blakeslee] field WORK OX TREES 123 



ness of his first im])ression. In review, unfamiliar photographs, 

 respectively of the habit and the bark of the tree in question are 

 exposed together and slowly carried from one end of a row of 

 students to the other. This method is in imitation of the car 

 window identification of trees, and it is surprising how readily 

 photographs can be thus recognized when once a familiarity with 

 the distinguishing habit and bark characters has been acquired. 

 Lantern slides would doubtless be of much service in this connec- 

 tion. 



Laboratory Work — In the first paper, the Horse-chestnut 

 twig was used to illustrate the markings on a typical twig. There 

 is probably no better form for an introduction to winter tree 

 study but twigs of other large-budded species such as the Shag- 

 bark Hickory, the Mocker nut, the Norway Maple and tlie Caro- 

 lina Poplar also show all the typical markings clearly. 



Laboratory work with twigs should not consist merely in 

 finding the marks of identificational value and their significance in 

 the life of the tree. 



The twigs studied should be made to reveal their past history 

 by their markings. What happened each year in the life of the 

 twig examined? How many leaves were formed? How many 

 buds? How many of the latter developed into branches? If the 

 slow-growing spurs of such forms as the Beech, or the Black 

 Birch be investigated, a bit of human interest may be given the 

 history study by asking such questions as, — how many inches did 

 the twig grow during your lifetime? How many leaves did it 

 produce the year you were born, etc.? A slow-growing twig of 

 Beech was found to be 29 years old although it had grown only 

 4^ inches in length during this period. Consequently if proper 

 material is obtained, there is little fear of any student not being 

 able to discover what the twig did during his year of birth. By a 

 regard to the size of the fruit-scars on an Apple twig, one can dis- 

 cover for several years back, how many flowers were produced 

 each year and how many of these developed into mature fruit. 



Individual Work — ^A personal first hand appreciation of 

 nature is an ideal of nature study and individual outdoor study is 

 therefore to be encouraged. Too much, however, must not be ex- 

 pected of the student's unguided efiforts.. The collecting instinct 

 can be taken advantage of. The old style herbarium work that 

 entailed a disproportionate amount of labor in mounting speci- 

 mens can be replaced by collections of leaves and twigs which re- 

 quire little labor in preparation. Twigs sewed or glued on small 

 sheets with a brief description of the distinguishing characteris- 

 tics are a required collection in the writer's classes. 



