128 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [6:5-May. 1910 



Trees may be studied from two points of view, their artis- 

 tic and their botanical values. A study of the artistic qualities 

 means a comprehension of their form, their texture and their 

 <:olors. The oak has spreading branches, is open and rugged in 

 texture and has brilliant color in fall. Its vigor is expressed 

 by the manner in which its buds and branches start out on all 

 sides of their twigs and trunks. Botanically, this last point is 

 interesting also. Its flowers are monoecious, stamens are 

 hanging catkins and the fruit, an acorn, matures in one or two 

 years according to the species. Its leaves are of interest from 

 both standpoints and during the summer its leaves are beauti- 

 ful. In winter its branches exhibit more of the bony frame- 

 work of the tree. It harbors all kinds of insects and fungi 

 Birds are at home in its branches in their season. 



A still better laboratory for the study of bird life are the 

 bushes planted around the borders. Birds love a thicket in 

 which to build their nests and to hide. Such a thicket even at- 

 tracts birds to its vicinity. Kinds may be selected which birdb 

 like especially for food, such as the mulberry. But other kinds 

 may be selected for other interests, such as their fruit, both 

 botanically and artistically, like the barberry and cranberry. 

 Others have striking bark, like the dogwood, which should not 

 be planted too plentifully. For an example of curious flower- 

 ing there is the witch hazel, which blooms just before winter 

 sets in. As a matter of fact, it makes little difference about se- 

 lecting bushes for such a laboratory, for the kinds which are 

 most unassumingly attractive and succeed best are just those 

 which are best adapted to nature-study. There should be ex- 

 amples of native kinds like the dogwoods, the vibernums, hazels 

 and winterberries. But if one can also obtain easily other kinds 

 which are of foreign origin but which have been used long 

 enough so that they seem to belong to us, like the lilacs and 

 weigelas, the planting is that much more enriched. They may 

 be planted irregularly three or four feet apart and from two to 

 three plants wide against the fences and schoolhouse and es- 

 pecially in the corners of the grounds, making the kinds heav- 

 iest at the corners of the schoolhouse and lot. 



School is still in session when some of our finest flowers of 

 the perennial class come into bloom. These are the plants which 

 die to the ground every year but whose roots continue to live on 

 and throw up stalks again. Flowers have more interest botan- 



