MAY. 139 



the cold. That they may better do this, the perules in the 

 Balm of Gilead, and in many other plants, are coated with a 

 thick, clammy, resinous substance, which may be scraped off 

 with the nail, and which in this species has a fragrant 

 smell. It seems probable that the hive-bee collects the 

 substance called propolis, with which it stops the fissures 

 and crevices of the hive, partly from the resinous perules of 

 plants. Let us examine a bud from this Balm of Gilead ; 

 as the terminal ones open some time before the lateral ones, 

 we' shall find some unopened. 



C. — Here is one. 



F. — These two dark-brown convex scales are the perules ; 

 they are thick and tough ; within them are two more, much 

 thinner and paler, but still more coriaceous than the young 

 leaves. Here are the leaves : how soft and small they are ! 

 they appear, however, much smaller than they are, for they 

 are so folded up as to occupy the smallest possible space. 



C — I will try to unfold one, though it seems a very 

 delicate operation. Are all young leaves folded up in the 

 bud in this manner ? 



F. — I believe all are folded, but not all in the same 

 manner. *' It is found that the young leaves are constantly 

 folded up in the bud in the same way in the same species of 

 plants, but there are many different modes of this arrange- 

 ment ; this is termed the vernation oi foliation of the plant." 

 The Balm of Gilead opens its buds at about the same time 

 as the other poplars. 



C. — I noticed a few days ago that solitary bush in the 

 corner of the upper field beginning to unfold its leaves. 



F. — It is a specimen of the native Thorn ( Cratcegus 

 Coccinea) ; the leaves are shaped almost exactly like those of 

 our English hawthorn, but the berries are much larger. This 

 is not a very common plant here, though I know of several 

 large shrubs within the compass of a mile ; but near Quebec 



