58 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



closely around the baby foliage to protect it from 

 rotting damp, and from sudden 

 changes of temperature. Now their 

 work is done, and in a few days 

 they will fall off, or shrivel away, 

 leaving scars upon the twigs to mark 

 the place where they 

 grew. The traces left 

 by fallen 

 bud - scales 

 look as if a 



string had been wound with 

 the utmost tightness around 

 the branch, so as to encircle 

 it four or five times, and 

 had remained long enough 

 to cut into the bark (Fig. 8). 

 By counting these marks 

 one can tell how many years 

 a branch is old. After a 

 while, by the peeling away 

 of the outermost layers of 

 bark, the scars upon it dis- 

 appear. In the Willow we 



FIG. 8. Apple twig, showing 



old bud-scale marks. can scarcely find them at 

 any stage of the branches' growth, as the bud- 



