STUDIES OF LEAF AND TREE (PART II.) 



101 



thousands of years in the past. Man did the same, ages 

 and ages ago, but rarely now. Still, the tree is of great 

 value to him, for the mast is used for other purposes. 

 The wood is used for making chairs and many other 

 things. In the country, the leaves are occasionally em- 

 ployed to stuff mattresses, and the nuts are fed ,to 

 hogs to fatten them during the early months of winter. 

 Often, too, in some parts of the Union, beech trees are 

 planted for their beauty and for the splendid shade they 

 give. Our beech is distributed pretty generally over 

 Eastern United States; and it is to be observed that it 

 seems to prefer the neighborhood of stream and river 

 bottoms, especially if the soil be rich and suited to its 

 needs. With her usual keen sense of observation, Julia 

 Rogers describes the growing of the young beeches : 

 "In April and May we may see the germination of the 

 beech nuts. The gaping burs and three-cornered nuts 

 lie in plain sight under the tree. A nut splits along one 

 sharp edge and a slender root protrudes. It grows 

 downward and burrows in the leaf mould. The stem 



THESE ARE THE BUDS OF OUR BEECH TREE (Fagiis grandtfolta) 

 OPENING IV THE SPRING; ITS DESCRIPTION MAKES A WHOLE 

 CIlVPTER IN THE STORY OF THE PHENOMENON OF TREE 

 GROWTH 



Fig. 32 It is not altogether a bad plan to carefully gather leaves at this 

 tender stage and press them, in that their forms may be exhibited and 

 displayed in the herbarium folios for comparison with those of other 

 species. 



emerges at the same time and place, and extends in the 

 opposite direction. It is topped by a crumbled green 

 bundle, which unfolds directly into a pair of short and 

 broad seed leaves, totally unlike the leaves of the beech 

 tree. 



"In this case the triangular shell clings but a little 

 while to the growing plantlet. Oftener, however, the 

 opening is just wide enough to let the root out. Then 

 the stem carries the shell up and wears it like a helmet 

 until the leaves within spread themselves and cast it 

 off." Thus we have the starting of the tree; but the 

 story from this stage on is quite a long one, that is, to 

 carry it to the point where the young beech in any way 

 resembles the parent tree. Too long to tell just now. 



As a matter of fact, the best way to study such growths 

 and it is interesting as well as important is to take a 

 lot of ripe and sound beech nuts and plant them in some 

 proper receptacle, with rich earth of sufficient depth, 



THERE ARE NO MORE BEAUTIFUL TREES IN THE WOODS THAN 

 THE AMERICAN BEECH (Fagus grandifolia) AT ANY STAGE OF ITS 

 GROWTH 



Fig. 31 These are some of its exquisite light tan-colored leaves in the 

 autumn. We are all familiar with the peculiar beauty they lend to the 

 forest at this time of the year. 



watching the entire process of growth and evolution. 

 They may be placed alongside acorns of a few species, 

 chestnuts and chinquapins ; the sprouting and growing 

 nuts offer a most instructive object lesson. 



It will be remembered that the acorns of the chest- 

 nut oak sometimes sprout before dropping from the 

 trees ; still, there is no trouble in finding sound ones on 

 the ground those which have not yet sprouted. 



Before closing our chapter on the Fagaceae, it will be 

 as well to mention another product of the oaks which 

 possesses a marked value commercially, and which has 

 not, up to this point, commanded attention. Refer- 

 ence is made to the "galls" of the oaks, sometimes called 



