INTRODUCTION ix 



Even the twigs on the leafless trees have such definite characteristics that 

 the various species are easily recognized. The position, shape and color of the leaf 

 buds and the flower buds, the location and markings of the leaf scars, the color and 

 texture of the bark of different years of growth, the number and size of the lenticels 

 or breathing pores of the bark all these are features by which the tree may be 

 known. Not only may we tell a maple from a poplar but we can tell which maple 

 or which poplar a given twig belongs to. 



The statement that the trees have provided the season before for the starting 

 into spring growth is easily verified. Cut off a twig bearing leaf buds and flower 

 buds. Put the cut end in a jar of water in a warm moist atmosphere and see how 

 the leaves and flowers develop from the water and the food materials stored up 

 in the branch. It is very much the same sort of provision that is made by a kernel 

 of corn for starting the young plant on its life journey. In both cases there is pro- 

 vision to keep things going until the expanded leaves can begin working in the 

 sunlight to manufacture food materials. 



While the trees are reduced to their simplest elements in winter they become 

 of greatest interest in spring the time when they change so rapidly from day to 

 day and week to week. These changes are chiefly due to the pushing out of leaves 

 and flowers. In general the catkin-bearing trees like the alders, the birches and 

 hornbeams, the willows and the hickories send out their flowers in advance of the 

 leaves, while the petal-bearing blossoms of the other trees appear with the leaves 

 or after they are well developed. 



Some Little Known Trees 



In addition to the many trees, native or naturalized, more or less commonly 

 found in the eastern region of North America which are discussed in the following 

 pages there are a number of others that deserve mention. Most of these have been 

 recently introduced and are now offered in the larger nurseries for planting in streets, 

 parks or home-grounds. Some are so well adapted to such uses that they are bound 

 to become important features of our landscapes while others are likely long to 

 remain rare and little known. 



Rich as we Americans are in native maples we'must turn to other parts of 

 the world for some of the most desirable ornamental species, especially the dwarf er 

 forms. Our own small members of this family the Mountain, the Striped and the 

 Western Dwarf Maples have decided limitations for ornamental planting and 

 are not to be compared with the Japanese Maples which have been developed into 

 forms of great beauty by these nature-loving people. In fact Japan is said to be 

 the ancestral home of the great Maple Family which still dominates theisland forests. 

 Two closely related species Acer palmatum and A. japonicum have been devel- 



