THE AWAKENING OF THE TREES 



is fragrance and honey, and the bees come in throngs and 

 carry pollen from flower to flower, and from tree to tree. 

 And so, as the petals fall, the little fruits begin to appear. 

 Watch them as they grow. Perhaps you will discover 

 that the apple and quince behave differently from the peach, 

 apricot and cherry. Did you ever think why fruits should 

 be green and unfit to eat before the seeds are ripe, or of 

 what use to the trees are the bright colors and delicious 

 flavors of ripe fruits ? 



Do you know the secret of the fig trees, that a fig is 

 really a hollow stem with flowers inside? The fig trees 

 common in California orchards have pistillate flowers only. 

 You can easily see this for yourselves in young figs. Since 

 there are no flowers with stamens to provide pollen, the 

 pistils are not able to make good seeds, so we must get 

 new fig trees by planting cuttings from old ones. Fig 

 trees have been brought to California from other countries. 

 In their home country there are many fig trees that pro- 

 duce pollen-bearing flowers, and the pollen is carried by 

 very wee wasps that can crawl through the tiny openings 

 at the end of the fig. 



There are other trees, as you know, that never drop 

 all their leaves and take a complete rest; but most of them 

 are sluggish during the autumn and early winter, and in 

 the early spring time they, too, are awakened to more 

 active life. The live oak puts on a beautiful new spring 

 dress of pale green, and hangs out long catkins that fur- 

 nish pollen. If you have sharp eyes, you can find the 

 tiny flowers that will become acorns if the wind brings 

 the pollen. 



The pine trees cautiously push out fresh green needles. 

 They produce also clusters of pale yellow cones, filled to 

 bursting with flour}' pollen. At the slightest jar, the pollen 

 rises in yellow clouds ; in pine forests the lumbermen call 

 these clouds sulphur showers. If you look at these pollen 



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