380 Home Nature-Study Course. 



a lens. It looks as if had been pressed with a flatiron. The arbor 

 vitse grows in wet places, as well as along streams, where it makes 

 almost impenetrable forests. In the Adirondacks it grows at an 

 altitude of 3,500 feet. The southern white cedar may be distinguished 

 from the arbor vitse by the fact that the tips of its branches are not 

 more than 1-16 inch in width, and that its cone is a little knobbed ball. 



Lesson on the Arbor Vit^. 



39. Take a twig, remove the leaves and describe their relation to the twig. 



40. Draw a bit of the spray showing the shape and arrangement of the leaves. 

 Use a lens for this. 



41. Are you acquainted with the arbor vitae as a separate tree in hedges? 



42. How many scales are there in the cones and where are the seeds borne? 



43. What is there about the foliage and the way it grows that fit it for a hedge 

 plant? 



The red cedar. — The twigs of this and their surrounding leaves 

 have not been flattened as in the arbor vitse, but each little twig looks 

 like a braid of green yarn. There are two kinds of leaves on the red 

 cedar, the green leaves which overlap each other, and which are seen 

 at first glance, and some other pointed needle-shaped leaves not 

 overlapping, which are often bro"WTiish and are not so readily seen, 

 but which you feel if you put your hand against the foliage. The 

 fruit of the red cedar is a bluish berry. 



44. Describe the foliage of the red cedar giving the shape of the green leaves, 

 as well as the sharply pointed ones. 



45. Is the spray of the leaf four-sided or cylindrical? 



46. Describe the fruit carefully, giving its color and form. 



47. How many seeds are there in each fruit? 



48. What is the wood of the red cedar especially used for? 



BALSAM FIR. 



This is the only native fir tree common in New York State, though 

 the silver fir of Europe is planted more or less in our parks. Whoever 

 has been fortunate enough to have been in camp in the North Woods, 

 and has reposed upon a bed made from the fragrant branches of this 

 tree has something delightful to remember. And those who have 

 not used the branches for a bed may have laid their heads upon 

 pillows filled with the dried leaves of this beneficent and health-giving 

 tree. The balsam fir is often planted as a shade tree, and is likely 

 to be found in the yards of farm houses, rising a black and graceful 

 spire far above the house top. This fir may be distinguished from 

 the spruces by the leaves, which are flat and thin, and very blunt at 



