134 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



after year, or, in technical language, they are 

 " open." 



In the country north of the Carolinas all native 

 leaf-bearing trees are dicotyledons. In April, 

 May, and June constructive tissue is present and 

 active in them all. New wood is generated 

 rapidly, and the vesels and cells which are formed 

 are comparatively large. Later in the year, when 

 life stirs less lustily in the vegetable creation, 

 smaller vessels and cells will be formed. So the 

 difference between '* spring" and "summer" wood 

 is often readily discernable even to the unaided 

 eye, and always evident by aid of the pocket-lens. 



We may see it on the upper surface of any 

 casual stump. The spring wood often looks as if 

 it had been used as a pincushion, because we see 

 in it so many circular ends of now empty vessels 

 and tubes. The summer wood is much more com- 

 pact in its texture, and sometimes darker in color. 

 So rings run around and around the stump, and by 

 counting them we can tell the age of the tree not 

 accurately, but approximately. For it is quite 

 possible that, if the season be moist, and the 

 autumn late, more than one growth-ring will be 

 formed in one year. If our stump were standing 

 in Florida woods its rings would tell us little. 



