I050 



Rural School Leaflet. 



FORESTRY 



TREE FLOWERS AND TREE SEEDS 



Herbert A. Smith 



T would be strange to find a townful of old people 

 with no children! Have you ever seen woods that 

 reminded you of this, having great, high, trees 

 with no young growth? They make good picnic 

 woods, especially if there is grass on the ground. 

 But when the trees are cut, or die of old age, what 

 is to take their place? To the forester the most 

 important of all forest questions is that of reproduc- 

 tion. Let us think of a tree as an organism which 

 lives for one object — to produce and sow seed. 



With spring comes the time of blossoming. It 



brings to light that which was prepared for before 



the tree entered on its long winter rest, for the flower 



buds were set last season, with the winter leaf -buds. 



With some trees, as the elm and the swamp maple, 



the blossom comes before the leaves open. The 



pussy-willow and the alder catkin burst forth before the frost is fairly 



out of the ground. Some trees mature their seeds rapidly and scatter 



them early in the vegetative season. These seeds have along summer for 



their first season's growth. Others, as the nut trees, slowly prepare a seed 



which can be sown in the fall. When this seed leaves the tree it will 



have a goodly supply of plant-food stored up for the needs of its early 



life. Some of the oaks and many conifers take two years to mature 



their seeds. 



Do not overlook the trees when you are gathering and noting the 

 spring flowers. If you are to understand how the battle of the trees 

 creates the life of the forest, you must begin with the devices for repro- 

 duction. Why not start a tree calendar this spring? You will have 

 to start early — the swamp maple outstrips the violet. Let your pupils 

 bring to school the different tree-blossoms, as they appear, and list the 

 dates for each species. Then add to the list the date when the seeds 

 fall. With the seeds before you, note the adaptations which provide 

 for their scattering. Light seeds, like that of the elm, are of course easily 

 borne far by the wind; but note how the heavier maple keys are winged 

 to whirl slanting down, and so are sown broadcast about the parent 

 tree. How prolifically most trees provide for reproduction! Since the 



