GETTING AC^AINTED WITH THE TREES 



a loose-barked whistle stick, about as good as 

 those that come from the willow? The gen- 

 erous growth that provides its loosening sap 

 can also spare a few twigs for the boys, and 

 they will be all the better for a melodious 

 reason for the spring ramble. 



The striped maple of Pennsylvania, a com- 

 paratively rare and entirely curious small tree 

 or large shrub, is not well known, though 

 growing freely as "elkwood" and "moose- 

 wood" in the Alleghanies, because it is rather 

 hard to transplant, and thus ofifers no induce- 

 ments to the nurserymen. These good people, 

 like the rest of us, move along the lines of 

 least resistance, wherefore many a fine tree or 

 fruit is rare to us, because shy or difficult of 

 growth, or perhaps unsymmetrical. The fine 

 Rhode Island Greening apple is unpopular 

 because the young tree is crooked, while the 

 leather-skinned and punk -fleshed Ben Davis 

 is a model of symmetry and rapidity of growth. 

 Our glorious tulip tree of the woods, because 

 of its relative difficulty in transplanting, has had 

 to be insisted upon from the nurserymen by 

 those who know its superb beauty. For the 



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