34 Our Field and Forest Trees 



scales which protect the willow buds leave scarcely 

 a trace behind them. But if we look at the apple 

 branches, we cannot fail to find bud-scale marks 

 of vanished springs. Maple boughs, too, show 

 their age plainly, and horse-chestnuts are the best 

 record-keepers of all. 



The space between two rings of scars is always 

 the growth of one summer, but these spaces vary 

 greatly in length, even on the same branch. 



One season, perhaps, plentiful showers alter- 

 nated with hot sunshine, and the young spray, 

 just out of the bud, stretched itself vigorously. In 

 the following year, May and June may have been 

 unseasonably cold, or unusually dry, so that tender 

 branches could make but little growth. 



The orchard boughs made plenty of new wood 

 one comfortable season, when the farmer gave 

 the trees extra care and dug in plenty of ferti- 

 lizer about their roots. But the next year found 

 the farmhouse deserted and the orchard left to its 

 fate. That summer very little new wood was 

 added to the branches. 



We can read the history of the apple tree be- 

 tween the lines left by its bud scales — can guess 

 out its good and evil fortunes. Its hungry and Its 

 prosperous years. 



Even on the same tree and In the same season 

 some branches make much more new wood than 

 others do. Those which grow the most are prob- 

 ably those which receive most air and light, for 



