72 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



The trees have not changed, but our relations with them have 

 become remote. Let us renew acquaintance with a few at 

 least of those that are native to our soil. Let us go out and 

 stand among them, and feel, as our ancestors felt, their vigor, 

 their majestic stature and their venerable age. To the 

 ancients they stood as symbols of strength, of longevity, and 

 of peace. Our poets love to celebrate the grace of the birch, 

 the beauty of the beech, the lofty bearing of the pine and the 

 rugged strength of the oak. 



In winter, when the boughs are bare and stand out sharply 

 against the background of the sky, the structural character- 

 istics that best distin- 



/\VA. \\\\ /? guish tree species are 



' ! ' most readily seen. The 



forking and the taper 

 and the grouping of the 

 branches, the size and 

 stoutness and position 

 of the twigs, that are 

 obscured by summer 

 foliage, are now evident. By noting such characters as these 

 we may learn to recognize the trees. The woodsman, who 

 learns them unconsciously, knows them as wholes, and 

 knows them without analysis by the complex of characters 

 they present. But most of us will have to make their 

 acquaintance by careful comparison of their characters 

 separately. A few suggestions to that end here follow. 



There are a few deciduous trees that are instantly recogniz- 

 able in winter by their color. Such are the white birch and 

 the sycamore. The former is pure white on the trunk and 

 larger branches : the latter is flecked with greenish white on 

 the boughs, where the outer bark is shed in patches. The 

 light satiny gray of the smooth beech trunks, and the mat 

 gray of the rough white oak trunks, also help, although less' 



Pig. 40. Diagram illustrating the characteristics 

 of form in some common trees: a, Lombardy 

 poplar; b, white birch; c, sugar maple; d, 

 apple; e, American elm. 



