68 NATURE TEACHING 



is the time when the stipules are of use, as then they are 

 large in comparison with the young leaves and serve to 

 cover and protect them. 



We have so far confined our attention to the buds 

 found during the warm season of the year, when the 

 plants are actively growing, and all that is necessary is 

 to protect the delicate young leaves from the wind and 

 sun, and possibly from cold during the night. In some 

 parts of the world it is "always summer," the plants 

 there are almost continually growing, and we find buds 

 of this nature the whole year through. In Great Britain 

 and other temperate countries, the conditions are very 

 different, and summer and winter follow each other 

 regularly. We are all familiar with the sight of trees 

 and other plants growing through the summer, ceasing 

 to grow in the autumn, and as soon as the weather begins 

 to turn cold dropping their leaves and becoming quite 

 bare. In this condition they remain during the winter, 

 to all appearance dead, but they are only resting, and as 

 soon as the weather turns warm again young leaves 

 reappear and the plants once more enter on their 

 growing stage. The bursting into leaf of trees and 

 shrubs is one of the most constant features of the spring 

 in temperate climates. 



If we examine trees for instance, a horse chestnut 

 during the winter we find no leaves, but a number of 

 large brown bodies the buds covered with more or less 

 sticky scales. One of these buds carefully pulled to 

 pieces will be found to be covered on the outside by a 

 series of overlapping brown scales, and to contain inside 

 a number of small green leaves well wrapped up in what 



