14 THE WOODLANDS. 



for instance, to determine every tree in summer and 

 autumn when there are leaves to guide us, but in the 

 winter new aspects are encountered, and then it be- 

 comes a good exercise to determine trees by their 

 aspect, habit of growth, ramification, angular in- 

 cidence of the branches appearance of the bark ; and 

 thus, as it were, determine its name from its skeleton. 

 In the spring another exercise awaits us ; it is the 

 determination of trees from the form and arrangement 

 of the young buds. Some are opposite to each other, 

 some are alternate, some are much elongated, others 

 are short and obtuse. A little study and practice will 

 soon enable any one to determine one twig from 

 another, and refer each to its proper tree. 



The arrangement of the buds around a twig follows 

 in each species a uniform plan. If we take a beech 

 twig, for instance, we shall observe that the buds are 

 produced in two opposite rows, so that they occur 

 alternately on opposite sides of the twig. The first, 

 third, and fifth being over each other on one side, 

 and the second, fourth, and sixth on the other. If 

 we draw a line from any given bud spirally round the 

 twig, so as to pass through three consecutive buds, we 

 shall find when it has reached the third bud it is 

 directly over the point whence it started, has made 

 one turn of a spiral passed from one bud, through a 

 second, and ended at the third. This is a simple 

 arrangement of alternate buds. Let us take the 

 alder, and starting in the same manner from a given 

 bud, draw a line spirally through all the buds above 

 it until the line terminates at a bud directly over that 

 from which the spiral started. In this instance the 



