212 WINTER BUDS 



The Beech is among the finest trees in winter. Its 

 smooth, grey, clean-looking trunk stands out almost 

 as distinct as the Silver-birch, and its sturdy aspect 

 is sustained through a ruggedly symmetrical ex- 

 pansion of grey branches, the entire outline touched 

 with the delicate reddish brown of the finely-encased 

 foliage. The buds are long, smooth, and so finely 

 pointed as to seem like formidable thorns, and 

 throughout the winter there is an earnest of life in 

 their rich, warm tints. Most of the buds are terminal 

 on the small twigs, but occasionally a lateral bud 

 standing out at an abrupt angle gives variety to a 

 graceful spray. These buds contain, carefully folded, 

 the diminutive, downy leaves, ready for the coming 

 season. The lighter markings of their overlapping 

 scales give promise of the familiar elongation of 

 spring, when the life within breaks through the inert 

 covering, and clothes the tree once more in rich waves 

 of green. On the higher branches are some shorter 

 buds, which will open at the same time to shed their 

 fertilising pollen, and still other buds, scarcely 

 distinguishable, till they expand as fertile flowers 

 and yield for the squirrels an ever-abundant feast 

 of Beech nuts. 



The Soft Maple buds are round, and so closely 

 clustered as to be quite conspicuous and suggestive 

 of premature development. But the Maple is one 

 of the trees that can wait. The flower buds will open 

 first and strew the ground with scales, and the male 



