THE OCCIDENTAL PLANE. 



289 



this rule ; for if the tree be examined while in full foliage, 

 not a single hud can he detected. On a closer inspection, 

 however, it will he ohserved, that the leaf-stalk is much 

 swollen at the hase, being there as thick as the twig which 

 supports it. Carefully detach it, and it will be found to 

 be hollow, and to inclose a green bud, which remains 

 behind after the leaf has been removed. The use of the 



LEAF-STALK OF OCCIDENTAL PLANE. 



hollow stem is to shelter the young bud during the colds 

 of autumn. But when the leaf has fallen off, the bud is 

 not left without protection, for it is enveloped in a tough 

 case lined with a kind of resin, which is impenetrable to 

 wet ; within this is a similar case lined externally with 

 the same coating ; next come a number of scales covered 

 



