80 TKEES IN WINTER. 



matter to keep out the wet more effectually, as in 

 the Horsechestnut. The Balm-of-Gilead has bud- 

 scales thickly covered with a yellow substance, 

 which is strongly aromatic. 



Occasionally we find a plant with naked buds, 

 like the Hobble-bush ( Viburnum lantanoides). This 

 plant contrives to live without any covering at all 

 for its buds. 



The shape of a tree is better seen in winter 

 than at any other time. There is then nothing 

 to hide its outline, and the student of nature will 

 find nothing more admirable than these tree-forms. 

 He will admire them none the less because he 

 .connects the growth of the buds with the form of 

 the tree, and understands how the position, the 

 number, the non-development of some buds, and 

 the rapid growth of others have affected the shape 

 of the tree. 



He sees that after the Elm has attained a certain 

 height the terminal buds are uniformly undevel- 

 oped, and that the axillary buds are exceedingly 

 numerous. This makes the branches dissolve into 

 many shoots, and these into finer spray, and helps 

 to give the tree its exquisite grace (Fig. 15) . When 

 he looks at the rough bough of a Horsechestnut, 

 he recognizes that the flower-clusters have contin- 



