THE WINTER ASPECT OF TREES 



89 



England men to these Pennsylvania lands "out west" 

 they put on their map in big letters "The Sugar Tree 

 Grows Here." Of course the manufacture of sugar from 

 beet roots had not then developed and its manufacture 

 from sugar cane was far less extensive that it is at pres- 

 ent. A sugar tree was certainly some inducement and 

 recently, during our war-time restrictions, one could 

 ardently wish for a tree from which he could gather 

 sugar. 



The sugar maple makes one of the very best shade 

 and ornamental trees. A row of these trees along a 

 country road gives comfort to the traveler and beauty to 

 the landscape. Even in winter one of these open grown 

 trees can be distinguished at a great distance by the 

 outline of the top and the way the branches radiate. 



The white maple is planted extensively as a shade 

 tree since it is easy to start and grows rapidly. Its 

 natural habitat is usually along streams but it readily 

 grows when planted in other situations. It is the earliest 

 of all the maples to bloom and the blossom buds in 



TH 



RED BIRCH 



This tree sometimes grows in clumps as shown in this picture. The 

 most prominent characteristic, however, is the salmon colored bark com- 

 posed of very thin loose layers. As the trunk gets larger it loses this 

 peculiarity and becomes much like the bark of the black birch. 



mid-winter will distinguish this tree from all its relatives 

 since they are so much larger. Another characteristic 

 that will serve to identify it is the upward turn to the 

 twigs. 



By far the largest group of trees is made up of those 

 which bear but one leaf at a given level on the stem. 

 Some of these, as the witch-ha*el and the elm, have the 

 second leaf half way around the stem from the first 



one and consequently there is a two ranked arrangement 

 of the leaves and the resulting buds and branches. One 

 does not need to make a close examination of the elm in 

 order to recognize it. As far as one can see the grace- 

 fully arching branches proclaim this tree which Micheaux 

 called "the most magnificent vegetable of the temperate 

 zone." We may not agree with him in this rather ex- 

 travagant praise yet there is probably no other tree so 



THE WHITE BIRCH 



Notice the black triangular patch at the base of each branch of the 

 white birch. The habit of growing in clumps is well illustrate here. 



generally planted in America for shade and ornament. 

 It may be well to observe here that most of the trees 

 having but one leaf at a given level have each succeeding 

 leaf two-fifths of the distance around the stem from its 

 predecessor. In the elm with the second leaf half way 

 around the stem from the first we can see that the 

 leaves and the resultant buds form two rows or ranks 

 along the stem. In the maple and ashes with their op- 

 posite leaves and buds the second pair is set at right 

 angles to the first so that we have four ranks to the 

 leaves, buds and branches. In the numerous trees where 

 each succeeding leaf is two-fifths of the way around the 

 stem we can readily see that there must be five ranks of 

 leaves. Finally, in the catalpas with the whorl of three 

 leaves and the next whorl set to cover the joints in the 

 first there must be six ranks. Of course, one must 

 examine a quick growing shoot that is fully exposed to 

 the light and air on all sides to see these plans fully 

 worked out. Usually by the suppression of leaves by 

 shade of neighboring parts or by the twisting of the stem 



