[bretnall THE COTTONWOOD 403 



The cottonwood has other qualities which enable it to hold 

 its own under adverse conditions : Its leaf has a petiole that is not 

 flattened parallel with the blade as in other leaves; but has its 

 flat surface at right angles to the plane surface of the leaf, as in 

 other poplars. This permits the leaf to wave from side to side 

 with the lightest breeze and thus it does not get the full force of the 

 direct rays of the sun, a great advantage in desert regions. The 

 leaf is also quite thick and has a waxy layer on its surface, which 

 enables it to retain its moisture, another valuable asset for life in 

 an arid country. After the cottonwood has established itself 

 and has kept the sand from drifting beyond it, and after it has 

 made a shade and kept the ground moist, other trees come in a;nd 

 a varied forest becomes established. Not only on sand is the 

 cottonwood able to grow but it also flourishes in the rotting rock 

 of the dump piles from quarries, the only tree that can establish 

 itself in such a forbidding location. 



To find true appreciation of the cottonwood, we should ask 

 the farmer on the arid western plains what he thinks of this tree ; 

 he would probably tell you that he would go miles just to see one. 

 Because of its protected leaves, its deep growing roots and its 

 general hardness, it grows fairly well in regions too dry for other 

 trees to grow at all. If the first settlers of the western plains 

 had planted the cottonwood along the borders of their fields to 

 break the force of the dry, hot winds, not so many of them would 

 have lost all their possessions and have gone back East, dis- 

 couraged. 



To learn to regard the cottonwood justly, one needs to journey 

 to the Pacific coast and back; for it is the one tree that follows 

 you all the way. When all other trees fail because of hard condi- 

 tions, the cottonwood lifts its head bravely, making a point in the 

 landscape on which theeye lovingly lingers. 



ADVERTISEMENT 

 M MOSSES OF NEW YORK CITY 



and vicinity. A list with descriptions and 12 full page illustrations (photos) 

 of families (about 20 species), descriptions of genera, keys to genera and 350 

 species. About 150 pp., 8vo, paper. $1.10 postpaid. 



A. J. GROUT, Ph.D., Author and Publisher 



NEW DORP, Richmond Bor., N. Y. City 



