ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



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, chestnuts, oaks, hickories, walnuts 

 and buckeyes matured their fruit, and with this maturing the burs, or cups, or husks, 

 opened or the stems snapped in two at a joint which began to form months before. If a 

 bur 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 ait and severe 

 cold, and they come just at the right time. All the seeds are not covered, but Dame 

 Nature is generous. She produces an abundance; enough for seed and enough to feed 

 the birds, squirrels, and other animals. 



White Oak. We want to hear a word about Nature's tree-planters, the squirrels, 

 birds and other animals. 



Basswood The squirrels eat man)' nuts, but carry a portion to some distance in every 

 direction, where they plant one or two in a place. It may be the thought of the squirrel 

 to return at some future time of need, but his bump of locality is not well developed or 

 he has laid up more than he needed. At all events some of the nuts are allowed to 

 remain where he planted them. In this way he is a benefit to the trees, and pays for the 

 nuts which he eats. He has not lived in vain, for he is a tree-planter and believes in 

 arboriculture. His Arbor days come in autumn, and he needs no gubernatorial message 

 to stimulate him to work. 



White Oak. This subject will be continued by 



White Spruce (Adeline). Many of our trees and shrubs produce a flesh}' fruit or 

 berry. Among them are the mountain ash, service berry, wild crab apple, hawthorn, 

 cherry, holly, viburnum, pepperidge, hackberry, mulberry, sassafras, wild plum, per- 

 simmon, paw paw, cedars and junipers. Many of these when ripe are rendered con- 

 spicuous by brilliant colors. The fruits are eagerly sought by grouse, turkeys, deer, 

 bear, and other animals. In most cases the seeds of such fruits are protected by a very 

 firm covering and are not digestible. They are sown broadcast by wild animals under 

 circumstances most favorable for germination. The birds, too, belong to the society of 

 tree planters. 



White Oak. We will next listen to some accounts of the wind as a sower of seeds. 



Sassafras (lona). Some trees produce dry seed or seed-pods, and usually drop only a 

 portion in autumn. They hold on to some seeds with considerable tenacity. Among 

 these are the buttonwood, basswood, ironwood, blue beech, box-elder, hop tree, tulip 

 tree, the ashes, catalpa, locust, Judas tree, birches, alders, larches, pines, spruces. The 

 fruit or the seed is thin, or provided with wings, which distribute them as they fall, or 

 after they have fallen. In winter it needs but a slight packing of the snow to bear up the 

 seeds. At such times, some of the seeds are torn from the trees by the wind, and may 

 be seen sliding along like miniature ice boats, often half a mile or more from the nearest 

 tree. The wind also aids in transporting the seeds of our elms, maples, willows and 

 poplars. 



White Oak. Next listen to something more about seeds. 



Red Bud (Cynthia). A seed is a young plant and is packed ready for transportation. 

 It has a tiny stem, some seed leaves and a terminal bud. The mother tree before casting 

 off her progeny into the world, did not fail to give it a little outfit in the form of starch 

 for food stored up in or surrounding the thick seed leaves. As the young chicks while 

 in the shell are nourished by the yolk of the egg, so the young oak or maple subsists on 

 the starch stored up before ripening. 



White Oak. When do our trees make their growth and how do the}' get ready for the 

 next year? 



Box Elder (Nina). Most of our trees put forth their new growth during a few weeks 

 in spring or early summer. Do you wonder what they are doing during the rest of the 

 warm weather? They are by no means idle. They may be perfecting Mowers and seeds, 

 but all of them are getting ready for the next winter and spring. Through the influence 

 of light and heat, the green leaves are forming starch, which is transported and stored 

 in the pith, young wood and bark. The young leaves and stems are started and 

 arranged, packed in cotton, covered by scales and in some cases the scales are protected 

 by pitch or varnish. 



White Oak. Next in order will be a few words in regard to the tree as a community. 



Buckeye (Douglass). A tree is a composite being, a kind of community by itself. 

 The leaves and limbs are all the time striving with each other to see which shall have the 

 most room and the most sunshine. Each strives for all it can get. While some perish 

 in the attempt or meet with only very indifferent success, the strongest of the strongest 



