536 NATURE STUDY. 



maple) ; in the horse-chestnut the form usually somewhat 

 egg-shaped, with the branching varying greatly. The lilac 

 seems to have no definite form and no plan of branching. 



Going nearer to the tree, observe the bark, its color on 

 trunk, branches, and twigs (silvery gray or ash-colored, 

 dark or slate-colored, brown, green, etc.) ; its smoothness 

 or roughness, and the way in which it cracks or splits 

 (finely or coarsely, vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, 

 with the pieces between the cracks remaining flat or curl- 

 ing at the sides or ends) ; and the similarities or differences 

 between bark on trunk, on branches, and on twigs. - 



Note also characteristics of buds, position (at end of 

 branches or on side) ; arrangement (in pairs called oppo- 

 site, or one at a place called alternate) ; size and shape 

 (large, small, fleshy, slender, round, flat) ; color and cover- 

 ing, if at all marked or characteristic. 



Adapting work to children. No primary teacher will ask 

 or expect her pupils to observe or remember all these fea- 

 tures about any one tree. She will select and impress those 

 most characteristic, the number noted largely depending 

 on the age of the children. The little folks in the first 

 grade can learn to recognize the elm tree in the winter 

 state by its vase or umbrella shape, its branches corre- 

 sponding to the ribs of the umbrella, and by the amount of 

 fine, drooping spray. The horse-chestnut they can tell by 

 its thick branches and very large sticky brown buds on the 

 ends of the twigs. Even the little kindergarten children 

 can tell evergreens by their color, their conical shape, and 

 their trunk extending to the top of the tree, and can distin- 

 guish the pine by its long needles, two or three or five to- 

 gether, and the hemlock by its short, flat leaves, silvery 

 beneath. These same little folks may observe other fea- 

 tures of the same trees later in the spring, one or two at a 



