THE BEECH. 



327 



ever is necessaiy, in order that it may, at the 

 return of spring, be converted into a leafy shoot. 

 Wrapped up in a mantle of silk and waterproof 

 scales, the tender nursling is protected against 

 wind and rain and cold, and is provided with all 

 that it needs in order to maintain a healthy ex- 

 istence, but not with that, whatever it may be, 

 which could stimulate it to throw off its integu- 

 ments, and come forward into the light of Heaven 

 before the time assigned by its Maker. Ex- 

 amine again the younger trees on the skirts of 

 the grove. They are still clothed vrith the 

 shrivelled foliage of the preceding summer. One 

 would imagine that, exposed to the autumnal 

 blasts as they have been, they would be the first 

 to shed their leaves. But no ! after these had 

 fulfilled their ofiice as living organs, another re- 

 mained to be performed, and they must stay 

 w^here they are until thrust off* in the spring 

 by the expanding buds. We know not what 

 their office is ; perhaps it is to protect the em- 

 bryo leaves of the coming year, while the tree 

 is yet young and tender : but even though we 

 may be wrong in our surmise, the error cannot 

 be an important one, if it has led us to meditate 

 faithfully on the watchful superintendence which 

 God exercises over all the works of His creation. 



We may often see, on the bole of a Beech, 

 scattered excrescences called knurs," varying 

 in size from a pea to a large marble. They 

 may be separated from the tree by a smart blow 

 with a stick, and are found to be composed of 

 a solid ball of wood, surrounded by a layer of 

 bark like that of the rest of the tree. The woody 

 part is completely imbedded in bark, from which 



