NATURE WITH CLOSED DOORS 



known to me might the swelUng bud push off the old 

 leaf. In the sumach and button-ball or plane-tree 

 the new bud is formed immediately under the base 

 of the old leaf-stalk, by which it is covered hke a 

 cap. Examine the fallen leaves of these trees, and 

 you will see the cavity in the base of each where the 

 new bud was cradled. Why the beech, the oak, and 

 the hickory cUng to their old leaves is not clear. It 

 may be simply a slovenly trait — inability to finish 

 and have done with a thing — a fault of so many 

 people. Some oaks and beeches appear to lack 

 decision of character. It requires strength and vital- 

 ity, it seems, simply to let go. Kill a tree suddenly, 

 and the leaves wither upon the branches. How 

 neatly and thoroughly the maples, the ashes, the 

 birches, the elm clean up. They are tidy, energetic 

 trees, and can turn over a new leaf without hesitation. 

 A correspondent, writing to me from one of the 

 colleges, suggests that our spring really begins in 

 December, because the "annual cycle of vegetable 

 life" seems to start then. At this time he finds that 

 many of our wild flowers — the bloodroot, hepatica, 

 columbine, shinleaf, maidenhair fern, etc. — have 

 all made quite a start toward the next season's 

 growth, in some cases the new shoot being an inch 

 high. But the real start of the next season's vege- 

 table hfe in this sense is long before December. It 

 is in late summer, when the new buds are formed 

 on the trees. Nature looks ahead, and makes ready 

 51 



