tliis lobing or notching- of the leaf. I think it will help yon to remem- 

 ber the things we have been talking about if yon will place an oak leaf 

 on a sheet of paper and with a sharp pencil draw its outline. When 

 this is done fill in the mid-veins and the veinlets. See how many 

 different kinds of oak leaves you can find in the w^oods about the 

 school house or your home. 



Did you ever see the flower of an oak tree? Watch this spring, and 

 almost at the same time the leaves begin to unfold you will see long, 

 slender spikes hanging down from various parts of the branches. 

 These spikes are yellowish or greenish in color, and if you examine 

 them closely you will find they are made up of a large number of 

 flowers. Of coiirse, the flowers of the oak tree do not look very much 

 like those of the roses or pinks, but still they are flowers. At what 

 date do the leaves of the oaks open? At what date do the flowers ap- 

 pear? Docs the time of leafing and flowering differ in the different 

 kinds of oaks? You may think I am asking you a great many ques- 

 tions, but the questions I have asked can be easily answered if you 

 keep your eyes open. 



Of coiirse, you know that the fruit the oak tree bears is called an 

 acorn. Xow there are as many different kinds of acorns as there are 

 different kinds of oak trees, and, if possible, you should find the 

 acorn of every kind of oak tree you study. If this leaflet should come 

 to you in the fall of the year, gather as many different kinds of acorns 

 as you can and plant them in boxes or pots, so that 3'ou may see what 

 young oak trees are like. If the leaflet comes to you in the spring, 

 look carefull}^ under the oak trees and see if you can flnd any of these 

 seedlings, as they are called. Are their leaves like those of the full- 

 grown tree ? I am not going to saj^ anything about acorns, because the 

 next leaflet I write is going to be about "forest fruits,"' but before 

 that comes to you I want you to know all you can about the different 

 kinds of oak trees that grow in your neighborhood, and the kind of 

 acorns that they bear. 



I have talked a good deal about oaks for two reasons. The first is 

 that, having taken so much time on one kind of trees, the others can 

 be studied much more easily. The second is, that we have more dif- 

 ferent kinds of oaks than any other tree, and that they are perhaps the 

 most vahtable timber that now remains in our State in any great 

 abundance. There are seventeen different kinds of oaks in Indiana. 

 Almost all of them are of large size, and almost all of them are exten- 

 sively used in manufacture. The wood is very firm and strong and is 

 used for a great variety of purposes. See if you can find how oak wood 



