60 TREES 



long, flexible stems. Above the drifts of the first snowfall, 

 the brilliance of the scarlet foliage makes a picture long to 

 be remembered against the blue of a clear autumnal sky. 

 The largest trees of this species grow in the fertile up- 

 lands in the Ohio Valley. But the most brilliant hues are 

 seen in trees of smaller size, that grow in New England 

 woods. In the comparatively dull-hued autumn woods of 

 Iowa and Nebraska the scarlet oak is the most vivid and 

 most admired tree. 



The Pin Oak 



Q. palustris, Linn. 



The pin oak earns its name by the sharp, short, spur- 

 like twigs that cluster on the branches, crowding each 

 other to death and then persisting to give the tree a bristly 

 appearance. The tree in winter bears small resemblance 

 to other oaks. The trunk is slender, the shaft carried up 

 to the top, as straight as a pine's. The branches are very 

 numerous and regular, striking out at right angles from the 

 stem, the lower tier shorter than those directly above 

 them, and drooping often to the ground. 



On the winter twigs, among the characteristic "pins," 

 are the half-grown acorns that proclaim the tree an oak 

 beyond a doubt, and a black oak, requiring a second sum- 

 mer for the maturing of its fruit. It is likely that there 

 will be found on older twigs a few of the full-grown acorns, 

 or perhaps only the trim, shallow saucers from which the 

 shiny, striped, brown acorns have fallen. Hunt among the 

 dead leaves and these little acorns will be discovered for, 

 though pretty to look at, they are bitter and squirrels leave 

 them where they fall. 



