Songs of the Fields 



the end of the porch just above where "mother" 

 ahvays sat with her mending. Heaven is heaven 

 because it will allow me to tell "father" and 

 "mother" these things. 



One of the beautiful trees this man spared for 

 decorative purposes was the buckeye. I wonder 

 if it was so named from the resemblance of the The 

 rich dark-brown nut to the eye of the deer. Tlie Buckeye 

 trees grow more rapidly than some others, flourish- 

 ing on ujjland, slightly sandy soil. The buds are 

 large and open, to display vivid streaks of red 

 and j^ellow in the spring. The colors are very 

 rich. The flower is a long tassel, covered by tiny 

 florets of greenish yellow. The leaves are oblong, 

 deeply veined, and grow in clusters of four to the 

 stem. 



The fruit is a round nut, encased in a puli)y 

 hull, dotted with warts of a bright tan-3'ellow in 

 the fall. The nuts and hulls sometimes drop to- 

 gether, and sometimes the hull opens and the nut 

 falls alone. The nuts are a rich dark-red ma- 

 hogany, and in them lies the one objection to the 

 tree. To some children they are poisonous, and 

 also to grazing stock. Where these dangers can 

 be avoided they are beautiful trees for ornament- 

 ing lawns. 



Of all my country none is so truly mine as the 

 old orchards. On almost every farm of the present 

 day there is a deserted orchard. These trees are 



249 



