ARBOR DAY. 169 



Susie: The farther north we go, the fewer kinds of 

 trees we find; the farther south, the greater variety. 

 Great Britain and Ireland contain more than twice the 

 area of Michigan. They have one bass wood, not as good 

 as ours; one very small maple, one cherry, one small 

 ash, two elms, two poplars, one beech, one small birch, 

 one pine, one oak much like our white oak. Great 

 Britain has about ten species of trees native to her soil, 

 while Michigan, with half the territory, has about ninety 

 species, or nine times as great a variety. 



White Oak : For some interesting points in reference 

 to nuts and seeds I call on 



Red Maple: Last autumn the hazels, beeches, chest- 

 nuts, oaks, hickories, walnuts, and buckeyes matured 

 their fruit, and with this maturing the burrs, or cups, or 

 husks opened, or the stems snapped in two at a joint 

 which began to form months before. If a burr or nut 

 held fast too tenaciously, the frost made it willing to 

 drop, and down it went with hundreds of others among 

 the leaves. The leaves, with the help of the shifting 

 winds, gently covered the fruit or some portions of it. 

 The leaves make the best kind of protection from dry air 

 and severe cold, and they come just at the right time. 

 All the seeds are not covered, but Dame Nature is gen- 

 erous. She produces an abundance; enough for seed and 

 enough to feed the birds, squirrels, and other animals. 

 22 



