THE OAKS 47 



the loss by sending up sprouts around the stump. The 

 mouldering pile nourishes a circle of young trees, full of 

 vigor, because they have the large tree's roots gathering 

 food for them. No wonder their growth is rapid. 



Besides this mode of reproduction, chestnut trees, grow- 

 ing here and there throughout a mixed forest, are the off- 

 spring of trees whose nuts were put away, or dropped and 

 lost by squirrels. When spring reheves the danger of 

 famine, many of the rodent class abandon their winter 

 stores before they are all devoured. Such caches add 

 many nut trees to our native woods. 



THE OAKS 



This is the great family of the cup-bearers, whose fruit, 

 the acorn, is borne in a scaly cup that never breaks into 

 quarters, as does the husk that holds a chestnut, beechnut, 

 or hickory nut. All oak trees bear acorns as soon as they 

 come to fruiting age. This is the sign by which they are 

 known the world over. Seldom is a full-grown oak without 

 its little insignia, for the cups cling after the nut falls, and 

 one grand division of the family requires two seasons to 

 mature its fruit. For this reason, half-grown acorns are 

 seen on the twigs after the ripe ones fall. 



We cannot say of oak trees that they all have sturdy 

 trunks, rough bark, and gnarled limbs, for not all of them 

 have these characteristics. But there is a certain likeness 

 in oak leaves. They are simple, five-ranked, generally 

 oval, and the margins are generally cut into lobes by deep 

 or shallow bays. INIost oak leaves have leathery texture, 

 strong veins, and short petioles. They are leaves that out- 



