cover the young buds. The fruit, crowded together in balls, Avill be 

 suspended from the branches. Some of the seeds will become loose 

 and float down the stream, others will sail through the air, while 

 many of the buttonballs will remain on the tree long after the iirst 

 snowfall. That these things may happen I have learned from the 

 veteran plane-tree. "Who better fitted to tell the story than the old 

 soldier ? 



Suggestions for Study, 



Plane-tree, Button wood, Buttonball, American Sycamore. 



Describe the outer bark. The inner bark. 



Xotice the cut-shaped base of the leaf-stalk which covers the 

 young buds. 



Make a drawing of the buttonballs. 



How are the seeds fitted for traveling ? 



Have you ever seen a buttonball floating down a stream ? 



How long does the fruit remain on the tree ? 



In the first lesson last year you learned what an akene is. 



The seeds of the plane-trees are akenes. Can you tell why ? 



We would like to have some of the older Junior Xaturalists study 

 a young forest. Yon may not find sycamores near your home but 

 you will probably find a young growth of other trees. AVhy should 

 there be warfare among them ? This may at first be difticult for 

 boys and girls to understand. A little work in arithmetic will help 

 you. Count the number of buttonballs which you find on the tree 

 and the number of seeds in each ball. Perhaps this is asking too 

 much, but if you even make an attempt to do this you will find 

 what an immense number of seeds there are. Ninety per cent may 

 fail to germinate, but do you think that there will be room for the 

 remaining ten per cent ? How could all get food and air and sun- 

 light crowded so losely together I Some must perish. Since only a 

 few can survive which do you think are most likely to live ? Notice 

 in how many ways the young trees dilier one from another. 



446 



