Buds 159 



shrubs are well wrapped up against the cold of 

 the winter and the rotting damp of the late autumn 

 and early spring. Many buds are protected by a 

 waterproof covering made of row within row of 

 horny scales, overlapping one another as shingles 

 do on a roof. 



In some cases these scales are coated on the out- 

 side with a sort of varnish which prevents wet 

 from oozing in between them. When the first 

 warm sunshine of spring has melted the 

 gummy resin which covers the buds of 

 the Balm of Gilead (Balsam poplar), 

 one could find the tree blindfold by its 

 sweet warm fragrance. Even in winter 



Fig.' 40' A tip-end bud of a the big brown buds have 

 horse-chestnut bough. ^j^j^ ^^^^^^ aromatic Smell, 



so that we may make sure of the Balm of Gilead, 

 though it has not a leaf to show. Its buds, like 

 those of the horse-chestnut, are so thickly var- 

 nished that they feel sticky, and they shed water 

 like a rubber overcoat. 



The tip-end buds on the horse-chestnut boughs 

 are natural wonders (Fig. 40). By opening one 

 of them with a knife, we find beneath the coat of 

 varnish and the many layers of scales a complete 

 blossom-bearing branch In miniature. The little 

 leaves, which Lowell compares to baby hands, 

 are covered with mittens of wool to keep out 

 the dampness and the cold, and in their turn they 

 protect the delicate pink spike of flowers. A 



