Zbc Stors of tDe Stem 39 



crowded forests of hot countries trees like the palm 

 and others having naturally an erect stem, have 

 this stem often reduced to very small diameter and 

 immensely elongated, so that they seem more like 

 vines than trees, clinging to and rambling over 

 their stouter neighbors. A tree very common in 

 damp woods in New Jersey and other parts of the 

 Northern States is the hornbeam, which has not a 

 round, but a square stem, the angles being well de- 

 fined, and this stem, unable to support its own 

 weight, leans on adjacent trees, reaching from one 

 to another, its crown emerging finally in some 

 very unexpected place far from its roothold. A good 

 example of a woody climbing stem in our forests is 

 the wild grape, which, in a favorable locality, be- 

 comes very large, the main stem several inches in 

 diameter, and by its weight finally breaking down 

 some large tree upon which it has seized for support. 

 If we examine these stems closely we shall find them 

 covered with buds, still folded firmly, and we 

 remember that that good old botanist, Linnaeus, 

 who seemed always to be in close sympathy with 

 plants and trees, called these nicely-protected buds 

 hibernacula or winter quarters of young branches. 



If the blueness of a February sky and some sud- 

 den, unexpected softness of the air beguiles us to 

 think of something like flowers, we must not expect 



