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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



FLOWER OF THE TULIP OR 

 YELLOW POPLAR 



The flowers of the yellow poplar closely 

 resemble tulips in form and size and 

 even in coloring. Of a pale green — 

 almost cream — ^with markings of 

 orange, they are very beautiful. 



the leaves, and which, with 

 their long, slender pedicels, 

 envelop the tree in a fairy- 

 like fringe which sways with 

 the gentlest breeze. 



In May the hillsides 

 glow with the glistening 

 white of the dogwood, per- 

 haps the most showy of all 

 our forest blossoms. And 

 yet the flowers are not white 

 after all, but are a greenish yel- 

 low, clustered in groups of 

 twenty or more, each surrounded 

 by the four -leaved involucre 

 which is known in common par- 

 lance as the flower. These floral 

 envelopes vary much in size 

 and purity of color, this depend- 

 ing partly upon the individual 

 tree, and partly upon the sea- 

 son ; and it is a common saying 

 among farmers that when the 

 dogwood blossoms are small the 

 fruit crop will be correspond- 

 ingly small ; in other words, Jack- 

 Frost is quite as partial to nij)- 

 ping the dogwood as the ajijjlc 

 blossoms. When the dogwood is 

 in bloom, as well as "when the 

 oak leavds are as large as squir- 

 rel's ears," is the accepted time 

 for planting com. 



About the same time the pink 

 buds of the wild crab are burst- 



A SPRAY OF BASSWOOD tLI.XDE.X) BLOSSOMS 



These creamy flowers are prime favorites of the bees, which fact alone should 

 commend the planting and care of the trees for their commercial value as 

 honey getters. 



THE I IIESTiXUT 



This photograph speaks for itself — it is unnecessary to enlarge on 

 the beauty and grace of the flower of the chestnut — a feathery, 

 creamy mass of bloom in late June or July. 



FLOWER OF THE SUGAR MAPLE 



The graceful blossoms of the hard 

 maple, coming just after the leaves and 

 which with their long, slender ped- 

 icels envelop the tree in a fairy-like 

 fringe, swaying with every breeze. 



ing, filling the air with a 

 fragrance which calls bees 

 and other winged creatures 

 by the hundreds. Talk 

 about the beauty of apple 

 blossoms; they are not to 

 be compared with those of 

 the wild crab ! The Japanese 

 may revel among their 

 cherry blossoms, but with 

 Pyrtis coronaria, which is 

 usually at its best in middle lati- 

 tudes at Decoration time, we 

 may well be satisfied. 



Most interesting are the 

 flowers of the tulip tree, Lirio- 

 dendron tulipifera, resembling 

 the tulip in form and size, and 

 quite as strangely marked as 

 some of the parrot tulips, with 

 their blending of pale green with 

 orange crescents. In autumn 

 the winged seed-pods expand, 

 almost like glistening straw-col- 

 ored flowers. Scarcely less inter- 

 esting are the leaves, each ab- 

 ruptly notched at the end into 

 a shape so distinctively its own 

 that there is no possibility of 

 mistaking the foliage of the 

 tulip or whitewood for that of 

 any other tree. In geological 

 times there were several species, 

 but now we have but a lone spe- 

 cies, now largely grown in many 

 parts of Europe as a shade tree. 



