26 TREES 



out the ice crystals. The bark is actually frozen upon a 

 stick of green stove wood . The sap that oozes out of the pith 

 and heart wood was frozen, and dripped not at all until it 

 was brought indoors. 



What is meant by the freezing of fruit buds in winter, by 

 which the peach crop is so often lost in Northern states.? 

 When spring opens, the warmth of the air wakes the sleep- 

 ing buds. It thaws the ice in the intercellular spaces, and 

 the cells are quick to absorb the water they gave up when 

 winter approached. The thawing of the ground surrounds 

 the roots with moisture. Sap rises and flows into the ut- 

 most twig. Warm days in January or February are able 

 to deceive the tree to this extent. The sudden change 

 back to winter again catches them. The plump cells are 

 ruptured and killed by the "frost bite." 



It is a bad plan to plant a tender kind of tree on the south 

 side of a house or a wall. The direct and the reflected 

 warmth of the sun forces its buds out too soon, and the late 

 frosts cut them off. There is rarely a good yield on a tree 

 so situated. 



There is no miracle like " the burst of spring." Who has 

 watched a tree by the window as its twigs began to shine in 

 early March, and the buds to swell and show edges of 

 green as their scales lengthened.? Then the little shoot 

 struggled out, casting off the hindering scales with the 

 scandalous ingratitude characteristic of infancy. Feeble 

 and very appealing are the limp baby leaves on the shoot, 

 as tender and pale green as asparagus tips. But all that 

 store of rich nutritive material is backing the enterprise. 

 The palms are lifted into the air; they broaden and take on 

 the texture of the perfect, mature leaf. Scarcely a day is 

 required to outgrow the hesitation and inexperience of 



