The Spanish Oak. 

 these will be found from southern new jersey to florida and through the middle and gulf states. 



TREE FRUITS AND FLOWERS 



By Warren H. Miller, M. F. 



1 COUNT it as one of the privileges of 

 my life in the forest of Interlaken 

 to have the joy of witnessing, each 

 year, the grand process of the forest 

 regeneration. For, there is something 

 majestic, imperial, in the onward sweep 

 of a whole forest of trees, from the first 

 leaf buds of April, through the beauteous 

 flowering period of May and June, 

 through the full glory of ripening in 

 July and August, to the gorgeous days 

 of October when the ripe harvest falls 

 in countless millions of nuts and seeds, 

 Nature's one and eternal answer to the 

 problem of the world's continuance. 

 It is all on so grand a scale ; comparable 

 only to the mighty march of the con- 

 stellations overhead, and, to live in it, 

 and be in it and of it, is one of the de- 

 lights of a forest dweller. 



For they are all about me, thirty- 

 seven species of American native trees, 

 in countless individuals of their kind, 

 and, each year, with the coming of the 



first bluebirds and robins, I look for 

 those red splotches in the forest that 

 tell of the blossoms of the red maple, 

 filling every vagrant zephyr of the 

 spring air with their heavenly perfume; 

 I look for the stream banks, yellow with 

 the catkins of the black willows; the 

 moist ravines white with the tender 

 flowerets of the shad-bush, and, once 

 in a while I encounter the pale maroon 

 blooms of the burning bush and the 

 Judas tree telling of a thicket containing 

 these trees. 



Then comes the great Twelfth of May, 

 when the leaves are fully one, and with 

 them the flowerets of the oaks, ashes, 

 hickories, walnuts and gums, while the 

 pink and white blossoms of the wild crab, 

 wild plum, and cherry make every 

 brook-side a flower paradise; and then, 

 crowning glory of May, all through the 

 forest the huge white bouquets of the 

 flowering dogwood give to sweet Nature 

 her ample bridal veil. 



617 



