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the cold. That they may better do this^ the pemles in the 
Balm of Gilead^ and in many other plants, are coated with a 
thick^ clammy, resinous substance, which may be scraped off 
with the nail, and which in this species has a fragrant 
smell. It seems probable that the hive-bee collects the 
substance called propolis, with which it stops the fissures 
and crevices of the hive, partly from the resinous perules of 
plants. Let us examine a bud from this Balm of Gilead ; 
as the terminal ones open some time before the lateral ones, 
we shall find some unopened. 
C — Here is one. 
F, — These two dark -brown convex scales are the perules ; 
they are thick and tough ; within them are two more, much 
thinner and paler, but still more coriaceous than the young 
leaves. Here are the leaves : how soft and small they are ! 
they appear, however, much smaller than they are, for they 
are so folded up as to occupy the smallest possible space. 
C. — I will try to unfold one, though it seems a very 
delicate operation. Are all young leaves folded up in the 
bud in this manner ? 
jP. — I believe all are folded, but not all in the same 
manner. It is found that the young leaves are constantly 
folded up in the bud in the same way in the same species of 
plants, but there are many different modes of this arrange- 
ment ; this is termed the vernation or foliation of the plant/' 
The Balm of Gilead opens its buds at about the same time 
as the other poplars. 
C. — I noticed a few days ago that solitary bush in the 
corner of the upper field beginning to unfold its leaves. 
jP. — It is a specimen of the native Thorn ( Cratcegus 
Coccinea J ; the leaves are shaped almost exactly like those of 
our English hawthorn, but the berries are much larger. This 
is not a very common plant here, though I know of several 
large shrubs within the compass of a mile ; but near Quebec 
