mbcn tbe Moo^a are %eaUgvecn 63 



sea8hore, than leaves on plants ; yet every leaf has 

 had. all this careful folding and placing in the sum- 

 mers that are past, and untold hosts of leaves are 

 now being placed and packed for summers yet to 

 come ! 



Leaf buds are generally protected from wet and 

 cold by thick scales, fine down, hairs or coats of a 

 resinous gum, exuded from the plant. These pro- 

 tective coverings give way when, by the rising of sap 

 and the effect of Avarmth, the l)uds begin to expand 

 from within. The first days of Aj^ril show us the 

 swelling buds ; by the end of the month the world 

 is in a gala dress of expanded foliage. 



An ordinary leaf consists of a blade, or broad part, 

 a footstalk to hold it to the main stem, and a pair 

 of stipules or wing-like, green expansions, on each 

 side the footstalk. Stipules are well shown on rose 

 and clover leaves. Some leaves have no footstalk, 

 many leaves have no stipules, therefore we see that 

 the blade is the onl}^ really needed part of the leaf. 



Let us look at a leaf blade. The woody fibre 

 which makes up the main stem and, bound into a 

 little bundle, composes the footstalk, spreads out into 

 a light, Avoody framework for the leaf. This frame- 

 work is usually in two layers, like the nervures in a 

 butterflj^'s wing. The central line of the frame is 

 called the mid-rib, the other parts are styled the 



