82 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



especially the buds of the ash, alder, and, above all, 

 the poplar, which when pressed between the fingers 

 emit an abundant yellow glue, of bitter taste. This 

 substance is diligently gathered by the bees, which 

 use it to make their bee-glue, that is to say the ce- 

 ment with which they stop the fissures and rough- 

 coat the walls of their hive before constructing the 

 combs. Under its modest appearance the bud is a 

 veritable masterpiece: its varnish excludes damp- 

 ness ; its scales protect it from harmful atmospheric 

 influences; its lining of flock, wadding, downy red 

 hair, keeps out the cold. 



"The scales form the most important part of the 

 bud's winter clothing. They are nothing more nor 

 less than tiny leaves hardened and toughened, in 

 short so modified as to serve the purpose of pro- 

 tection. The leaves immediately under them and 

 constituting the heart of the bud have the usual 

 form. They are all small, pale, delicate, and ar- 

 ranged in a marvelously methodical manner so as to 

 take up the least possible room and at the same -time 

 to be contained, all of them, despite their consid- 

 erable number, within the narrow limits of their 

 cradle. It is surprising what a quantity of material 

 a bud can make room for under its sheath of scales 

 in a space so small that we should find it difficult to 

 pack away there a single hemp-seed ; and yet it holds 

 leaves by the dozen or a whole bunch of flowers. 

 The bunch enclosed in a lilac bud numbers a hundred 

 and more blossoms. And all this is contained in 

 that narrow cell, with no tearing or bruising of any 



