42 WINTER FIELD MEETING. 



In protecting themselves against the cold of winter, 

 all trees have not followed blindly the same rule ; they 

 have not imitated a leader in fashionable winter clothing, 

 but each species for itself has quietly gone to work' to 

 select the best method at hand to provide itself against 

 the cold, and has increased or decreased such protection 

 as circumstances required. 



We have trees capable of shedding their foliage at the 

 approach of winter, as do the Maples and Ashes. We 

 have trees capable of retaining their foliage for several 

 years, as do the Pines and Spruces. We have trees 

 producing flower buds in the fall, ready to open at the 

 first trace of warm spring sunshine, before leaf action 

 is required to perfect them, as the Birches and Alders. 

 We have trees producing flowers so late, that the leaf 

 action is absolutely necessary to develop these flowers, 

 as the Catalpa and Tulip tree. We have trees which, 

 during the autumn, protect the next year's half-formed 

 leaves by surrounding them with thick scares, as in the 

 Hickory ; and often still more securely, by covering 

 over the outer scales with a coat of varnish, as in the 

 Horse Chestnut. In contrast to these, are trees whose 

 winter buds are bare, the outer leaves or bracts being 

 unprotected by any covering, as in the Garden Lilac. This 

 is very noticeable in the flower buds of Comus florida, 

 where the showy white of the so-called flower is formed by 

 the rapidly growing bud scales, which all winter have been 

 fully exposed to the cold, while protecting the true flower 

 buds which they enclosed. These latter forms of buds 

 are so largely filled with solid matter, and so devoid 

 of water, that they are incapable of being injured by 

 cold while in the winter state. 



How often, during the winter we hear the question 

 asked, — Does the sap in plants freeze? This subject has 

 been before the public for a long time, but it is chiefly 



