THE BEECH 155 



polished branches and brown satiny lanee- 

 shaped buds. 



How carefully Nature protects the tiny beech 

 leaves ! Each little bud is wrapped and coun- 

 ter-wrapped with dark-brown scales. If we 

 examine one carefully we find that usually no 

 less than sixteen scales surround the base of 

 each one. Inside these are longer scales, pro- 

 tected by soft, silky hairs. All these are but 

 the outside guards of the treasure. One must 

 displace eight of them before the first tiny leaf 

 is uncovered. It is delicately plaited together 

 under the shelter of its own specially detailed 

 guardian scale, and clothed with dense silky 

 hairs. A minute section of stem separates it 

 from its alternate neighbor — another leaf, care- 

 fully guarded and protected in the same fash- 

 ion as itself. From five to nine leaves make up 

 a bud, and the whole is a fair sample of Na- 

 ture's packing. The little leaves are creased 

 and folded palm-fashion, with the parallel veins 

 crowded close on the lower side. A comb of 

 silky hairs edges each fold above, and each rib 

 below. These combs overlap one another, fur- 

 nishing protection alike from heat and cold and 

 giving the unfolding leaf -babies a silvery look. 

 As soon as the little leaf walls get acclimated 

 and begin to thicken, the hairs shrivel and drop 



