THE HORSE-CHESTNUT. 355 
times of sixty feet, its charm is found, as we have 
said, in leaf and flower; and let us add, in its 
beautiful form, when in its wintry undress. In 
winter indeed, it derives. additional beauty from 
the fact that its buds, formed when the previous 
summer foliage has begun to wane, have become 
expanded at the top of every twig, ready to burst 
on the first touch of spring. A remarkable and 
deeply interesting discovery was made by a Ger- 
man naturalist who once, in midwinter, dissected 
a bud of the Horse-Chestnut. The bud was not 
greater than the size of a pea. The brown gummy 
covering—which will be always noticed on the 
buds of this Tree in winter, and which furnishes 
protection against our frosts to the tender enfolded 
leaf—consisted, it was discovered, of not less than 
seventeen scales wrapped one upon the other and 
cemented together. Underneath this elaborate 
system of envelopes were the microscopic forms, 
nursed under a soft downy covering, of four leaves, 
in the centre of which was the incipient flower 
spike. Bringing a great magnifying power to bear 
upon these tiny bud contents, it was discovered 
that sixty-eight flowers could be counted, nuts, 
