +with thick branches and dark red-brown bark, checked into oblong +plates. Gummy exudations of this pitch pine make it peculiarly +liable to running fires. Thousands of acres are destroyed every +summer, but they seize the land again and soon cover it with the +young growth. This happens because the burned trees drop their +cones, which open and set free the seeds which have never lost their +vitality. + +In all the vast region over which this vagrant tree swarms, it +furnishes firewood and shelter. The pioneer blesses it, and a great +multitude of wild things, both plant and animal, maintain their +lives in comfort and security because of its protection. + +The lodge-pole pine or tamarack pine is but a variety (_Murrayana_) +of _P. contorta_, that grows in forests on both slopes of the Rocky +Mountains of Montana and Wyoming, at elevations of from seven to +eight thousand feet, and stretches away into British Columbia and +Alaska, and southward to the San Jacinto Range. Between eight +thousand and nine thousand five hundred feet in altitude, along the +Sierra Nevada in California, it reaches its greatest size and +beauty, and forms extensive dense forests. The young trees have very +slender trunks, and often stand crowded together like wheat on the +prairie. An average forest specimen is five inches in diameter, when +thirty or forty feet in height. No wonder the Indian in Wyoming and +Colorado called it "the lodge-pole pine," for their supple trunks +fitted these trees, while yet saplings, to support the lodge he +built. + +Richer, moister ground nourishes this fortunate offspring of the +scrub pine. The two-leaved foliage, usually about two inches long, +wears a cheerful yellow-green, while the parent tree is dark and +sombre, with leaves an inch in length. The hard, strong, brown wood +of _contorta_ contrasts strikingly with that of its variety, which +is light yellow or nearly white--soft, weak, straight-grained and +easily worked. Its abundance in regions where other timber is +scarce, brings it into general use for construction work. It also +furnishes railroad ties, mine timbers and fuel, with the minimum of +labor, since trunks of proper sizes can easily be selected. + +The Indians, whose food supply was always precarious, gathered +branches and made a soft pulp of the inner bark, scraped out in the +growing season. This they baked, after shaping it into huge cakes, +in pit ovens built of stones, and heated for hours by burning in +them loads of firewood. When the embers were burned out, the oven +was cleaned and the cakes put in. Later they were smoked with a damp +fire of moss, which preserved them indefinitely. "Hard bread" of +this type provisioned the Indian's canoe on long trips. Inedible +until boiled, it was a staple winter food at home and on long +expeditions, among various tribes of the Northwest. + + + =The Red Pine= + + _P. resinosa_, Ait. + +The red pine, also called the "Norway pine" for no particular +reason, is something of an anomaly. Its wood is soft like that of +the white pine with which it grows, and though _resinosa_ means +"full of resin," it is not so rich as several other pitch pines. Its +paired leaves and red bark reveal its kinship with the Scotch pine, +a European species, very common in cultivation in America. + +Seemingly intermediate between soft and hard pines, _P. resinosa_ +appeals to lumbermen and landscape gardeners because it embodies the +good points of both classes. No handsomer species grows in the +forests, from New Brunswick to Minnesota and south into +Pennsylvania. The sturdy red trunk makes a bright color contrast +with the broad symmetrical pyramid of boughs clothed in abundant +foliage. The paired, needle-like leaves, dark green and shining, are +six inches in length. The flowers are abundant and bright red, more +showy than is ordinary in the pine family. Brown cones one to three +inches long with thin unarmed scales, discharge their winged seeds +in early autumn, but cling to the branches until the following +summer. + + [Illustration: _See page 259_ _See page 248_ + + LEAVES AND CONES OF HEMLOCK (_left_) AND OF NORWAY SPRUCE (_right_)] + + [Illustration: _See page 248_ + + THE SPINY FOLIAGE AND FAST-CLINGING CONES OF THE BLACK SPRUCE] + +The wood of red pine is pale red, light in weight, close-grained +with yellowish or nearly white sap-wood. Logs a hundred feet and +more in length used to be shipped out of Canadian woods to England. +Singularly free from large knots and other blemishes, they made huge +spars and masts of vessels, as well as piles for dockyards, bridges, +etc. Other woods have proved more durable, and the largest red pine +timber has been harvested. So its importance in the lumber trade has +declined. + +But in cultivation the red pine holds its own for its quick growth, +its hardiness, its lusty vigor and its beauty of color contrasts. It +grows on sterile ground exposed to the sea, forming groves of great +beauty where other pines would languish and die. For shelter belts, +inland, it is equally dependable, and as specimen trees in parks and +gardens it has few equals. At no season of the year does it lose its +fresh look of health. Young trees come readily from seed, and +throughout their lives they are unusually free from injuries by +insects and fungi. + + +THE SPRUCES + +The distinguishing mark of spruce trees is the woody or horny +projection on which the leaf is set. Look at the twigs of a tree +which you think may be a fir or a spruce. Wherever the leaves have +fallen, the spruce twig is roughened by these spirally arranged +leaf-brackets. Leaf-scars on a fir twig are level with the bark, +leaving the twig smooth. Spruce twigs are always roughened, as +described above. + +Most spruce trees have distinctly four-angled leaves, sharp-pointed +and distributed spirally around the shoot, not two-ranked like fir +leaves. They are all pyramidal trees with flowers and fruits of the +coniferous type. The cones are always pendent and there is an annual +crop. The wood is soft, not conspicuously resinous, straight-grained +and valuable as lumber. + +The genus picea comprises eighteen species, seven of which belong to +American forests. These include some of the most beautiful of +coniferous trees. + + + =The Norway Spruce= + + _Picea excelsa_, Link. + +The Norway spruce (_see illustration, page 246_) is the commonest +species in cultivation. It is extensively planted for wind-breaks, +hedges and shelter belts, where its long lower arms rest on the +ground and the upper limbs shingle over the lower ones, forming a +thick leafy shelter against drifting snow and winds. + + + =The Black Spruce= + + _P. Mariana_, B. S. & P. + +The black spruce is a ragged, unkempt dingy tree, with short +drooping branches, downy twigs, and stiff dark blue-green foliage, +scarcely half an inch long. Its cones, least in size of all the +spruce tribe, are about one inch long and they remain on the +branches for years (_See illustration, page 247_). + +Rarely higher than fifty feet, these scraggly undersized spruces are +ignored by horticulturists and lumbermen, but the wood-pulp man has +taken them eagerly. The soft weak yellow wood, converted into paper, +needs very little bleaching. From the far North the species covers +large areas throughout Canada, choosing cold bogs and swamp borders, +or well-drained bottom lands. In the United States it extends south +along the mountains to Virginia and to central Wisconsin and +Michigan. + + + =The Red Spruce= + + _P. rubens_, Sarg. + +The red spruce forms considerable forests from Newfoundland to North +Carolina, following the mountains and growing best in well-drained +upland soil. This Eastern spruce is more deserving of cultivation +than the one just described, for its leaves, dark yellow-green and +shining, make the tree cheerful-looking. The slender downy twigs are +bright red, and there is a warm reddish tone in the brown bark. The +winter buds are ruddy; the flowers purple; and the glossy cones, one +to two inches long, change from purple to pale reddish brown before +they mature and drop to pieces. Even in crowded forests this spruce +keeps its lower limbs and looks hale and fresh by the prompt casting +of its early ripening cones. + +The pale red wood is peculiarly adapted for sounding-boards of +musical instruments. It has been used locally in buildings, but of +late the wood-pulp mills get most of this timber. + + + =The Engelmann Spruce= + + _P. Engelmanni_, Engelm. + +The Engelmann spruce is the white spruce of the Rocky Mountains and +the Cascade Range of Washington and Oregon, which forms great +forests on high mountain slopes from Montana and Idaho to New Mexico +and Arizona. Always in damp places, this thin-barked beautiful tree +is safest, from fire. The leaves are blue-green, soft and flexible +but with sharp callous tips. The cones are about two inches long, +their thin scales narrowing to the blunt tips. Each year a crop of +seeds is cast and the cones fall. Running fires destroy the seed +crop with the standing trees, making renewal of the species +impossible in the burnt-over tracts. For this reason, this beautiful +spruce tree is oftenest found on the higher altitudes, or where wet +ground and banks of snow defend it from its arch enemy. The tree is +satisfactory in cultivation, but never equal to the wild-forest +specimens. The wood is used locally for building purposes, for fuel +and charcoal. + + + =The Blue Spruce= + + _P. Parryana_, Sarg. + +The blue spruce well known in Eastern lawns as the "Colorado blue +spruce," is a crisp-looking, handsome tree, broadly pyramidal, with +rigid branches and stout horny-pointed leaves, blue-green to silvery +white, exceeding an inch in length. At home on the mountains of +Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, it reaches a hundred to a hundred and +fifty feet in height and a trunk diameter of three feet, and +becomes thin and ragged at maturity. The same fate overtakes the +trim little lawn trees, so perfect in color and symmetry for a few +years. + + + =Tideland Spruce= + + _P. Sitchensis_, Carr. + +The tideland spruce is the most important lumber tree in Alaska. It +inhabits the coast region from Cape Mendocino, in California, +northward; and is abundant on wet, sandy and swampy soil. The +conspicuous traits of this tree are its strongly buttressed trunk, +one hundred to two hundred feet tall, often greatly swollen at the +base; the graceful sweep of its wide low-spreading lower limbs; and +the constant play of light and shadows in the tree-top, due to the +lustrous sheen on the bright foliage. It is a magnificent tree, one +of the largest and most beautiful of the Western conifers, +indomitable in that it climbs from the sea-level to altitudes three +thousand feet above, and follows the coast farther north than any +other conifer. + + +THE FIRS + +In a forest of evergreens the spire form, needle leaves, and some +other traits belong to several families. To distinguish the firs +from the spruces, which they closely resemble in form and foliage, +notice the position of the cones. All fir trees hold their ripe +cones erect. No other family with large cones has this striking +characteristic. All the rest of the conifers have pendent cones, +except the small-fruited cypresses and arbor-vitaes. + +All fir trees belong to the genus _abies_, whose twenty-five species +are distributed from the Far North to the highlands of tropical +regions in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. All are tall +pyramidal trees, with wide-spreading horizontal limbs bearing thick +foliage masses, and with bark that contains vesicles full of +resinous balsam. The branches grow in whorls and spread like fern +fronds, covered for eight or nine years with the persistent leaves. +Circular scars are left on the smooth branches when they fall. + +The leaves are the distinguishing character of the genus when cones +are lacking. They are usually flat, two-ranked on the twig, without +stems, and blunt, or even notched at the tip. For these typical +leaves one must look on the lower sterile branches of the tree, and +back of the growing shoots, where leaves are apt to be crowded and +immature. The cones are borne near the tops of the trees, and on +these branches the leaves are often crowded and not two-ranked as +they are below. The flowers of fir trees are abundant and showy, the +staminate clusters appearing on the under sides of the platforms of +foliage; the pistillate held erect on platforms higher up on the +tree's spire. Always the flowers are borne on the shoots of the +previous season. The cone fruits are cylindrical or ovoid, ripening +in a single season and discharging their seeds at maturity. The +stout tapering axis of the cone persists after seeds and scales have +fallen. + +The bark of fir trees is thin, smooth, and pale, with abundant resin +vesicles, until the trees are well grown. As age advances the bark +thickens and becomes deeply furrowed. The wood is generally pale, +coarse-grained, and brittle. + + + =The Balsam Fir= + + _Abies balsamea_, Mill. + +The balsam fir is probably best known as the typical Christmas tree +of the Northeastern states and the source of Canada balsam, used in +laboratories and in medicine. Fresh leaves stuff the balsam pillows +of summer visitors to the North Woods. In the lumber trade and in +horticulture this fir tree cuts a sorry figure, for its wood is +weak, coarse, and not durable, and in cultivation it is short-lived, +and early loses its lower limbs. + +Throughout New England, northward to Labrador, and southward along +the mountains to southwestern Virginia, this tree may be known at a +glance by its two-ranked, pale-lined leaves, lustrous and dark green +above, one half to one and one half inches long, sometimes notched +on twigs near the top of the tree. Rich dark purple cones, two to +four inches long, with thin plain-margined, broad scales, stand +erect, glistening with drops of balsam, on branches near the top of +the tree. The same balsam exudes from bruises in the smooth bark. By +piercing the white blisters and systematically wounding branch and +trunk, the limpid balsam is made to flow freely, and is collected as +a commercial enterprise in some parts of Canada. "Oil of fir" also +is obtained from the bark. + + + =The Balsam Fir= + + _A. Fraseri_, Poir. + +This balsam fir, much more luxuriant in foliage, and worthier of +cultivation as an ornamental tree, is native to the Appalachian +Mountains of southwestern Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. +The purple cones are ornamented by pale yellow cut-toothed bracts +that turn back over the edge of the plain scale. Limited in range, +but forming forests between the limits of four and six thousand feet +in altitude, this tree is confined to local uses as lumber and fuel. + +All the other firs of America are Western, and among these are some +of the tree giants of the world. + + + =The Red Fir= + + _A. magnifica_, A. Murr. + +The magnificent red fir is called by John Muir "the noblest of its +race." In its splendid shaft that reaches two hundred and fifty feet +in height, and a trunk diameter of seven feet, there is a symmetry +and perfection of finish throughout that is achieved by no other +tree. One above another in graduated lengths the branches spread in +level collars, the oldest drooping on the ground, the rest +horizontal, their framework always five main branches that carry +luxuriant flat plumes of silvery needles. Each leaf is almost +equally four-sided, ribbed above and below, with pale lines on all +sides, so wide as to make the new growth silvery throughout the +season. Later these leaves become blue-green, and persist for about +ten years. Only on the lower side of the branch are the leaves +two-ranked. + +The bark of this fir tree is covered with dark brown scales, deeply +divided into broad rounded ridges, broken by cross fissures when +old. Out toward the tips of the branches the bark is silvery white. +In mid-June the flowers appear, the staminate in profuse clusters +against the silvery leaf-linings, bright red, on the under sides of +the platforms. It is a blind or stupid person who can travel in fir +woods and fail to notice this wonderful flower pageant, that may be +viewed by merely looking upward. The pistillate flowers, greenish +yellow, tipped with pink, are out of sight as a rule, among the +needles in the tree-tops. They ripen into tall cylindrical cones, +six to eight inches long and half as wide, that fall to pieces at +maturity, discharging their broad thin scales with the purple +iridescent winged seeds. + +Pure forests of this splendid fir tree are found in southern Oregon +among the Cascade Mountains, between five and seven thousand feet +above the sea. It is the commonest species in the forest belt of the +Sierra Nevada, between elevations of six thousand and nine thousand +feet. From northern California, it follows the western slope of the +Sierra Nevada, climbing to ten thousand feet in its southernmost +range. A variety, _Shastensis_, Lemm., is the red fir with bright +yellow fringed bracts on its stout cones. This ornament upon its +fruits seems to be the chief distinguishing character of the form +which occurs with the parent species on the mountains in Oregon and +northern California, and recurs in the southern Sierra Nevada. + +The best defense of this superb red fir is the comparative +worthlessness of its soft, weak wood. Coarse lumber for cheap +buildings, packing cases and fuel makes the only demands upon it. In +European parks it is successfully grown as an ornamental tree, and +has proved hardy in eastern Massachusetts. + + + =The Noble Fir= + + _A. nobilis_, Lindl. + +The noble fir or red fir is another giant of the Northwest. On the +western slopes of the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon it +reaches occasionally two hundred and fifty feet in height, differing +from _magnifica_ in being round-topped instead of pyramidal before +maturity. Its red-brown wood, furrowed bark and the red staminate +flowers justify its name. The twigs are red and velvety for four or +five years. The leaves are deeply grooved above, rounded and +obscurely ribbed on the lower surface, blue-green, often silvery +through their first season, crowded and curved so that the tips +point away from the end of the branch. + +The oblong cylindrical cones, four to five inches long, are velvety, +their scales covered by bracts, shaped and notched like a scallop +shell, with a forward-pointing spine, exceeding the bract in length. +Forests of this tree at elevations of twenty-five hundred to five +thousand feet are found in Washington and northern Oregon, from +which limited quantities of the brownish-red wood enter the lumber +trade under the name of "larch." + + + =The White Fir= + + _A. grandis_, Lindl. + +The white fir is a striking figure, from its silvery lined, dark +green foliage, its slender pyramidal form that reaches three hundred +feet in height, and the vivid green of its mature cones that are +destitute of ornament and slenderly cylindrical. From Vancouver +Island southward to Mendocino County in California, this tree is +common from the sea level to an elevation of four thousand feet. +Eastward it extends into Idaho, climbing to seven thousand feet, but +choosing always moist soil in the neighborhood of streams. Various +uses, woodenwares, packing cases, and fuel consume its soft, coarse +wood to a limited extent. The delicate grace of its sweeping +down-curving branches makes it one of the most beautiful of our +Western firs. It grows rapidly, and is a favorite in European parks. + + + =The White Fir= + + _A. concolor_, Lindl. and Gord. + +This white fir is a giant of the Sierras, but a tree of medium +height in the Rocky Mountains. Its leaves are often two to three +inches long, very unusual for a fir tree, curving to an erect +position, pale blue or silvery at first, becoming dull green at the +end of two or three years. + +On the California Sierras, this silver fir tree lifts its narrow +spire two hundred and fifty feet toward the sky and waves great +frondlike masses of foliage on pale gray branches. As a much smaller +tree, it is found in the arid regions of the Great Basin and of +southern New Mexico and Arizona, territory which no other fir tree +invades. In gardens of Europe and of our Eastern states this is a +favorite fir tree, often known as the "blue fir" and the "silver +fir" from its pale bark and foliage, whose blue cast is not always +permanent. Eastern nurseries obtain their best trees from seeds +gathered in the Rocky Mountains. + + +THE DOUGLAS SPRUCE + +The Douglas spruce (_Pseudotsuga mucronata_, Sudw.), ranks with the +giant arbor-vitaes, firs, and sequoias in the forests of the Pacific +Coast. Thousands of square miles of pure forest of this species +occur in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Here the trees +stand even, like wheat in a grain field, the tallest reach four +hundred feet, the redwood its only rival. Nowhere but in the redwood +forests is there such a heavy stand of timber on this continent. No +forest tree except sequoias equals the Douglas spruce in massiveness +of trunk and yield of straight-grained lumber. + +The genus _pseudotsuga_ stands botanically in a position +intermediate between firs and hemlocks. Our tree giant is as often +called the Douglas fir as Douglas spruce. The lumberman sells the +output of his mills under the trade name, "Oregon pine." This is +perhaps the best known lumber in all the Western country. It has a +great reputation abroad, where timbers of the largest size are used +for masts, spars, piles for wharves and bridges, and for whatever +uses heavy timbers are needed. The wood is stronger in proportion to +its weight than that of any other large conifer in the country. It +is tough, durable, and elastic. Its only faults are its extreme +hardness and liability to warp when cut into boards. These faults +are noted only by carpenters who use the wood for interior finish of +houses. "Red pine" it is called in regions of the Great Basin, where +the trees grow smaller than on the Coast, and are put to general +lumber purposes. It is variable in quality, but always pale yellow, +striped with red, and handsomely wavy when quarter-sawed; +distractingly so in the "slash grain," oftenest seen in the interior +finish of the typical California bungalow. + +The living tree is a superb, broad-based pyramid, bearing a load of +crowded drooping branches, where it has a chance to assume its +normal habit. A delicate lace-like drooping spray of yellowish or +bluish green leaves, flat, spreading at right angles from the twig, +gives the Douglas spruce its hale, abundant vigor. The dark red +staminate flowers glow in late winter against the yellow foliage +mass of the new leaves; but even the flowers are not so showy as the +drooping cones, two to four inches long, their plain scales adorned +with bracts, notched and bearing a whip that extends half an inch +beyond the scales. Blue-green, shading to purple, with red-lipped +scales and bright green bracts, these cones are truly the handsomest +ornaments worn by any tree. + +Finally, this paragon of conifers surprises Eastern nurserymen by +outstripping other seedlings in vigor and quickness of growth. Rocky +Mountain seed does best. The Oregon trees furnish seed to European +nurseries and seedlings from Europe grow quickly into superb +ornamental trees. + + +THE HEMLOCKS + +Unlike any other conifer, the hemlock mounts its evergreen leaves on +short petioles, jointed to projecting, horny brackets on the twig. +At any season this character determines the family name of a +group of exceptionally graceful pyramidal conifers. The Eastern +hemlocks have their leaves arranged in a flat spray, silvery +white underneath, by pale lines on the underside of the flat +blunt-pointed blade (_See illustration, page 246_). An abundance +of pendent cones is borne annually. The wood of hemlocks is +comparatively worthless but the bark is rich in tannin, and so the +tree is important in the leather trade. + + + =The Hemlock= + + _Tsuga Canadensis_, Carr. + +The hemlock lifts its dark green, feathery spray above the sturdy +trunk into a splendid broad pyramid. In all rocky uplands from Nova +Scotia to Alabama and west to Minnesota, the drooping lower branches +sweep the ground, and the tree is often half buried in snow. But in +spring every twig is dancing and waving yellow plumes of new +foliage, the picture of cheerfulness as the sunlight sifts through +the tree-tops. In May the new blossoms sprinkle all the leafy +twigs--the staminate, yellow; the pistillate, pale violet. Looking +up from below, one sees a charming iridescent effect when the +blossoms add their color to the shimmering silver which lines the +various platforms of foliage. The little red-brown cones cling to +the twigs all winter, slowly parting their scales to release the +winged seeds. Squirrels climb the trees in the fall and cut off +these cones to store away for winter use. + +"Peelers" go into the woods in May, when the new growth is well +started and the bark will peel readily. They fell and strip hemlock +trunks and remove the bark in sheets, which are piled to dry and be +measured like cord-wood, and later shipped to the tanneries. The +cross-grained coarse wood is left to rot and feed forest fires. +Locally, it is useful for the timbers of houses and barns, because +it is rigid and never lets go its hold upon a nail or spike. + + + =The Western Hemlock= + + _T. heterophylla_, Sarg. + +The Western hemlock is a giant that dominates other trees in the +Western mountain forests, famous for their giants of many different +names. It is a noble pyramidal tree that reaches two hundred feet in +height and a maximum trunk diameter of ten feet. Its heavy +horizontal branches droop and hold out feathery tips as light and +graceful in the adult monarch as in the sapling of a few years' +growth. The characteristic hemlock foliage, lustrous green above and +pale below, is two-ranked by the twisting of the slender petioles. + +From southeastern Alaska, eastward into Montana and Idaho, and +southward to Cape Mendocino in California, this tree climbs from the +lowlands to an altitude that exceeds a mile. Wherever there are rich +river valleys and the air is humid, this hemlock is superb, the +delight of artists and lumbermen. At its highest range it becomes +stunted, but always produces its oval, pointed cones in abundance. + +Its wood, the strongest and most durable in the hemlock family, is +chiefly used in buildings, and the bark for tanning. + + + =The Mountain Hemlock= + + _T. Martensiana_, Sarg. + +The mountain hemlock of the West is called by John Muir "the +loveliest evergreen in America." Sargent endorses this judgment with +emphasis. It grows at high altitudes, fringing upland meadows, +watered by glaciers, with groves of the most exquisite beauty. The +sweeping, downward-drooping branches, clothed with abundant +pea-green foliage, silver-lined, resist wind storms and snow burdens +by the wonderful pliancy of their fibres. In early autumn the trees +are bent over so as to form arches. Young forests are thus buried +out of sight for six months of the year. With the melting of the +snow they right themselves gradually, and among the new leaves +appear the flowers, dark purple cones and staminate star-flowers, +blue as forget-me-nots. Three-angled leaves, whorled on the twig, +and cones two to three inches long, set this hemlock apart from its +related species, but the leaf-stalk settles once for all the +question of its family name. + + [Illustration: _See page 268_ + + THE FLAT, FROND LIKE SPRAY OF THE ORNAMENTAL ARBOR-VITAE] + + [Illustration: _See page 278_ + + FRUIT AND LEAVES OF THE AMERICAN LARCH] + + +THE SEQUOIAS + +Nowhere else in the world are conifers found in such extensive +forests and in such superlative vigor and stupendous size as in the +states that border the Pacific Ocean. California is particularly the +paradise of the conifers. All of the species that make the forests +of the Northwest the wonder of travelers and the pride of the states +are found in equally prodigal size and extent in California. To +these forests are added groves of sequoias--the Big Tree and the +redwood, the former found nowhere outside of California, the latter +reaching into Oregon. Once the sequoias had a wide distribution in +the Old and the New World. With magnolias and many other luxuriant +trees found in warm climates, five species of sequoia extended over +the North Temperate zone in both hemispheres, reaching even to the +Arctic Circle. The glacial period transformed the climate of the +world and destroyed these luxuriant northern forests under a +grinding continuous glacier. The rocks of the tertiary and +cretaceous periods preserved in fossils the story of these +pre-glacial forests. Two of the species of sequoia escaped +destruction in tracts the ice sheet did not overwhelm. For ten +thousand years, perhaps, the sequoia has held its own in the +California groves. Indeed, both species are able to extend their +present range if nature is unhindered. The three enemies that +threaten sequoia groves are the axe of the lumberman, the forest +fire kindled by the waste about sawmills, and the grazing flocks +that destroy seedling trees. + + + =The Big Tree= + + _Sequoia Wellingtonia_, Seem. + +The Big Tree is the most gigantic tree on the face of the earth, the +mightiest living creature in existence. Among the giant sugar pines +and red firs it lifts a wonderfully regular, rounded dome so far +above the aspiring arrow-tips of its neighbors as to make the best +of them look like mere saplings. The massive trunk, clothed with +red-brown or purplish bark, is fluted by furrows often more than a +foot in depth. The trunk is usually bare of limbs for a hundred or +two hundred feet, clearing the forest cover completely before +throwing out its angular stout arms. These branch at last into +rounded masses of leafy twigs, whose density and brilliant color +express the beauty and vigor of eternal youth in a tree which counts +its age by thousands of years already. + +To see this Big Tree in blossom one must visit the high Sierras +while the snow is eight to ten feet deep upon the buttressed base of +the huge trunk. It is worth a journey, and that with some hardship +in it, to see these trees with all their leafy spray, gold-lined +with the multitude of little staminate flowers that sift pollen +gold-dust over everything, and fill the air with it. The pistillate +flowers, minute, pale green, crowd along the ends of the leafy +sprays, their cone scales spread to receive the vitalizing dust +brought by the wind. + +When spring arrives and starts the flower procession among the lower +tree-tops, the spray of the Big Tree is covered with green cones +that mature at the end of the second season. They are woody, two to +three inches long, and spread their scales wide at a given signal, +showering the surrounding woods with the abundant harvest of their +minute winged seeds. Each scale bears six to eight of them, each +with a circular wing that fits it for a long journey. The cones hang +empty on the trees for years. + +The leaves of the Big Tree are of the close, twig-hugging, scaly +type, never exceeding a half inch in length on the most +exuberant-growing shoots. For the most part they are from one fourth +to one eighth of an inch in length, sharp pointed, ridged, curved to +clasp the stem, and shingled over the leaves above. + +John Muir believes there is no absolute limit to the existence of +any tree. Accident alone, he thinks, not the wearing out of vital +organs, accounts for their death. The fungi that kill the silver fir +inevitably before it is three hundred years old touch no limb of the +Big Tree with decay. A sequoia must be blown down, undermined, +burned down, or shattered by lightning. Old age and disease pass +these trees by. Their heads, rising far above the spires of fir and +spruce, seem not to court the lightning flash as the lower, pointed +trunks do; and yet no aged sequoia can be found whose head has not +suffered losses by Jove's thunderbolts. Cheerfully the tree lets go +a fraction of its mighty top, and sets about the repair of the +damage, with greatly accelerated energy, as if here was an +opportunity to expend the tree's pent-up vitality. It is strange to +see horizontal branches of great age and size strike upward to form +a part of a new, symmetrical dome to replace the head struck off or +mangled by lightning. With all the signs of damage lightning has +done to these tree giants of the Sierras, but one instance of +outright killing of a tree is on record. + +The wood of the Big Tree is red and soft, coarse, light, and +weak--unfit for must lumber uses. It ought, by all ordinary +standards, to be counted scarcely worth the cutting; but the vast +quantity yielded by a single tree pays the lumberman huge profits, +though he wastes thousands of feet by blasting the mighty shaft into +chunks manageable in the sawmill. Shingles, shakes, and fencing +consume more of the lumber than general construction--ignoble uses +for this noblest of all trees. + +The best groves of Big Trees now under government protection are in +the grand Sequoia National Park. Near the Yosemite is the famous +Mariposa Grove that contains the "grizzly giant" and other specimen +trees of great age and size. More than half of the Big Trees are in +the hands of speculators and lumber companies. Exploitation of +nature's best treasure is as old as the human race. The idea of +conservation is still in its infancy. + +The ruin by the lumbering interests of a sequoia grove means the +drying up of streams and the defeat of irrigation projects in the +valleys below. Big Trees inhabit only areas on the western slopes +of the Sierras. Wherever they grow their roots have made of the deep +soil a sponge that holds the drainage of melting snowbanks and doles +it out through streams that flow thence to famishing, hot, +wind-swept plains and valleys. When the trees are gone, turbulent, +short-lived spring floods exhaust the water supply and do untold +damage in the lowlands. + +Big Trees have not succeeded in cultivation in our Eastern states, +but for many years have been favorites in European gardens and +parks. In the native groves the seedlings do not show the virility +of the redwoods, though to the south the range of the species is +being gradually extended. No tree is more prodigal in seed +production and more indifferent, when mature, to the ills that beset +ordinary forest trees; yet government protection must be +strengthened, private claims must be bought, and scientific forestry +maintained in order to prevent the extinction of the species, with +the destruction of trees that are, as they stand to-day, the +greatest living monuments in the world of plants. + + + =The Redwood= + + _S. sempervirens_, Endl. + +The redwood comes down to the sea on the western slopes of the Coast +Range, from southern Oregon to Monterey County in California, +tempting the lumberman by the wonderful wealth and accessibility of +these groves of giant trees. The wood is soft, satiny, red, like the +thick, fibrous, furrowed bark that clothes the tall, fluted trunks. + +Redwoods are taller than Big Trees, have slenderer trunks and +branches and a more light and graceful leaf-spray. The head is +pyramidal in young trees, later becoming irregular and narrow, and +exceedingly small in forests by the crowding of the trees and the +death of lower branches. The leaves on the terminal shoots spread +into a flat spray, two-ranked, like those of a balsam fir. Each +blade is flat, tapering to both ends, and from one fourth to one +half an inch in length. Awl-shaped and much shorter leaves are +scattered on year-old twigs, back of the new shoots, resembling the +foliage of the Big Tree. + +The cones are small and almost globular, maturing in a single +season, scarcely an inch long, with three to five winged seeds under +each scale. Seedling redwoods come quickly from this yearly sowing, +and thrive under the forest cover, unless fire or the trampling feet +of grazing flocks destroy them. After the lumberman, the virile +redwood sends up shoots around the bleeding stumps, thus reinforcing +the seedling tree and promising the renewal of the forest groves in +the centuries to come. + +Redwood lumber is the most important building material on the +Pacific Coast. The hardest and choicest wood comes in limited +quantities from the stumps which furnish curly and bird's-eye wood, +used by the makers of bric-à-brac and high-priced cabinet work. +Shingles, siding, and interior finish of houses consume quantities +of the yearly output of the mills. Demand for fence posts, railway +ties and cooperage increases. Quantities of lumber are shipped east +to take the place of white pine no longer obtainable. + +In cultivation the redwood is a graceful, quick-growing, beautiful +evergreen, successful in the Southeastern states, and often met in +European parks and gardens. Weeping forms are very popular abroad. + +Government and state protection has made sure the safeguarding for +coming generations of some groves of redwoods, containing trees +whose size and age rival those of the most ancient Big Trees. But +the fact that the redwood, restricted on the map to such a limited +territory, is the most important timber tree on the Coast, is a blot +upon our vaunted Democracy, which has allowed the cunning of a few +small minds to defeat the best interests of the whole people and rob +them of forest treasure which might yield its benefits continuously, +if properly managed. Government purchase of all sequoia-bearing +land, followed by rational methods of harvesting the mature lumber +and conserving the young growth, is the ideal solution of the +problem. Such a plan would assure the saving of the monumental +giants. + + +THE ARBOR-VITAES + +Minute, scale-like leaves, four-ranked, closely overlapping, so as +to conceal the wiry twig, mark the genus _thuya_, which is +represented in America by two species of slender, pyramidal +evergreen trees, whose intricately branched limbs terminate in a +flat, open spray (_see illustration, page 262_). "Tree of Life" is +the English translation, but the Latin name everywhere is heard. + + + =Eastern Arbor-vitae= + + _Thuya occidentalis_, Linn. + +The Eastern arbor-vitae, called also the white cedar, is found in +impenetrable pure forest growth, from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick +northwestward to the mouth of the Saskatchewan River, always in +swampy regions, or along the rocky banks of streams. In the East it +follows the mountains to Tennessee, and from Lake Winnipeg it +extends south to middle Minnesota and northern Illinois. In +cultivation it is oftenest seen as an individual lawn and park tree, +or in hedges on boundary lines. It submits comfortably to severe +pruning, is easily transplanted, and comes readily from seed. +Plantations grow rapidly into fence posts and telegraph poles. The +wood is durable in wet ground, but very soft, coarse, and brittle. + + + =The Red Cedar= + + _T. plicata_, D. Don. + +The red cedar or canoe cedar is the giant arbor-vitae of the coast +region from British Columbia to northern California and east over +the mountain ranges into Idaho and northern Montana. Its buttressed +trunk is a fluted column one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet +high in western Washington and Oregon, along the banks of mountain +streams and in the rich bottom land farther seaward. The leaves in a +flat spray at once distinguish this tree from any other conifer, for +they are pointed, scale-like, closely overlapping each other in +alternate pairs. + +The clustered cones, with their six or eight seed-bearing scales, +seem absurdly small fruits on so huge a tree. None exceeds one half +an inch in height, but their number makes up for size deficiency and +the seed crop is tremendous. + +The Alaskan Indian chooses the tall bole of a red cedar for his +totem pole, and from the massive butt hollows out the war canoe and +"dug-out" which solve his problems of transportation in summer. +Durability is the chief merit of this soft, brittle wood, which is +easily worked with the Indian's crude tools. The bark of the tree +furnishes the walls of the Indian huts and its inner fibre is the +raw material of his cordage--the harness for his dog team, his nets +and lines for fishing; and it is the basis of the squaw's +basket-weaving industry. + +This is the best arbor-vitae for ornamental planting. Its success in +Europe is very striking, and from European nurseries it has been +successfully re-introduced into the United States, where it is hardy +and vigorous. But it fails when taken directly into the North +Atlantic states. It must come in via Europe, as nearly all West +Coast trees have to do in order to succeed. + + +THE INCENSE CEDAR + +One tree, so magnificent in proportions that it ranks among the +giants in our Western forests, stands as the sole American +representative of its genus. Its nearest relatives are the +arbor-vitaes, sequoias, and the bald cypress of the South. + +The incense cedar (_Librocedrus Decurrens_, Torr.) has its name from +its resinous, aromatic sap. The tree, when it grows apart from +others, forms a perfect tapering pyramid, with flat, plume-like +sprays that sweep downward and outward with wonderful lightness and +grace. The leaves are scale-like, closely appressed to the wiry +twigs, in four ranks, bright green, tinged with gold in late winter, +by the abundance of the yellow staminate flowers. The cones are +small, narrowly pointed, made of few paired scales, each bearing +two seeds. The bark is cinnamon-red in color. The trees occur +scattered among other species in open forests from three thousand to +six thousand feet above the sea, reaching a height of two hundred +feet and a trunk diameter of twelve feet on the Sierra Nevada +glacial moraines. + +The lumber resembles that of arbor-vitae, and is used for the same +purposes. In cultivation the tree is hardy and thrives in parks in +the neighborhood of New York. In Europe it has long been a favorite. + + +THE CYPRESSES + +Three genera of pyramidal conifers, with light, graceful leaf-spray, +and small woody cones, held erect, compose the group known as +cypresses. All have found places in horticulture, for not one of +them but has value for ornamental planting. Some species have +considerable lumber value. + + + =The Monterey Cypress= + + _Cupressus macrocarpa_, Cord. + +The Monterey cypress is now restricted to certain ocean-facing +bluffs about Monterey Bay in California. These trees are derelicts +of their species. Wind-beaten into grotesqueness of form, unmatched +in any other tree near the sea-level, their matted and gnarled +branches make a flat and very irregular top above a short, thick, +often bent and leaning trunk. Clusters of globular cones stud the +twigs behind the leafy spray composed of thread-like wiry twigs, +entirely covered with scaly, four-ranked leaves. + +In cultivation this cypress grows into a luxuriant, pyramidal tree, +often broadening and losing its symmetry, but redeeming it by the +grace of its plume-like, outstretched branches. One by one the +native cypresses on the crumbling bluffs will go down into Monterey +Bay, for the undermining process is eating out their foundations. +Wind and wave are slowly but surely sealing their doom. But the +species is saved to a much wider territory. + + + =The European Cypress= + + _C. sempervirens_, Linn. + +A tall, narrow pyramid of sombre green, the European cypress is +found in cemeteries in south Europe and everywhere, planted for +ornament. This is the classic cypress, a conventional feature of +Italian gardens, the evergreen most frequently mentioned in +classical literature. Slow-growing and noted for its longevity, it +was the symbol of immortality. It is hardy in the South-Atlantic and +Pacific-Coast states, and is a favorite evergreen for hedges in the +Southwest. + +Three other members of the genus occur on mountain foothills--one in +Arizona, two in California--all easily recognized by their +scale-like leaves and button-like woody cones, which require two +years to mature. + + + =The White Cedar= + + _Chamaecyparis Thyoides_, Britt. + +The genus _chamaecyparis_ includes three American species, of tall, +narrow pyramidal habit and flat leaf-spray like that of the +arbor-vitae. Annual erect globular cones of few, woody scales, +produce one to five seeds under each. + +This white cedar is the swamp-loving variety of the Atlantic +seaboard--its range stretches from Maine to Mississippi. The +durability of its white wood gives it considerable importance as a +lumber tree. It is particularly dependable when placed in contact +with water and exposed to weather. Cedar shingles, fence posts, +railroad ties, buckets, and other cooperage consume quantities each +year. The trees are important ornamental evergreens, planted for +their graceful spray and their dull blue-green leaves. Their maximum +height is eighty feet. + + + =The Lawson Cypress= + + _C. Lawsoniana_, A. Murr. + +The Lawson cypress lifts its splendid spire to a height of two +hundred feet, on the coast mountains of Oregon and California, +forming a nearly continuous forest belt twenty miles long, between +Point Gregory and the mouth of the Coquille River. Spire-like, with +short, horizontal branches, this species bears a leaf-spray of +feathery lightness, bright green, from the multitude of minute +paired leaf-scales, and adorned with the clustered pea-sized cones, +which are blue-green and very pale until they ripen. + +The wood of this giant cypress is used in house-finishing and in +boat-building; for flooring, fencing, and for railroad ties. + + + =The Bald Cypress= + + _Taxodium distichum_, Rich. + +The bald cypress is the one member of the cypress group that sheds +its foliage each autumn, following the example of the tamarack. In +the Far South, river swamps are often covered with a growth of +these cypresses whose trunks are strangely swollen at the base, and +often hollow. The flaring buttresses are prolonged into the main +roots, which form humps that rise out of the water at some distance +from the tree. These "cypress knees" are not yet explained, though +authorities suspect that they have something to do with the aëration +of the root system. + +Inundated nine or ten months of the year, these cypress swamps are +often dry the remaining time, and it is a surprise to Southerners to +find these trees comfortable and beautiful in Northern parks. +Cleveland and New York parks have splendid examples. + +The leaves of the bald cypress are of two types. They are scale-like +only on stems that bear the globular cones. On other shoots they +form a flat spray, each leaf one half to three-fourths of an inch +long, pea-green in the Southern swamps, bright yellow-green on both +sides in dry ground, turning orange-brown before they fall. The +twigs that bear these two-ranked leaves are also deciduous, a unique +distinction of this genus. + +Cypress wood is soft, light brown, durable, and easily worked. +Quantities of it are shipped north and used in the manufacture of +doors and interior finishing of houses, for fencing, railroad ties, +cooperage, and shingles. + + +THE JUNIPERS + +The sign by which the junipers are most easily distinguished from +other evergreens, is the juicy berries instead of cones. In some +species these are red, but they are mostly blue or blue-black. +Before they mature it is easy to see the stages by which the +cone-scales thicken and coalesce, instead of hardening and remaining +separate, as in the typical fruit of conifers. + +Juniper leaves are of two types: scale-like in opposite pairs, +pressed close to the twig, as in the cypresses; and stiff, spiny, +usually channelled leaves, which stand out free from the twig in +whorls of threes. + +The wood is red, fragrant, durable, and light. + + + =The Dwarf Juniper= + + _Juniperus communis_, Linn. + +The dwarf juniper departs from the pyramidal pattern and forms a +loose, open head above a short, stout trunk. The slender branchlets +are clothed with boat-shaped leaves which spread nearly at right +angles from the twigs in whorls of three. Each one is pointed and +hollowed, dark green outside, snowy white inside, which is really +the upper side of the leaf. It requires three years to mature the +bright blue berries, and they hang on the tree two or three years +longer. Each fruit contains two or three seeds, and these require +three years to germinate. + +It is plain to see that time is no object to this slow-growing dwarf +juniper, found in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, covering +vast stretches of waste land. From Greenland to Alaska it is found +and south along the highlands into Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and +California. Its hardiness gives it importance as a cover for waste +land on seashores and for hedges and wind-breaks in any exposed +situation. It is a tree reaching thirty feet in height on the +limestone hills of southern Illinois. In other situations it is +usually a sprawling shrubby thing, the cringing parent of a race of +dwarf junipers, known in many and various horticultural forms. + + + =The Western Juniper= + + _J. occidentalis_, Hook. + +The giant of its race is the Western juniper, one of the +patriarchial trees of America, ranking in age with the sequoias. +Never a tall tree, it yet attains a trunk diameter of ten feet, and +an age that surely exceeds two thousand years. At elevations of +seven to ten thousand feet this valiant red cedar is found clinging +to the granite domes and bare glacial pavements where soil and +moisture seem absolutely non-existent. Sunshine and thin air are +abundant, however, and elbow room. Upon these commodities the tree +subsists, crouching, stubbornly clinging, while a single root offers +foothold, its gnarled branches picturesque and beautiful in their +tufts of gray-green leaves. Avalanches have beheaded the oldest of +these giants, but their denuded trunks throw out wisps of new +foliage with each returning spring. When they succumb, their trunks +last almost as long as the granite boulders among which they are +cast by the wind or the ice-burden that tore them loose. + +The stringy bark is woven into cloth and matting by the Indians, and +the fine-grained, hard, red wood finds no better use than for the +mountaineer's fencing and fuel. + + + =The Eastern Red Cedar= + + _J. Virginiana_, Linn. + +The Eastern red cedar is a handsome, narrow pyramid in its youth, +often becoming broad and irregular, or round-topped above a +buttressed, twisted trunk, as it grows old. The scale-like leaves +are four-ranked, blue-green when young, spreading, and sometimes +three fourths of an inch long, on vigorous new shoots. The dark blue +berries are covered with a pale bloom and have a resinous, sweet +flesh. This juniper is familiar in abandoned farms and ragged +fence-rows, becoming rusty brown in foliage to match the stringy red +bark in winter time. The durable red wood is used for posts and +railroad ties, for cedar chests and pencils. The tree is profitably +planted by railroad companies, as cedar ties are unsurpassed. In +cultivation the tree forms an interesting, symmetrical specimen, +adapted to formal gardens. (_See illustration, page 230_.) + + + =The Red Juniper= + + _J. Barbadensis_, Linn. + +The red juniper, much more luxuriant than its close relative of the +North, is the handsomest juniper in cultivation. Its pyramid is +robbed of a rigid formal expression by the drooping of its fern-like +leaf-spray. The berries are silvery white and abundant. The wood is +used principally for pencils. This species grows in the Gulf states. + + +THE LARCHES, OR TAMARACKS + +The notable characteristic of the small genus, _larix_, is that the +narrow leaves are shed in the autumn. Here is a tall pyramidal +conifer which is not evergreen. It bears an annual crop of small +woody cones, held erect on the branches, and the leaves are borne +in crowded clusters on short lateral spurs, except upon the terminal +shoots, where the leaves are scattered remotely but follow the +spiral plan. Larch wood is hard, heavy, resinous, and almost +indestructible. The tall shafts are ideal for telegraph poles and +posts. + + + =The Tamarack= + + _Larix Americana_, Michx. + +The tamarack or American larch (_see illustration, page 263_) goes +farther north than any other tree, except dwarf willows and birches. +Above these stunted, broad-leaved trees pure forests of tamarack +rise, covering Northern swamps from Newfoundland and Labrador to +Hudson Bay and west across the Rocky Mountains, the trees dwindling +in size as they approach the arctic tundras, the limit of tree +growth. The wood of these bravest of all conifers is a God-send over +vast territories where other supply of timber is wanting. The tough +roots of the larch tree supply threads with which the Indian sews +his birch canoe. + +In cultivation the American species is too sparse of limb and +foliage to compete with the more luxuriant European larch, yet it is +often planted. Its fresh spring foliage is lightened by the pale +yellow of the globular staminate flowers and warmed by the rosy tips +of the cone flowers. In early autumn the plain, thin-scaled cones, +erect and bright chestnut-brown, shed their small seeds while the +yellow leaves are dropping, and the bare limbs carry the empty cones +until the following year. + + + =The Western Larch= + + _L. occidentalis_, Nutt. + +The Western larch is the finest tree in its genus, reaching six feet +in trunk diameter and two hundred feet in height, in the Cascade +forests from British Columbia to southern Oregon and across the +ranges to western Montana. This tree has the unusual distinction of +exceeding all conifers in the value of its wood, which is heavy, +hard, strong, dense, durable, of a fine red that takes a brilliant +polish. It is used for furniture and for the interior finish of +houses. Quantities of it supply the demand for posts and railroad +ties, in which use it lasts indefinitely, compared with other +timber. + + + + +PART IX + +THE PALMS + + +Palms are tropical plants related to lilies on one hand and grasses +on the other. One hundred genera and about one thousand species +compose a family in which tree forms rarely occur. A few genera grow +wild in the warmest sections of this country, and exotics are +familiar in cultivation, wherever they are hardy. The leaves are +parallel-veined, fan-shaped, or feather-like, on long stalks that +sheath the trunk, splitting with its growth. The flowers are +lily-like, on the plan of three, and the fruits are clustered +berries, or drupes. + +Sago, tapioca, cocoanuts, and dates are foods derived from members +of this wonderful family. The fibres of the leaves supply thread for +weaving cloth and cordage to the natives of the tropics, where +houses are built and furnished throughout from the native palms. + +The royal palm, crowned with a rosette of feather-like leaves, each +ten to twelve feet long, above the smooth, tall stems, is a favorite +avenue tree in tropical cities. In Florida it grows wild in the +extreme southwest, but is planted on the streets of Miami and Palm +Beach. Its maximum height is one hundred feet. + +In California the favorite avenue palm of this feather-leaved type +is the Canary Island palm, whose stout trunk, covered with +interlacing leaf-bases, wears a crown of plumes that reach fifteen +feet in length and touch the ground with their drooping tips. Huge +clusters of bright yellow, dry, olive-shaped berries ripen in +midsummer. + +The date palm of commerce, once confined to the tropical deserts of +Asia Minor and North Africa, has been successfully established by +the Government in hot, dry localities of the Southwest. Fruit equal +to any grown in plantations of the Old World is marketed now from +the Imperial and Coachella valleys in California, and from orchards +near Phoenix, Arizona. Dry air and a summer temperature far above +the hundred degree mark is necessary to insure the proper sugar +content and flavor in these fruits, which are borne in huge clusters +and ripen slowly, one by one. + +Fan-shaped leaves plaited on the ends of long stalks that are +usually spiny-edged are borne by the stocky Florida palmettos and +the tall desert palm of California, planted widely in cities of the +Southwest and in Europe. Several genera of this fan-leaved type are +represented in palm gardens, and in the general horticulture of warm +regions of this country. + +THE END + + + +GENERAL INDEX + + PAGE + + _Abies balsamea_, 258 + _Abies concolor_, 257 + _Abies Fraseri_, 253 + _Abies grandis_, 256 + _Abies magnifica_, 254 + _Abies nobilis_, 256 + _Acacia dealbata_, 187 + _Acacia Melanoxylon_, 186 + _Acacia_, Palo verde, 190 + Acacias, The, 184-187 + _Acer circinatum_, 197 + _Acer glabrum_, 199 + _Acer macrophyllum_, 197 + _Acer nigrum_, 195 + _Acer Negundo_, 199 + _Acer Pennsylvanicum_, 198 + _Acer pseudo-platanus_, 200 + _Acer rubrum_, 195 + _Acer saccharinum_, 196 + _Acer saccharum_, 194 + _Acer spicatum_, 198 + _Aesculus Californica_, 68 + _Aesculus glabra_, 67 + _Aesculus Hippocastanum_, 65 + _Aesculus octandra_, 67 + "Ague tree", 131 + Alder, Black, 91 + Alder, Oregon, 93 + Alder, Red, 93 + Alder, Seaside, 92 + Alders, The, 91-93 + Alligator pear, 129 + Almond, 152 + _Alnus glutinosa_, 91 + _Alnus maritima_, 92 + _Alnus Oregona_, 93 + _Amelanchier alnifolia_, 160 + _Amelanchier Canadensis_, 159 + American beech, 42 + American elm, 210 + American holly, 145 + American hornbeam, 85 + American larch, 278 + American linden, 70 + Annual rings, 12 + _Anona cherimolia_, 171 + _Anona glabra_, 170 + Apples, The, 147-149 + Arbor-vitaes, The, 268-270 + Arboreta, xiv + _Arbutus Menziesii_, 121 + Arnold arboretum, xiv + Ash, Black, 204 + Ash, Blue, 206 + Ash, European, 208 + Ash, Green, 206 + Ash, Oregon, 207 + Ash, Red, 205 + Ash, White, 202 + Ashes, Mountain, 116-118 + Ashes, The, 201-209 + _Asimina triloba_, 168 + Aspen, 78 + Assam rubber tree, 166 + Autumn leaves, 19 + Avocado, 129 + + Bald cypress, 273 + Balm of Gilead, 79 + Balsam fir, 253 + Balsam poplar, 79 + "Banana tree, Wild", 169 + Banyan tree, 166 + Bark, xv, 23 + Basket oak, 55 + Basswood, Downy, 72 + Basswood, White, 71 + Basswoods, The, 68-74 + Bay, Red, 129 + Bay, Rose, 119 + Bay, Swamp, 105 + Bee tree, 71 + Beech, American, 42 + "Beech, Blue", 85 + + "Beech, Water", 85 + "Beetle-wood", 86 + _Betula lenta_, 90 + _Betula lutea_, 89 + _Betula nigra_, 90 + _Betula papyrifera_, 88 + _Betula populifolia_, 89 + "Big-cone" pine, 240 + Big shellbark, 38 + Big Tree, 263 + Birch, Canoe, 88 + Birch, Cherry, 90 + Birch, Paper, 88 + Birch, Red, 90 + Birch, River, 90 + Birch, White, 89 + Birch, Yellow, 89 + Birches, The, 87-91 + Bird cherry, 153 + "Bird's-eye" maplewood, 15 + Black acacia, 186 + Black alder, 91 + Black ash, 204 + Black cherry, Wild, 153 + Black cottonwood, 80 + Black dwarf sumach, 140 + Black gum, 96 + Black haw, 115, 158 + Black locust, 178 + Black maple, 195 + Black mulberry, 165 + Black oak, 58 + Black oak group, 58-65 + Black poplar, 77 + Black spruce, 248 + Black walnut, 31 + Blackwood-tree, 186 + Blue ash, 206 + "Blue beech", 85 + Blue fir, 257 + Blue spruce, 250 + Box elder, 199 + Buckeye, California, 68 + Buckeye, Ohio, 67 + Buckeye, Sweet, 67 + Buds, 3, 23 + Bur oak, 51 + Burning bush, 136 + Butternut, 30 + Buttonwoods, The, 93-95 + + California walnut, 29 + California white oak, 57 + Cambium, 9, 21 + Campbell's magnolia, 103 + Camperdown elm, 216 + Canada plum, 151 + Canary island palm, 280 + Canoe birch, 88 + Canoe cedar, 269 + _Carica papaya_, 169 + Carolina poplar, 78 + _Carpinus Carolinianum_, 85 + _Castanea dentata_, 44 + _Castanea pumila_, 44-46 + Cedar, Canoe, 269 + Cedar, Eastern red, 276 + Cedar, Incense, 270 + Cedar, Red, 269 + Cedar, White, 272 + _Celtis Australis_, 162 + _Celtis occidentalis_, 161 + _Cercidium Torreyanum_, 190 + _Cercis Canadensis_, 182 + _Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana_, 273 + _Chamaecyparis Thyoides_, 272 + Chemistry of trees, 5-8 + Cherimoya, 171 + Cherries, The, 152-155 + Cherry birch, 90 + Chestnut oak, 53 + Chestnuts, The, 44-47 + Chinquapin, 44-46 + _Chionanthus Virginica_, 126 + Chlorophyll, Breaking down of the, 18 + Choke cherry, 154 + _Cladrastis lutea_, 183 + Clammy locust, 179 + Cockspur thorn, 156 + Coffee tree, Kentucky, 181 + Colorado blue spruce, 250 + Common lime, 72 + Cone-bearing evergreens, 217-279 + Conifers, 217-279 + Coral-bean, 192 + "Cork elm", 215 + Cornel, 113 + _Cornus Florida_, 111 + _Cornus mas_, 113 + _Cornus Nuttallii_, 113 + _Cotinus_, 142 + + Cotton gum, 97 + Cottonwood, 77 + Cottonwood, Black, 80 + Cottonwood, Lance-leaved, 80 + Cottonwood, Mexican, 80 + Cottonwood, Narrow-leaved, 80 + Cottonwood, Swamp, 81 + Crab, Prairie, 148 + Crab, Wild, 148 + _Crataegus coccinea_, 158 + _Crataegus Crus-galli_, 156 + _Crataegus Douglasii_, 158 + _Crataegus mollis_, 157 + _Crataegus oxyacantha_, 155 + _Crataegus pruinosa_, 157 + Cuban pine, 236 + Cucumber tree, 107 + Cucumber tree, Large-leaved, 106 + _Cupressus macrocarpa_, 271 + _Cupressus sempervirens_, 272 + "Curly maplewood", 15 + Custard-apple, 168, 170 + Cypresses, The, 271-274 + + Date palm, 281 + Digger pine, 239 + _Diospyros Virginiana_, 172 + Dogwood, European, 113 + Dogwood, Flowering, 111 + Dogwood, Jamaica, 190 + Dogwood, Western, 113 + Dogwoods, The, 111-114 + Douglas spruce, 258 + Downy basswood, 72 + Dwarf juniper, 275 + Dwarf maple, 199 + Dwarf sumach, 140 + + Eastern arbor-vitae, 268 + Eastern mountain ash, 116 + Eastern red cedar, 276 + Eastern service berry, 159 + Ebony, Texas, 191 + Elder, Box, 199 + Elder-leaved mountain ash, 117 + Elm, American, 210 + Elm, Camperdown, 216 + "Elm, Cork", 215 + Elm, English, 215 + Elm, Hickory, 214 + Elm, Moose, 213 + Elm, Mountain, 215 + Elm, Red, 213 + Elm, Rock, 214 + Elm, Scotch, 216 + Elm, Slippery, 213 + Elm, Small-leaved, 215 + Elm, White, 210 + Elm, Winged, 215 + Elm, Wych, 216 + Elms, The, 210-216 + "Encina", 64 + Engelmann spruce, 250 + English elm, 215 + English hawthorn, 155 + English walnut, 33 + _Euonymus atropurpureus_, 136 + European ash, 208 + European cypress, 272 + European dogwood, 113 + European holly, 144 + European mountain ash, 117 + European nettle tree, 162 + Evergreens, Cone-bearing, 217-279 + Evergreens, Leaves of, 20 + + _Fagus Americanus_, 42 + Fibres of wood, 13 + _Ficus aurea_, 167 + _Ficus elasticus_, 166 + "Fiddleback" ash, 209 + Figs, The, 165-167 + Fir, Balsam, 253 + Fir, Blue, 257 + Fir, Noble, 256 + Fir, Red, 254 + Fir, Red (_A. nobilis_), 256 + Fir, Silver, 257 + Fir, White, 256 + Fir, White (_A. concolor_), 257 + Firs, The, 251-257 + Flowering dogwood, 111 + "Foxtail" pines, The, 229 + _Fraxinus Americana_, 202 + _Fraxinus excelsior_, 208 + _Fraxinus nigra_, 204 + _Fraxinus Oregona_, 207 + _Fraxinus ornus_, 209 + _Fraxinus Pennsylvanica_, 205 + _Fraxinus Pennsylvanica_ (_lanceolata_), 206 + _Fraxinus quadrangulata_, 206 + Frijolito, 192 + Fringe tree, 126 + + Gerarde, 73 + _Gleditsia triacanthos_, 180 + Golden fig, 167 + Grain of wood, 13 + Gray pine, 238 + Great laurel, 119 + Great laurel magnolia, 104 + Green ash, 206 + "Grete Herball", 73 + Gum, Cotton, 97 + Gum, Sour or Black, 96 + Gum, Sweet, 97 + Gum trees, The, 95-100 + _Gymnocladus dioicus_, 181 + Gymnosperms, 217-279 + + Hackberries, The, 160-162 + _Hamamelis Virginiana_, 134 + "Hard-tack", 86 + Haw, Black, 115, 158 + Haw, Red, 157 + Haw, Scarlet, 157-158 + Hawthorns, The, 155-159 + Hazel, Witch, 133 + Heath family, 118 + Hemlocks, The, 259-262 + _Hicoria alba_, 40 + _Hicoria glabra_, 41 + _Hicoria lacinata_, 38 + _Hicoria ovata_, 37 + _Hicoria Pecan_, 38 + Hickories, The, 36-41 + Hickory elm, 214 + Hollies, The, 143-146 + Holly, American, 145 + Holly, European, 144 + Honey locust, 179 + Honey pod, 188 + Hop hornbeam, 86 + Hornbeam, American, 85 + Hornbeam, Hop, 86 + Horse bean, 191 + Horse-chestnut foliage, 17 + Horse-chestnuts, The, 65-68 + "Horse sugar", 125 + + _Icthyomethia Piscipula_, 190 + _Ilex aquifolium_, 144 + _Ilex Opaca_, 145 + _Ilex vomitoria_, 145 + Incense cedar, 270 + "Iron oak", 52 + "Ironwood," _see also_ Hornbeam + Ironwood, Knowlton's, 87 + + Jack pine, 238 + Jamaica dogwood, 190 + Japanese persimmon, 175 + Japanese walnut, 33 + "Judas-tree", 183 + _Juglans, Californica_, 29 + _Juglans cinerea_, 30 + _Juglans cordiformis_, 33 + _Juglans nigra_, 31 + _Juglans regia_, 33 + _Juglans rupestris_, 29 + _Juglans Sieboldiana_, 33 + June-berry, 159 + Junipers, The, 274-277 + _Juniperus Barbadensis_, 277 + _Juniperus communis_, 275 + _Juniperus occidentalis_, 276 + _Juniperus Virginiana_, 276 + + Kaki, 175 + Kalm, Peter, xx + _Kalmia latifolia_, 120 + Kentucky coffee tree, 181 + Knob-cone pine, 240 + Knowlton's ironwood, 87 + + Lance-leaved Cottonwood, 80 + "_Langues de femmes_", 81 + Larches, The, 277-279 + Large-leaved cucumber tree, 106 + _Larix Americana_, 278 + _Larix occidentalis_, 279 + Laurel family, 127-133 + Laurel, Great, 119 + Laurel, Mountain, 120 + Laurel oak, 63 + _Laurus nobilis_, 129 + Lawson cypress, 273 + Leaves, 4, 16-20 + "Lever-wood", 86 + _Librocedus Decurrens_, 270 + Lime, Common, 72 + "Lime Trees," _see_ Lindens + Linden, American, 70 + Lindens, The, 68-74 + Linnaeus, xviii, 73 + _Liquidamber styraciflua_, 97 + _Liriodendron tulipifera_, 109 + Live oak, 56 + Live oak (_Q. aquifolia_), 64 + Loblolly pine, 236 + Locusts, The, 177-184 + Lodge-pole pine, 245 + Lombardy poplar, 77 + Longleaf pine, 232 + + Madroña, 121 + _Magnolia acuminata_, 107 + Magnolia, Campbell's, 103 + _Magnolia foetida_, 104 + _Magnolia Glauca_, 105 + Magnolia, Great laurel, 104 + _Magnolia macrophylla_, 106 + Magnolia, Starry, 103 + _Magnolia stellata_, 103 + _Magnolia tripetala_, 108 + _Magnolia yulan_, 102 + Magnolias, The, 101-111 + _Malus coronaria_, 148 + _Malus ioensis_, 148 + Maple, "Bird's eye" and "Curly", 15 + Maple, Black, 195 + Maple, Dwarf, 199 + Maple, Mountain, 198 + Maple, Norway, 200 + Maple, Oregon, 197 + Maple, Red, 195 + Maple, Silver, 196 + Maple, Soft, 196 + Maple, Striped, 198 + Maple, Sugar, 194 + Maple, Sycamore, 200 + Maple, Vine, 197 + Maple, Wier's weeping, 196 + Maples, The, 193-201 + Melon papaw, 169 + Mesquite, 188 + Mexican cottonwood, 80 + Mississippi Valley chestnut oak, 54 + Mockernut, 40 + _Mohrodendron diptera_, 124 + _Mohrodendron tetraptera_, 123 + Monterey cypress, 271 + Monterey pine, 241 + Moose elm, 213 + _Morus alba_, 164 + _Morus nigra_, 165 + _Morus rubra_, 163 + Mountain ashes, 116-118 + Mountain elm, 215 + Mountain hemlock, 261 + Mountain laurel, 120 + Mountain maple, 198 + Mountain pine, 224 + Mountain sumach, 140 + Muir, John, xvi + Mulberries, The, 163-165 + + Names of trees, xvii-xxiii + Nannyberry, Rusty, 115 + Narrow-leaved cottonwood, 80 + "Necklace-bearing" poplar, 78 + Nettle tree, European, 162 + Noble fir, 256 + Nomenclature of trees, xvii-xxiii + Norway maple, 200 + Norway pine, 246 + Norway spruce, 248 + Nut pines, 230-232 + Nut trees, The, 28-74 + _Nyssa aquatica_, 97 + _Nyssa sylvatica_, 96 + + Oak, Basket, 55 + Oak, Black, 58 + Oak, Bur, 51 + Oak, California white, 57 + Oak, Chestnut, 53 + Oak, "Iron", 52 + Oak, Live, 56 + Oak, Live (_Q. agrifolia_), 64 + Oak, Mississippi Valley chestnut, 54 + Oak, Pacific post, 57 + Oak, Pin, 60 + Oak, Post, 52 + Oak, Red, 61 + Oak, "Rock chestnut", 53 + Oak, Scarlet, 59 + Oak, Single or Laurel, 63 + Oak, Swamp white, 54 + Oak, White, 49 + Oak, Willow, 62 + Oak, "Yellow", 54 + Oaks, Black, 58-65 + Oaks, The, 46-65 + Oaks, White, 49-58 + Ohio buckeye, 67 + Oilnut, 30 + Old field pine, 236 + One-leaved nut pine, 231 + Oregon alder, 93 + Oregon ash, 207 + Oregon maple, 197 + Oriental plane, 95 + Osage orange, 99 + _Ostrya Knowletoni_, 87 + _Ostrya Virginiana_, 86 + _Oxydendrum arboreum_, 122 + + Pacific post oak, 57 + Palms, The, 280 + Palo verde acacia, 190 + Papaws, The, 167-170 + Paper birch, 88 + _Parkinsonia aculeata_, 191 + Pecan, 38 + "Pepperidge", 96 + _Persea Borbonia_, 129 + _Persea gratissima_, 129 + Persimmons, The, 172-175 + _Picea Engelmanni_, 250 + _Picea excelsa_, 248 + _Picea Mariana_, 248 + _Picea Parryana_, 250 + _Picea rubens_, 249 + _Picea Sitchensis_, 251 + Pie cherry, 152 + Pignut, 41 + Pin cherry, 153 + Pin oak, 60 + Pine, "Big-cone", 240 + Pine, Cuban, 236 + Pine, Digger, 239 + Pine, Gray, 238 + Pine, Jack, 238 + Pine, Knob-cone, 240 + Pine, Loblolly, 236 + Pine, Lodge-pole, 245 + Pine, Longleaf, 232 + Pine, Monterey, 241 + Pine, Mountain, 224 + Pine, Norway, 246 + Pine, Old field, 236 + Pine, One-leaved nut, 231 + Pine, Pitch, 237 + Pine, Prickle-cone, 229 + Pine, Red, 246 + "Pine, Red", 258 + Pine, Rocky Mountain white, 228 + Pine, Rosemary, 237 + Pine, Scrub, 244 + Pine, Shortleaf, 235 + Pine, Slash, 236 + Pine, "Southern", 233 + Pine, Sugar, 225 + Pine, Swamp, 236 + Pine, Tamarack, 245 + Pine, Western pitch, 239 + Pine, Western yellow, 242 + Pine, White, 222 + Pine, White bark, 228 + Pines, "Foxtail", 229 + Pines, Nut, 230-232 + Pines, The, 220-247 + Piñon, 230 + _Pinus albicaulis_, 228 + _Pinus aristata_, 229 + _Pinus attenuata_, 240 + _Pinus Balfouriana_, 229 + _Pinus Caribaea_, 236 + _Pinus cembroides_, 230 + _Pinus contorta_, 244 + _Pinus Coulteri_, 239 + _Pinus divaricata_, 238 + _Pinus echinata_, 235 + _Pinus edulis_, 230 + _Pinus flexilis_, 228 + _Pinus Lambertiana_, 225 + _Pinus monophylla_, 231 + _Pinus Monticola_, 224 + _Pinus palustris_, 232 + _Pinus ponderosa_, 242 + _Pinus quadrifolia_, 230 + _Pinus radiata_, 241 + _Pinus resinosa_, 246 + _Pinus rigida_, 237 + _Pinus Sabiniana_, 239 + _Pinus Strobus_, 222 + _Pinus Taeda_, 236 + Pitch pine, 237 + Pitch pine, Western, 239 + Pitch pines, The, 232 + Plane, Oriental, 95 + _Platanus occidentalis_, 93 + _Platanus orientalis_, 95 + Plums, The, 149-152 + "Pod-bearers," The, 176-192 + Poison sumach, 141 + Pond apples, The, 170-172 + Poplar, Balsam, 79 + Poplar, Black, 77 + Poplar, Carolina, 78 + Poplar, Lombardy, 77 + Poplar, "Necklace-bearing", 78 + Poplar, Silver-leaved, 76 + Poplar, White, 76 + Poplars, The, 75-81 + _Populus acuminata_, 80 + _Populus alba_, 76 + _Populus angustifolia_, 80 + _Populus balsamifera_, 79 + _-Populus deltoidea_, 77 + _Populus heterophylla_, 81 + _Populus Mexicana_, 80 + _Populus nigra_, 77 + _Populus tremuloides_, 78 + _Populus trichocarpa_, 80 + Post oak, 52 + Prairie crab, 148 + Prickle-cone pine, 229 + Prickwood, 137 + _Prosopis pubescens_, 189 + _Prosopis Tuliflora_, 188 + _Prunus Americanus_, 150 + _Prunus avium_, 152 + _Prunus cerasus_, 152 + _Prunus nigra_, 151 + _Prunus Pennsylvanica_, 153 + _Prunus pseudo-Cerasus_, 152 + _Prunus serotina_, 153 + _Prunus Virginiana_, 154 + _Pseudotsuga mucronata_, 258 + Pussy willow, 84 + + Quaking asp, 78 + _Quercus acuminata_, 54 + _Quercus agrifolia_, 64 + _Quercus alba_, 49 + _Quercus chrysolepis_, 63 + _Quercus coccinea_, 59 + _Quercus Garryana_, 57 + _Quercus lobata_, 57 + _Quercus macrocarpa_, 51 + _Quercus Michauxii_, 55 + _Quercus minor_, 52 + _Quercus palustris_, 60 + _Quercus Phellos_, 62 + _Quercus platanoides_, 54 + _Quercus prinus_, 53 + _Quercus rubra_, 61 + _Quercus velutina_, 58 + _Quercus Virginiana_, 56 + + Ram's horn ash, 209 + Red alder, 93 + Red ash, 205 + Red bay, 129 + Red birch, 90 + Red cedar, 269 + Red cedar, Eastern, 276 + Red elm, 213 + Red fir, 254 + Red fir (_A. nobilis_), 256 + Red haw, 157 + Red juniper, 277 + Red maple, 195 + Red mulberry, 163 + Red oak, 61 + Red pine, 246 + "Red pine", 258 + Red plum, Wild, 150 + Red spruce, 249 + Redbud, 182 + Redwood, 266 + Retama, 191 + Rhododendron, 118 + _Rhododendron maximum_, 119 + _Rhus copallina_, 140 + _Rhus glabra_, 141 + _Rhus hirta_, 138 + _Rhus Vernix_, 141 + Rings, The Annual, 12 + River birch, 90 + _Robinia Pseudacacia_, 178 + _Robinia viscosa_, 179 + "Rock chestnut" oak, 53 + Rock elm, 214 + Rocky Mountain white pine, 228 + Rose bay, 119 + Rosemary pine, 237 + Rowan tree, 117 + Royal palm, 280 + Rubber plant, 166 + Rum cherry, 153 + Rusty nannyberry, 115 + + _Salix Babylonica_, 83 + _Salix discolor_, 84 + Sap, 6 + Sargent, Professor, xxi + Sassafras, 130 + Scarlet haw, 157 + Scarlet oak, 59 + Scientific names, xvii + Scotch elm, 216 + Screw-bean, 189 + Screw-pod, 189 + Scrub pine, 244 + Seaside alder, 92 + _Sequoia sempervirens_, 266 + _Sequoia Wellingtonia_, 263 + Sequoias, The, 262-268 + Service-berries, The, 159-160 + Shad-bush, 159 + Shagbark, 37 + Shaw botanical garden, xiv + Sheepberry, 114 + Shellbark, 37 + Shellbark, Big, 38 + Shingle oak, 63 + Shortleaf pine, 235 + "Silva of North America", xxi + Silver bell trees, 123 + Silver fir, 257 + Silver-leaved poplar, 76 + Silver maple, 196 + Silver wattle, 187 + Slash pine, 236 + Slippery elm, 213 + Small-leaved elm, 215 + Smoke tree, 142 + Smooth sumach, 141 + Snowdrop tree, 124 + "Snowdrop tree", 123 + Soft maple, 196 + Soft pines, 222-229 + _Sophora secundiflora_, 192 + _Sorbus Americana_, 116 + _Sorbus Aucuparia_, 117 + _Sorbus sambucifolia_, 117 + Sorrel tree, 122 + Sour gum, 96 + Sour-wood, 122 + "Southern" pine, 233 + Southwestern walnut, 29 + "_Species plantarum_", xix + Spruce, Black, 248 + Spruce, Blue, 250 + Spruce, Douglas, 258 + Spruce, Engelmann, 250 + Spruce, Norway, 248 + Spruce, Red, 249 + Spruce, Tideland, 251 + Spruces, The, 247-251 + Staghorn sumach, 138 + Starch, 7 + Starry magnolia, 103 + Striped mapl, 198 + Sugar maple, 194 + Sugar pine, 225 + Sumach, Black dwarf, 140 + Sumach, Dwarf, 140 + Sumach, Mountain, 140 + Sumach, Poison, 141 + Sumach, Smooth, 141 + Sumach, Staghorn, 138 + Sumachs, The, 137-142 + Swamp bay, 105 + Swamp Cottonwood, 81 + Swamp pine, 236 + Swamp white oak, 54 + Sweet buckeye, 67 + Sweet cherry, 152 + Sweet gum, 97 + Sweet leaf, 124 + Sycamore maple, 200 + Sycamores, The, 93-95 + _Symplocos tinctoria_, 125 + + Tamarack pine, 245 + Tamaracks, The, 277-279 + "Tassel trees", 186 + _Taxodium distichum_, 273 + Texas ebony, 191 + _Thuya occidentalis_, 268 + _Thuya plicata_, 269 + Tideland spruce,, 251 + _Tilia Americana_, 70 + _Tilia heterophylla_, 71 + _Tilia pubescens_, 72 + _Tilia vulgaris_, 72 + _Toxylon pomiferum_, 99 + Transpiration, 23 + Trees, Bark of, xv, 23 + Trees, Breathing of, 22 + Trees, Buds of, 3, 23 + Trees, Chemistry of., 5-8 + Trees, Food of, 6 + Trees, Growth of, 9-16 + Trees, How to know the, xiv-xvi + + Trees in winter, 20-27 + Trees, Leaves of, 4, 16-20 + Trees, Life of, 3-27 + Trees, Names of, xii, xvii-xxiii + Trees, Opposite-leaved, xv + Trees, Sap of, 6 + Trembling aspen, 78 + _Tsuga Canadensis_, 260 + _Tsuga heterophylla_, 261 + _Tsuga Martensiana_, 231 + Tulip tree, 109 + "Tupelo", 96 + + _Ulmus alata_, 215 + _Ulmus Americana_, 210 + _Ulmus campestris_, 215 + _Ulmus fulva_, 213 + _Ulmus montana_, 216 + _Ulmus Thomasi_, 214 + Umbrella tree, 108 + + _Viburnum lentago_, 114 + _Viburnum prunifolium_, 115 + _Viburnum rufidulum_, 115 + Viburnums, The, 114 + Vine maple, 197 + "Virgilia", 183 + + Wahoo, 137 + "Wahoo", 215 + Walnut, Black, 31 + Walnut, California, 29 + Walnut, English, 33 + Walnut, Japanese, 33 + Walnut, Southwestern, 29 + Walnut, White, 30 + Walnuts, The, 28-35 + "Water Beech", 85 + Wattles, The, 184-187 + Weeping maple, Wier's, 196 + Weeping willow, 83 + Western dogwood, 113 + Western hemlock, 261 + Western juniper, 276 + Western larch, 279 + Western pitch pine, 239 + Western service-berry, 160 + Western yellow pine, 242 + White ash, 202 + White-bark pine, 228 + White basswood, 71 + White birch, 89 + White cedar, 272 + White elm, 210 + White fir, 256 + White fir (_A. concolor_), 257 + White mulberry, 164 + White oak, 49 + White oak group, 49-58 + White pine, 222 + White pine, Rocky Mountain, 228 + White poplar, 76 + White walnut, 30 + Wier's weeping maple, 196 + "Wild banana tree", 169 + Wild black cherry, 153 + Wild cherry, 153 + Wild crab, 148 + Wild red plum, 150 + Willow oak, 62 + Willow, Pussy, 84 + Willow, Weeping, 83 + Willows, The, 81-84 + Winged elm, 215 + Winter, Trees in, 20-27 + "Winter berries", 143 + Witch hazel, 133 + Wood, 12-16 + Wych elm, 210 + + Yaupon, 145 + Yellow birch, 89 + Yellow locust, 178 + "Yellow oak", 54 + Yellow pine, Western, 242 + Yellow plum, 150 + Yellow-wood, 183 + Yulan magnolia, 102 + + _Zigia flexicaulis_, 191 + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Where images split paragraphs and in some cases would split off a +short section of a species description, the text was moved above or +below the images to rejoin the text. Small caps formatting is +usually converted to ALL CAPS. Although the section header lists on +the chapter title pages were printed in small caps and the section +header text are printed in ALL CAPS where they occur within the +chapter, it was decided that the header lists would be left as mixed +caps for better readability. + +Where text is printed as superscripts, they are presented using a +carat symbol (ex., CO^2 for the Carbon Dioxide). When text is printed +as subscripts, an underscore is used (ex., H_{2}O for water). +Although current usage would display the numbers in chemical formulæ +as subscripts (ex., H_{2}O, CO_{2} and C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}), they are +displayed here as printed. + +Original gramatical constructions were left as is (ex. P. 83, +"...the light seeds ... floats away..."). + +In order to match the most commonly used spelling, the instances +where Arbor-vitae was printed with an ae ligature were converted to +individual letters. The oe ligature on page xxi was converted to the +letters "oe". As three variant spellings birdseye, birds-eye and +bird's-eye appear, the others were converted to the most prevalent +form--bird's-eye. This was also the case with a number of other +words which were changed; but are not specifically listed here. + + +Typographical Corrections + + Page Correction + + 67 Raffinesque => Rafinesque + 89 uniniviting => uninviting + 156 hawthrons => hawthorns + 284 Black haw, 115-158 => Black haw, 115, 158 + 285 Diospyrus => Diospyros + 286 Bardadensis => Barbadensis + 289 Rew Haw => Red haw + +Emphasis Notation + + =Text= - bold + + _Text_ - italic + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Trees Worth Knowing, by Julia Ellen Rogers + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TREES WORTH KNOWING *** + +***** This file should be named 37717-8.txt or 37717-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/1/37717/ + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Tom Cosmas, Marilynda +Fraser-Cunliffe and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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