Supplement to 



Mome IHiature * Stub^ Course 



Published by the College of Agriculture of Cornell University, 

 in October, December, February and April and Entered October 

 I, 1904, at Ithaca, New York, as Second-clas3 Matter, under 

 Act of Congress of July 16, 1894. 



ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK, Editor 



New Series. Vol. II. ITHACA, N. Y., APRIL-MAY, 1906 



No. 4 



TREE STUDY 



TREE BLOSSOMS 



For half our May's so awfully like May n't, 

 'Twould rile a Shaker or an evrige saint ; 

 Thougii I own up I like our back'ard springs 

 Thet kind o'haggle with their greens an' things, 

 An' when you 'mos' give up, 'ithout more words 

 Toss the fields full o'blossoms, leaves an' birds ; 

 Thet's Northun natur' slow an' apt to doubt, 

 But when it does got stirred, ther' 's no gin-out ! 



'Fore long the trees begin to show belief, — 

 The maple crimsons to a coral-reef, 

 The saffern swarms swing off from all the willers 

 So plump they look like yeller caterpillars, 

 Then gray hossches' nuts leetle hands unfold 

 Softer'n baby's be at three days old ; 

 Thet's robin-redbreast's almanick ; he knows 

 Thet arter this ther's only blossom-snows. 



— James Russell Lowell. 



The strange belief is held by certain people who 

 see only what they stumble over, that forest trees 

 do not blossom. Of cotirse, they know that bass- 

 wood, locust, fruit trees and some others bloom 



every year, but they do not believe that this is true ^ , , . 



r .1 1 1 1 1-1 11 1 , .1 ,1 Seed-bearing catkins of 



01 the beech, elm, birch and hemlock, though they the willow. 



admit that these latter trees bear fruit. They do not seem to realize 



that if there are any seeds or nuts on a tree, it is sure evidence that there 



were blossoms on it earlier in the season; for naturally the whole object 



of a blossom is to prodtice -fruit. 



An instance of the ignorance which prevails about the blossoms of 



trees is shown by what is taught in hundreds of schools about the pussy 



The photographs of the willow blossoms were made by Verne L. Morton, 

 the others were made by Ralph W. Curtis. 



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