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4/8/32 



the Cottonwood, iir.til the last flower "blooms in June, and seed are on the \7ing. 

 Or maybe you don't have those trees in your -^oods? What trees do you have in 

 your neighborhood? I'll venture to say there are a lot of you who have been 

 enjoying trips through the woods for years, who don't really know the names of 

 all the common kinds of trees. Test yourself on this. 



And while you are getting acquainted with the different trees, you will 

 probably notice that certain trees prefer certain localities. As you know, 

 you find the willow by the stream, the yellow or tulip poplar in the valley, 

 the red oak on higher ground* One kind of tree needs a lot of moisture while 

 another will grow in a drier situation. 



As you have probably noticed certain trees "hobnob" together because 

 they have similar needs in the way of soil, and moisture, and light and the 

 like. You soon learn to group your trees as belonging to certain types. There 

 are certain trees you find associated together on the ridges. Other groups 

 you notice on the slopes. Others you find hobnobbing on bottom-land. Others 

 seem to prefer the swamps. 



That is your favorite woods? Is it the coniferous forest type? If so, 

 what kind of cone-bearing trees do you find in it? Or maybe it is the pure 

 hardwood type. Or maybe a mixed hardwood and conifer typei Did you ever 

 stop to figure why that woods is the kind it is? 



And did you ever "try to figure how some of the trees in the woods got 

 where they are? You know forests have been traveling about long before the 

 famous Birnam wood came to Dunsinane. Some trees travel by windi That is, 

 the seed are scattered by the wind. And you have probably ndticed a good many 

 of those ingenious contrivances -'ith which siome of the seed are equipped for 

 getting about 4 



Some trees travel by animal. For instance, squirrels play an important 

 part in spreading the seed of certain trees. Hickories, walnuts, butternuts, 

 oaks, honeylocust, persimmons, and beeches are among the trees spread by ani- 

 raa.ls. Birds also carry such tree seed as red cedar and cherry from place to 

 place. TThile such trees as cypress, tupelo gum, cottonwood, willo'.vs, marjlcs, 

 and a number of others are spread by water. Sometimes when you see a certain 

 kind of tree growing along a stream or a fence-row it is pretty easy to figure 

 how it got there. 



'Then you go into the cool shade of the woods, note the forest floor 

 too. Note the undergrowth of young trees and shrubs rjid ferns rnd moss, and 

 the litter of fallen lep.ves. Toke your jacldcnife or a stick and dig right 

 down under that cover into the mold of many years of fallen leaves. There you 

 will find the cxisttot to Villon's question "^cre are the sno'.vs of yesteryear?" 



Vfhen r.ain falls or snow melts under the shadow of the forest it sinks 

 into the spongy errth. The forest has sonkcd up the rain and melted snow like 

 a sponge. Find a spring, pjid you will see where the stored water is seeping 

 out to feed the streams. The rainfall and snowfall that has been held back 

 in the hidden reservoir of the forest has been trpjisf ormed into a steady sup- 

 ply of water for the pasture, and the farm, and the mill, and the city. 



