Tree Study 



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5. Do you find any fruit or seed upon your tree? If so describe and 

 sketch it, and tell how you think it is scattered and planted. 



Winter Study of the Tree i. Make a sketch of the tree in your note- 

 book, showing its shape as it stands bare. Does the trunk divide into 

 branches, or does it extend through the center of the tree and the branches 

 come off from its sides? Of what use are the branches to a tree? Is the 

 spray, or the twigs at the end of the branches, coarse or fine ? Does it lift 

 up or droop? Is the bark on the branches like that on the trunk? Is the 

 color of the spray the same as of the large branches ? Why does the tree 

 drop its leaves in winter ? Does the tree grow during the winter ? Do you 

 think that it sleeps during the winter? 



2. Study the cut end of a log or stump and also study a slab. Which 

 is the heart-wood and which is the sap-wood? Can you see the rings of 

 growth? Can you count these rings and tell how old was the tree from 

 which this log came? Describe if you can, how a tree trunk grows larger 

 each year. What is it makes the grain in the wood which we use for furni- 

 ture ? If we girdle a tree why does it die ? If we place a nail in a tree three 

 feet from the ground this winter, will it be any higher from the ground ten 

 years from now ? How does the tree grow tall ? 



3. Take a twig of a tree in February and look carefully at the buds. 

 What is their color? Are they shiny, rough, sticky or downy? Are they 

 arranged on the twigs opposite or alternate ? Can you see the scar below 

 the buds where the last year's leaf was borne ? Place the twig in water and 

 put in a light, warm place, and see what happens to the buds. As the 

 leaves push out, what happens to the scales which protected the buds? 



4. What birds do you find visiting your tree during winter? Tie some 

 strips of beef fat upon its branches, and note all of the kinds of birds which 

 come to feast upon it. 



Trees in winter. 



