THE OPENING OF WINTER BUDS. 



In our cold temperate zone spring 

 means chiefly the changing of the trees 

 from their naked winter condition to the 

 beautiful green leafy appearance of early 

 summer. When stripped of their foliage, 

 trees present to the observant eye a great 

 variety of form. The tall, slender poplar 

 can easily be distinguished from the 

 spreading elm as far as it is seen ; as, also, 

 can the rough-barked hickory, with its 

 clinging strips of bark, from the smooth 

 beech. 



Usually, the opening of buds seems to 

 take place almost in a single night, but 

 they really open very gradually. Now, 

 thes-e buds are all form^ed the summer be- 

 fore, but they are so small that they are 

 scarcely noticed in the midst of the many 

 leaves. In the winter, however, they are 

 readily seen ; and, then, when the first 

 warm rains fall in the spring they start to 

 swell, and gradually grow larger until, 

 suddenly, they burst through their snug 

 winter coats, and show the tiny, green 

 leaves that have been concealed in the 

 thick, dark, outer covering. 



The buckeye bud is one of the largest 

 of the winter buds. It is covered with 

 small, pointed, brown scales, which over- 

 lap each other, thus keeping the cold 

 from the more delicate parts within. Un- 

 derneath these hard outer scales are thin- 

 ner, half-transparent ones. Their color 

 is a delicate pink, and fine veins line them, 

 Snugly wrapped inside these dainty coats 

 are tiny woolly objects, andwhen the wool 

 is removed they are found to be miniature 

 leaves folded together so compactly that 

 they occupy very little room. If the bud 

 has grown on the end of the twig a very 

 .small flower l)ud will be enclosed within 

 the leaves ; but if it has grown on the side 

 there will be no flower bud. Since these 

 leaves and flowers have all been formed 

 the summer before, it is easy to under- 

 stand that a few warm days will cause 

 them to grow so that they soon become 



too large for their winter covering, and 

 suddenly burst it open. 



The trees are forced into a period of 

 inactivity by the cold, so, if a twig is 

 broken ofif, and placed in moderately 

 warm water, in a warm, light place, the 

 buds on it will open just as they do in the 

 spring and their development may be 

 easily watched. 



Often a tree will have a countless num- 

 ber of buds ; and since growing buds need 

 much light and nourishment only the 

 stronger ones will grow, the weaker ones 

 remaining in a resting state. These rest- 

 ing buds are called dormant buds, the 

 word dormant coming from the Latin 

 word ''dormio," which means "to sleep." 

 The buds often continue in this dormant 

 state for several years, becoming weaker 

 and weaker all the time, until finahy they 

 die. If, however, the stronger buds are 

 killed at any time, as by a late frost, the 

 dormant ones suddenly become active, 

 and grow to take the place of the ones 

 that were destroyed. This shows us how 

 cleverly trees provide substitutes for 

 cases of emergency. These dormant 

 buds then might even be compared to the 

 understudies of the stage. 



The regular places for buds to grow 

 are in the axes of the leaves or on the 

 end of the twigs. Buds, however, can be 

 made to grow on unusual places. If the 

 tops of the tree are cut ofT. as we often see 

 them in the maple, buds will grow on the 

 trunks. Then, if trees are cut down or 

 blown over, buds will grow on the 

 stumps or from the roots. 



Thus, we can see by watching the for- 

 mation and development of buds, and the 

 growth of branches, that trees follow cer- 

 tain fixed laws of nature, modifying these 

 laws only on account of some peculiar ex- 

 ternal conditions as, for example, nour- 

 ishment, light, heat or moisture. 



Roberta Irvine Brotherson. 



220 



