GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE TREES 



has many splendid live-oaks in its parks and 

 squares, involved me in a sudden shower, when, 

 presto ! the weeping willow of the North was 

 reincarnated before my eyes, for the falling rain 

 turned the dingy moss pendants of the live- 

 oak to the whitish green that makes the willow 

 such a delightful color-note in early spring. 

 I have been thankful often for that shower, 

 for it gave a better feeling about the live-oak, 

 and made me admire the weeping willow. 



The live-oak, by the way, has a leaf very 

 little like the typical oak — it is elliptical in 

 shape and smooth in outline. The curious 

 parasitic moss that so frequently covers the 

 tree obscures the really handsome foliage. 



The English Oak, grand tree that it is, 

 grows well in America, as everything English 

 should by right, and there are fine trees of 

 this ^ercus Robur on Long Island. The acorns 

 are of unusual elegance, as the photograph 

 which shows them will prove. 



The red oak, the black oak, the scarlet oak, 

 all splendid forest trees of the Northeast, are 

 in the group of confusion that can be readily 

 separated only by the timber-cruiser, who knows 



46 



