Buds 163 



There is some plant food stored in the wood of 

 the branches, most of it in the form of tiny starch 

 grains. The leaves and flowers keep on growing 

 until this is used up, and then they begin to wither. 



If a broken branch is taken into the warm, 

 moist air of a greenhouse it will live longer and 

 bud forth more freely than it would in the drier 

 atijiosphere of a house. The dampness in the 

 air about it seems to make up in a measure for the 

 lack of what its roots, if it had any, would supply. 

 In early spring, florists' windows are gay with 

 long sprays of garden shrubs in flower. These 

 have bloomed in the greenhouses, stuck in pots of 

 moist earth. The flowers are smaller and paler 

 than those which grow in their proper season 

 out in the gardens ; but here they are — three 

 months ahead of time ! 



At home, or in the schoolroom, branches will 

 not do such great things for one. They may live 

 only long enough to get their bud wrappings 

 loosened and let us see how the little leaves have 

 been folded and protected. But that, after all, 

 is what we want. 



