328 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



LEAF BUDS OF WILLOW. 



azines and leaflets that wholly or in 

 part are devoted to buds ; there is now 

 at ArcAdiA, as complete a collection 

 as it is possible to make. All of these 

 have been carefully assembled. On the 

 long table before me are stacks of such 

 literature. It is an exposition of bud 

 literature, but I am not posing as an 

 expert. I am only an amateur trying 

 to tell what has interested and in- 

 spired me. 



The question resolves itself into 

 this: If there were now to come into 

 this laboratory one not acquainted 

 with buds nor interested in them and 

 I wished to inspire him with a love of 

 the subject what in this pile of liter- 

 ature should I hand him and say, 

 "If you want thoroughly to enjoy an 

 attractive phase of nature, read that?" 



1 have given a good deal of thought 

 to that question and here is the result, 

 it is the chapter, "Winter Buds," in 

 "Among Green Trees" by Julia Ellen 

 Rogers ( Doubleday, Page & Co.). 

 It is short, but poorly illustrated with 

 crude sketches. It starts right and 

 holds the interest. Here is the first 

 paragraph. Read it and you will want 

 more. 



"The study of winter buds is a 

 fascinating business. You may begin 

 at any time after midsummer, for then 

 the buds are well grown and the 

 leaves are loosening their hold. Learn 

 one at a time. Tear off a leaf or two 

 from a familiar tree and notice the 

 bud and the leaf scar. You will not 

 forget. In winter you will find those 

 well-remembered characters in the 

 woods, and thereby know the tree that 

 bears them. A new interest in trees 

 will be roused within you. They are 

 not dead things. They are only sleep- 

 ing. Unsuspected beauties of form and 

 color are discovered by you in winter 

 buds. The various modes of wrapping 

 and packing and varnishing 1>v which 

 the precious young shoots are protected 

 from injury by wind and weather — all 

 these are things that challenge your at- 

 tention, and lead you into pleasure^ 

 heretofore undreamed of." 



FLOWER BUDS OF WILLOW. 



