Leaf Buds 



103 



you are careful to change every two or three days, and 

 keep it on the chimney piece 

 or in some warm place, it will 

 go on growing and you will be 

 able to watch it. The leaves 

 will become larger and will 

 gradually show beyond the tips 

 of the scales, then they will 

 open out and all the scales will 

 fall off. During the summer 

 the spaces between the leaves, 

 called internodes (nodes are 

 the places where the leaves 

 grow), will grow longer and 

 longer until the bud has be- 

 come a twig with leaves ar- 

 ranged along it. In the axils 

 of these leaves buds will form 

 in their turn and will next year 

 carry on the growth of the tree. 

 The twig which was last year 

 a bud still shows the marks 

 where the outer layers of scales 

 used to grow in the form of a 

 number of rings round its base 

 (Fig. 52). As these marks do 

 not wear off for a long time, 

 and as new buds are formed 

 every year, you can always tell 

 the age of a larger twig by the 

 number of sets of ring scars on 

 it, the space between any two Fig 52< Beech twig four 

 sets being one year's growth. years old. 



