PLANTING AND CARE OF TREES 27 



cording to the season. Each tree on the trip is first guessed by 

 the student before it is discussed by the instructor. A correct 

 guess counts 1 for such fonns as the Tulip Tree, which is the 

 only one of its genus in the region. Sugar Maple if correctly 

 guessed would score 2, since there are several Maples to be dis- 

 tinguished. The guess, Maple or Red Maple for the Sugar Maple, 

 would score 1, or one-half the value given the full correct name. 

 At the end of the trip the trees are reviewed from the specimens 

 collected and the individual scores of the students calculated and 

 reported. Naturally these scores are not counted at all as marks 

 in making up the class standing, but the scoring game has been 

 found to add a decided zest to the exercises. The report called 

 for consists of a list of the trees studied with a very brief character- 

 ization of the distinguishing features of each. At the beginning of 

 each new trip, the trees of the previous exercises are reviewed from 

 specimens. These frequent reviews are essential. -Occasionally, 

 quizzes consisting in identifying actual specimens on exhibition 

 or the trees themselves are of value. In summer the distinguish- 

 ing characters have been taken from the leaves, in winter from 

 the twigs. The latter from reasons of convenience have been 

 studied largely in the laboratory. 



Ability to distinguish trees from a distance by habit and bark 

 characters has been much more readily acquired by students than 

 was at first thought possible. On account of weather considerations, 

 this work has been carried on chiefly in March and April, before 

 the opening of the buds and while the method of branching in con- 

 sequence is still discernible. The process has been the same as in 

 the field exercises already described, except that the student's guess 

 must be made before coming near enough to see the detailed marks 

 of distinction. A closer approach determines the correctness of 

 his first impression. In review, unfamiliar photographs, respec- 

 tively of the habit and the bark of the tree in question are ex- 

 posed together and slowly carried from one end of a row of stu- 

 dents to the other. This method is in imitation of the car window 

 identification of trees, and it is surprising how readily photographs 

 can be thus recognized when once a familiarity with the distin- 

 guishing habit and bark characters has been acquired. Lantern 

 slides would doubtless be of much service in this connection. 



