GETTING AC^AINTED WITH THE TREES 



Even the plain orchard gives us a difference 

 in flowers, as well as in tree aspect. Notice 

 the trees this coming May; mark the flat, 

 white flowers on one tree, the cup- shaped, 

 pink -veined blooms on another. Follow both 

 through the fruiting, and see whether the 

 sweeter flower brings the more sugary fruit. 

 This fact ascertained, perhaps it may be fol- 

 lowed up by observation of the distinctive 

 color of the twigs and young branches — for 

 there are wide differences in this respect, and 

 the canny tree -grower knows his pets afar. 



Perhaps there is a ^^crab" in the old 

 orchard, ready to give the greatest burst of 

 bloom — for the crab -apple flower is usually 

 finer and more fragrant than any other of the 

 cultivated forms. It is an especial refuge of 

 the birds and the bees, you will find, and it 

 invites them with its rare fragrance and deeper 

 blush, so that they may work all the more 

 earnestly at the pollination without which all 

 this richness of bloom would be ineffective in 

 nature's reproductive scheme. 



This same crab -apple is soon to be, as its 

 brilliant fruit matures, a notable object of 



80 



