Trees, Stars, and Birds 



they harbor a parasitic fungus which spreads from them 

 to these fruit trees. 



The leaves of the red cedar are very small and are 

 closely attached to the twigs on which they grow, but 

 in the young seedlings the leaves are longer and stand 

 out free from the stem as the leaves of an ordinary 

 plant do. This stage is called the juvenile form of the 

 tree. Scientists believe that in the early period of its 

 development a young plant or animal resembles its 

 ancestors ; that the ancestors of the frog had a tail and 

 lived in the water like a fish, and that in the tadpole 

 stage the frog resembles this ancestor. Do you think 

 the ancestor of the red cedar had free leaves or leaves 

 closely applied to the stem? 



Arbor vitae. The arbor vitae, or the " tree of life/' 

 is often called " white cedar." It is grown in hedges 

 that are not only ornamental but also useful in protecting 

 birds from the wind. It may be told from red cedar by 



its flat spray and its 

 fruit, which is in the 

 form of numerous small 

 cones instead of bluish 

 berries. Many tele- 

 phone poles are trunks 

 of arbor vitae that grew 

 in swamps in the 

 Northern states or in 

 Canada. For posts 

 and ties this woo.d is 

 valuable because it is 

 durable in the ground. 



FIG. 75. A spray of arbor vitae. The tree 

 may be distinguished from the juniper by 

 its flattened twigs and small cones. 



