GETTING AC^AINTED WITH THE TREES 



silver maple bravely pushes out its hardy buds 

 in earliest spring — or often in what might be 

 called latest winter — the elm is ready, and the 

 sudden swelling of the twigs, away above our 

 heads in March or April, is not caused by 

 the springing leaves, but is the flowering effort 

 of this noble tree. The bloom sets curiously 

 about the yet bare branches, and the little 

 brownish yellow or reddish flowers are seem- 

 ingly only a bunch of stamens. They do 

 their work promptly, and the little flat fruits, 

 or "samaras," are ripened and dropped be- 

 fore most of us realize that the spring is 

 fully upon us. These seeds germinate readily, 

 and I recall the great pleasure with which a 

 noted horticultural professor showed me what 

 he called his " elm lawn," one summer. It 

 seemed that almost every one of the thousands 

 of seeds that, just about the time his prepara- 

 tions for sowing a lawn were completed, had 

 softly fallen from the great elm which guards 

 and shades his door-yard, had found good 

 ground, and the result was a miniature forest 

 of tiny trees, giving an effect of solid green 

 which was truly a tree lawn. 



138 



