160 Our Field and Forest Trees 



German naturalist once counted sixty-eight flowers 

 on one of these spikes in the bud ! 



Many winter buds are provided, like those of 

 the horse-chestnut, with warm inner coverings, of 

 down or wool. This fleece may line the bud scales 

 or clothe them (slippery elm), or fringe them 

 (beech). 



Often the little leaves wear their winter cloth- 

 ing, instead of having it wrapped like a blanket 

 about them. When the young leaves of the white 

 poplar, or abele, make their first appearance in 

 spring they are covered all over with silky snow- 

 white down, as if they feared the cold. In sum- 

 mer the same down covers the tender tips of the 

 growing sprays and whitens the under surfaces of 

 the older leaves, and so the tree gets the name 

 " abele," from a Dutch word meaning hoary. It 

 has accompanied the tree westward to England, 

 and then to the States. The leaves of the moun- 

 tain ash and those of the black oak come out into 

 the spring world as downy as chickens which have 

 just chipped the shell. 



The leaf-buds of the beech are fitted out for 

 winters in the north woods. We can easily recog- 

 nize a beech tree even when autumn gales have 

 stripped it bare — Its light gray bark Is very 

 smooth, but with a dull surface like that of an 

 undressed kid glove. The buds, bright brown, 

 contrast prettily with the silver-colored bark, and 

 each tapers to a point like a well-sharpened pencil. 



