338 Junior Naturalist Monthly. 



black buds which he close to the twig. Perhaps you will find twigs 

 of both of these willows. 



In Fig. 4, you will see illustrated the blossoms of^the heart-leaved 

 willow. If you look closely, you will see that the blossoms are not 

 alike. Notice whether there is a difference in the blossoms on the 

 twigs you have "forced" in the schoolroom. 



You will also see on one of the twigs in Fig. 4, a cone-like growth. 

 This is called a pine-cone willow gall. It is not a cone, but the home 

 of a tiny insect. You will not have any difficulty in finding the 

 pine-cone willow galls. Take them into the schoolroom and study 

 them carefully. Open one of them; do you find anything inside? 

 Put a few of the pine-cone galls in a glass and tie mosquito netting 

 over the top. Look into the glass occasionally. Later in the year 

 when you have studied the pine-cone willow gall, we shall tell you 

 the story of this strange insect home. 



During the month of March, let us see what we can learn about 

 willows. Following are four suggestions that will help us in our 

 study: 



1. We shall find some of the shrubby willows and break off twigs two feet long. 

 We shall "force" the blossoms on these twigs in the schoolroom and watch what 

 happens. 



2. In looking for pussy willow tmgs we shall try to find an alternate-leaved 

 shrub with large, black, plump buds having but one bud scale. 



3. When the willows are in blossom in the spring, we shall try to notice what 

 difference there are in the blossoms. 



4. We shall study the pipe-cone willow gall commonly found on the heart-' 

 leaved wiUow. 



MY OLD WILLOW TREE. 

 L. H. Bailey, Sk. 



Thirty-five years ago, one cold, frosty morning in January, I 

 arrived in Decatur, Michigan. I started on foot for South Haven, 

 32 miles away. Reaching over a fence, I broke off a limb from a 

 golden willow tree, and made me a cane to walk home with. I stuck 

 the cane into the ground by the side of the well. That year it grew 

 two feet, bottom-side-up. The next year I set it out for a shade 

 tree on the roadside. It is now 50 feet high and three feet through 

 and still growing bottom-side-up. 



Note: — The above was written by a farmer 86 years of age. It ivould 

 interest him to have our Junior Naturalists plant a willow tree from a 

 cutting, as he did so long ago. 



