Chapter XLIV: Part III: Plant Life (14)

It has long been the practice not to depend upon the seeds for reproducing a variety; for, since the bees do such a large work in pollenating the apple flowers, it would be quite difficult to be sure that a seed would not be a result of a cross between two varieties. Therefore, the matter is made certain by the process of grafting or budding. There are several modes of grafting, but perhaps the one in most common use is the cleft-graft. A scion which is a twig bearing several buds, is cut from a tree of the desired variety, and its lower end is cut wedge-shaped. The branch of the tree to be grafted is cut off across and split down through the end to the depth of about two inches; the wedge-shaped end of the scion is pressed into this cleft, so that its bark will come in contact with the inner edge of the bark on one side of the cleft branch. The reason for this is that the growing part of the tree is the cambium layer, which is just inside of the bark, and if the cambium of the scion does not come in contact with the cambium of the branch they will not grow together. After the graft becomes well-established, the other branches of the tree are cut off and the tree produces apples only from that part of it which grows from the graft. After the scion has been set in the stock, all of the wounded parts are covered with grafting wax, which keeps in the moisture and keeps out disease germs.

The T-shaped slit and the bud.

One-half natural size.]

One-half natural size.]

Budding is done on a similar principle, but in a different fashion. A seedling apple tree about a year and a half old has a T-shaped slit cut into its bark; into this suture a bud, cut from a tree of the desired variety is inserted, and is bound in with yarn. The next spring this tree is cut back to just above the place where the bud was set in, and this bud-shoot grows several feet; the next year the tree may be sold to the orchardist. Budding is done on a large scale in the nurseries, for it is by this method that the different varieties are placed on the market.

Most varieties of apple trees should be set forty feet apart each way. It is possible, if done judiciously, to raise some small crops on the land with the young orchard, but care should be taken that they do not rob the trees of their rightful food. The dwarf varieties begin to bear much sooner than the others, but an orchard does not come into full bearing until after it has been planted fifteen or twenty years. The present practice is to prune a tree so that the trunk shall be very short. This makes the picking of the fruit much easier and also exposes the tree less to wind and sun-scald.

There are certain underlying principles of pruning that every child should know: The pruning of the root cuts down the amount of food which the tree is able to get from the soil. The pruning of the top throws the food into the branches which are left and makes them more vigorous. If the buds at the tips of the twigs are pruned off, the food is forced into the side buds and into the fruit, which make greater growth. Thinning the branches allows more light to reach down into the tree, and gives greater vigor to the branches which are left. A limb should be pruned off smoothly where it joins the larger limb, and there should be no stump projecting; the wound should be painted so as not to allow fungus spores to enter.

We should not forget that we have a native apple, which we know as the thornapple. Its low, broad head in winter makes a picturesque point along the fences; its fine, thick spray, spread horizontally, makes a fit framework for the bridal bouquet which will grow upon it in June; and it is scarcely less beautiful in autumn, when covered with the little, red apples called “haws.” Though we may refrain from eating these native apples, which consist of a bit of sweet pulp around large seeds, the codling-moth finds them most acceptable.

LESSON CXCIX

THE APPLE TREE

_Leading thought_--The tree of each variety of apple has its own characteristic shape, although all apple trees belong to one general type. The variety of the apple grown upon the tree is not determined by the kind of seed which is planted to produce the tree, but by the process of grafting or budding the young tree.

_Method_--A visit to a large, well-grown orchard in spring or autumn will aid in making this work interesting. Any apple tree near at hand may be used for the lesson.

_Observations_--1. How tall is the largest apple tree you know? What variety is it? How old is it? How can you distinguish old apple trees from young ones at a glance?

2. Choose a tree for study: How thick is its trunk? What is the shape of its head? Does the trunk divide into large branches or does it extend up through the center of the head?

3. What sort of bark has it? What is the color of the bark?

4. Does the spray stand erect or is it gnarled and querly? Does the spray grow simply at the ends of the branches or along the sides of the branches?

5. Are the leaves borne at the tip of the spray? Are the leaves opposite or alternate? Describe or sketch an apple leaf. Does it have stipules at its base when it first appears?

6. What is the character of apple-tree wood? What is it used for?

7. Did this tree come from a seed borne in an apple of the same variety which it produces? What is the purpose of grafting a tree? What is a scion? How and why do we choose a scion? How do we prepare a branch to receive the scion? If you should place the scion at the center of the branch would it grow? Where must it be placed in order to grow? How do we protect the cut-end of the branch after it is grafted? Why?

8. What is meant by the term “budding?” What is the difference between grafting and budding? Describe the process of budding.

9. Where is budding done on a large scale? How do nurserymen know what special varieties of apples their nursery stock will bear? How old is a tree when it is budded? How old when it is sold to the orchardist?

10. Why should the soil around apple trees be tilled? Is this the practice in the best-paying orchards?

11. What is often used as a cover crop in orchards? When is this planted? For what purpose?

12. How far apart should apple trees be set? How may the land be utilized while the trees are growing? How old must the apple tree be to come into bearing?

13. Is the practice now to allow an apple tree to grow tall? Why is an apple tree with a short trunk better?

14. What does it do to a tree to prune its roots? What does it do to a tree to prune its branches?

15. How does it affect a tree to prune the buds at the tips of the twigs?

16. How does it affect a tree to thin the branches? Describe how a limb should be pruned and how the wound thus made should be treated. Why?

HOW AN APPLE GROWS

_Teacher’s Story_

An apple tree in full blossom is a beautiful sight. If we try to analyze its beauty we find that on the tip of each twig there is a cluster of blossoms, and set around them, as in a conventional bouquet, are the pale, soft, downy leaves. These leaves and blossoms come from the terminal winter buds, which are protected during winter by little scales which are more or less downy. With the bursting of the bud, these scales fall off, each one leaving its mark crosswise on the twig, marking the end of the year’s growth; these little ridges close together and in groups mark the winters which the twig has experienced, and thus reveal its age.

There is a difference in varieties of apples and in the season as to whether the blossoms or the leaves push out first. The white, downy leaves at first have two narrow stipules at the base of their petioles. They are soft, whitish and fuzzy, as are also the flower stem and the calyx, which holds fast in its slender, pointed lobes the globular flower bud. We speak of the lobes of the calyx because they are joined at the base, and are not entirely separate as are sepals. The basal part of the calyx is cup-shaped, and upon its rim are set the large, oval petals, each narrowing to a slender stem at its base. The petals are set between the sepals or lobes of the calyx, the latter appearing as a beautiful, pale green, five-pointed star at the bottom of the flower. The petals are pink on the outside and white on the inside, and are veined from base to edge like a leaf; they are crumpled more than are the cherry petals.

The many pale, greenish white stamens of different lengths and heights stand up like a column at the center of the flower. They are tipped with pale yellow anthers, and are attached to the rim of the calyx-cup. They are really attached in ten different groups but this is not easy to see.

The five pale green styles are very silky and downy and are tipped with green stigmas. The pistils all unite at their bases making a five-lobed, compound ovary. The upper part of this ovary may be seen above the calyx-cup, but the lower portion is grown fast to it and is hidden within it. The calyx-cup is what develops into the pulp of the apple, and each of these pistils becomes one of the five cells in the apple core. If one of the stigmas does not receive pollen, its ovary will develop no seed; this often makes the apple lop-sided. When the petals first fall, the calyx-lobes are spread wide apart; later they close in toward the center, making a tube. To note exactly the time of this change is important; since the time of spraying for the codling moth is before the calyx-lobes close. These lobes may be seen in any ripe apple as five little, wrinkled scales at the blossom end; within them may be seen the dried and wrinkled stamens, and within the circle of stamens, the sere and blackened styles.

Photo by M. V. Slingerland.]

There may be five or six, or even more blossoms developed from one winter bud, and there may be as many leaves encircling them, forming a bouquet at the tip of the twig. However, rarely more than two of these blossoms develop into fruit, and the fruit is much better when only one blossom of the bouquet produces an apple; if a tree bears too many apples it cannot perfect them.

The blossoms and fruit are always at the end of the twigs and spurs of the apple tree, and do not grow along the sides of the branches as do the cherry and the peach. However, there are many buds which produce only leaves; and just at the side and below the spur, where the apple is borne, a bud is developed, which pushes on and continues the growth of the twig, and will in turn be a spur and bear blossoms the following year.

Photo by Verne Morton.]

LESSON CC

HOW AN APPLE GROWS

_Leading thought_--The purpose of the apple blossom is to produce apples which shall contain seeds to grow into more apple trees.

_Method_--This lesson should begin with the apple blossoms in the spring and should continue, with occasional observations, until the apples are well grown. If this is not possible, the blossom may be studied, and directly afterward, the apple may be observed carefully, noting its relation to the blossom.

_The Apple Blossom_

_Observations_--1. How are the apple buds protected in the winter? As the buds open what becomes of the protecting scales? Can you see the scars left by the scales after they have fallen. How does this help us to tell the age of a twig or branch?

2. As the winter buds open, which appear first--the flowers or the leaves? Do they both come from the same bud? Do all the buds produce both flowers and leaves?

3. Study the bud of the apple blossom. Describe its stem; its stipules; its calyx. What is the shape and position of the lobes, or sepals, of the calyx? Why do we usually call them the “lobes of the calyx” instead of sepals?

4. Sketch or describe an open apple blossom. How many petals? What is their shape and arrangement? Can you see the calyx-lobes between the petals as you look down into the blossom? What sort of a figure do they make? Are the petals usually cup-shaped? What is their color outside and inside? Why do the buds seem so pink and the blossoms so white?

5. How many stamens are there? Are they all of the same length? What is the color of the filaments and anthers? On what are they set?

6. How many pistils do you see? How many stigmas are there? Are the ovaries united? Are they attached to the calyx?

7. Describe the young leaves as they appear around the blossoms. What is their color? Have they any stipules? Why do they make the flowers look like a bouquet?

8. After the petals fall, what of the blossom remains? What part develops into the apple? Does this part enclose the ovaries of the pistils? How can you tell in the ripe apple if any stigma failed to receive pollen?

9. What is the position of the calyx-lobes directly after the petals fall? Do they change later? How does this affect spraying for the codling moth?

10. Watch an apple develop; look at it once a week and tell what parts of the blossom remain with the apple.

11. How many blossoms come from one winter bud? How many leaves? Do the blossoms ever appear along the sides of the branches, as in the cherries? How many blossoms from a single bud develop into apples?

12. Since the apple is developed on the tip of the twig how does the twig keep on growing?

13. Compare the apple with the pear, the plum, the cherry and the peach in the following particulars; position on the twigs; number of petals; number and color of stamens; number of pistils; whether the pistils are attached to the calyx-cup at the base.

THE APPLE

_Teacher’s Story_

“_Man fell with apples and with apples rose,
If this be true; for we must deem the mode
In which Sir Isaac Newton could disclose,
Through the then unpaved stars, the turnpike road,
A thing to counterbalance human woes._”
--BYRON.

Apples seem to have played a very important part in human history, and from the first had much effect upon human destiny, judging from the trouble that ensued both to Adam and to Helen of Troy from meddling, even though indirectly, with this much esteemed fruit. It is surely no more than just to humanity--shut out from the Garden of Eden--that the apple should have led Sir Isaac Newton to discover the law which holds us in the universe; and that, in these later centuries, apples have been developed, so beautiful and so luscious as almost to reconcile us to the closing of the gates of Paradise.

While it is true that no two apples were ever exactly alike, any more than any two leaves, yet their shapes are often very characteristic of the varieties. From the big, round Baldwin to the cone-shaped gillyflower, each has its own peculiar form, and also its own colors and markings and its own texture and flavor. Some have tough skins, others bruise readily even with careful handling; but to all kinds, the skin is an armor against those ever-present foes, the fungus spores, myriads of which are floating in the air ready to enter the smallest breach, and by their growth bring about decay. Even the tip of a branch or twig swayed by the wind, may bruise an apple and cause it to rot; windfalls are always bruised and will not keep. Greater care in packing, wrapping, picking and storing, so as to avoid contact with other apples, is a paying investment of labor to the apple grower.

The cavities at the stem and basin-ends of the fruit are also likely to have, in the same variety, a likeness in their depth or shallowness, and thus prove a help in identifying an apple. At the blossom, or basin, end of the fruit may be seen five scales, which are all that remain of the calyx-lobes which enclosed the blossom; and within them are the withered and shrunken stamens and styles.

a, _cavity_; b, _basin_; c, _calyx lobes_; d, _calyx tube with the withered stamens attached_; e, _carpels_; f, _outer core-lines, terminating at a point where stamens are attached_; g, _fibres extending from stem to basin_. _Transverse section of apple showing the five carpels and the ten outer core-lines._ ]

When the fruit is cut, we see that the inner parts differ as much in the different varieties as do the outer parts. Some have large cores, others small. The carpels, or seed-cells, are five in number, and when the fruit is cut across through the center these carpels show as a pretty, five-pointed star; in them the seeds lie, all pointing toward the stem. Some apples have both seeds and carpels smooth and shining, while in others they are tufted with a soft, fuzzy outgrowth. The number of seeds in each cell varies; the usual number is two. In case a carpel is empty, the apple is often lopsided, and this signifies that the stigma of that ovary received no pollen. The apple seed is oval, plump and pointed, with an outer shell, and a delicate inner skin covering the white meat; this separates readily into two parts, between which, at the point, may be seen the germ. The entire core, with the pulp immediately surrounding the seed cells, is marked off from the rest of the pulp by the core-lines, faint in some varieties but distinct in others. In our native crab-apples this separation is so complete that, when the fruit is ripe, the core may be plucked out leaving a globular cavity at the center of the apple.

Extending from the stem to the basin, through the center of the apple, is a bundle of fibers, five in number, each attached to the inner edge of a carpel, or seed-box. Other bundles of fibers pass through the flesh about half way between the core and the skin. Delicate as they are, so that no one observes them in eating the fruit, they show clearly as a second core-line, and each terminates at a point in the calyx-tube where the stamens were attached--as can be easily seen by dissecting an apple. In transverse section, these show as ten faint dots placed opposite each outer point and inner angle of the star at the center formed by the carpels. Sometimes the seed-cells are very close to the stem, and the apple is said to have a sessile core; if at the center of the fruit, it has a medium core; if nearest to the blossom end, it has a distant core. This position of the core marks different varieties.

Apples even of the same variety, differ much in yield and quality according to the soil and climate in which they grow. The snow apple grows best in the St. Lawrence Valley, and New York State is noted for the fine flavor of the Esopus spitzenburg, the northern spy, and the Newtown pippin, all of which originated and grow best within its boundaries. Thus, each locality has its favorite variety.

Too often in passing through the country, we see neglected and unprofitable orchards, with soil untilled, the trees unpruned and scale-infested, yielding scanty fruit, fit only for the cider mill and the vinegar barrel. This kind of orchard must pass away and give place to the new horticulture.

_References_--Popular Apple Growing, Green; The American Apple Orchard, Waugh; The Apple and How to Grow It, Farmers’ Bulletin 113, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

LESSON CCI

THE APPLE

_Leading thought_--The apple is a nutritious fruit, wholesome and easily digested. The varieties of apple differ in shape, size, color, texture and flavor. A perfect apple has no bruise upon it and no worm-holes in it.

_Method_--Typical blossoms of different varieties of apples should be brought into the schoolroom, where the pupils may closely observe and make notes about their appearance. Each pupil should have one or two apples that may be cut in vertical and transverse sections, so that the pulp, core-lines, carpels and seeds may be observed. After this lesson there should be an apple exhibit, and the pupils should be taught how to score the apples according to size, shape, color, flavor and texture.

_Observations_--1. Sketch the shape of your apple. Is it almost spherical, or flattened, or long and egg-shaped, or with unequal tapering sides? How does the shape of the apple help in determining its variety?

2. What is the color of the skin? Is it varied by streaks, freckles or blotches? Has it one blushing cheek the rest being of a different color?

3. Is the stem thick and fleshy, or short and knobby, or slender and woody and long? Does each variety have a characteristic stem?

4. Is the cavity or depression where the stem grew narrow and deep like a tunnel, or shallow like a saucer?

5. Examine the blossom end, or basin. What is its shape? Can you find within it the remnants of the calyx-lobes, the stamens and the pistils of the flower?

6. What is the texture of the skin of the apple? Is it thin, tough, waxy or oily? Has it a bloom that may be rubbed off? From what sort of injury does the skin protect the apple?

_Experiment 1._ Take three apples of equal soundness and peel one of them; place them on a shelf. Place one of the unpeeled apples against the peeled one, and the other a little distance from it. Does the peeled apple begin to rot before the other two? Does the unpeeled apple touching the peeled one begin to decay first at the point of contact?

_Experiment 2._ Take an apple with a smooth, unblemished skin and vaccinate it with some juice from an apple that has begun to decay; perform the operation with a pin or needle, pricking first the unsound fruit and then the sound one; this may be done in patterns around the apple or with the initials of the operator’s name. Where does this apple begin to decay? What should these two experiments teach us as to the care and storage of fruit?

7. Cut an apple through its center from stem to blossom end. Describe the color, texture and taste of the pulp. Is it coarse or fine-grained? Crisp or smooth? Juicy, or dry and mealy? Sweet or sour? Does it exhale a fragrance or have a spicy flavor?

8. Is the flesh immediately surrounding the core separated from the rest of the pulp by a line more or less distinct? This is called the core-line and differs in size and outline in different varieties. Can you find any connection between the stem and blossom ends and the core? Can you see the fibrous threads which connect them?

9. Cut an apple transversely across the middle. In what shape are the seed-cells arranged in the center? Do the carpels, or seed-cells, vary in shape in different varieties? Are they closed, or do they all open into a common cavity? Can you see, between the core-lines and the skin, faint little dots? Count, and tell how they are arranged in relation to the star formed by the core.

10. The stiff, parchment-like walls of the seed-cells are called carpels. How many of these does the apple contain? Do all apples have the same number of carpels? Are the carpels of all varieties smooth and glossy, or velvety? How many seeds do you find in a carpel? Do they lie with the points toward the stem-end or the blossom-end of the apple? Where are they attached to the apple? Describe the apple seed--its outer and inner coat and its “meat.” Can you find the germ within it which will, after the seed is planted, produce another apple tree?

11. Is the core at the center of the apple, or is it nearer to the stem-end or to the blossom-end of the fruit? Are all apples alike in this particular?

12. Describe fully all the varieties of apples which you know, giving the average size, texture and color of the skin, the shape of the cavities at the stem and blossom ends, the color, texture and flavor of the pulp, and the position within the apple of the core.

_Supplementary reading_--Trees in Prose and Poetry, pp. 43–59.

THE PINE

_Teacher’s Story_

None other of our native trees is more beautiful than the pine. In the East, we have the white pine with its fine-tasselled foliage, growing often 150 to 200 feet in height and reaching an age of from two to three hundred years. On the Pacific coast, the splendid sugar pine lifts its straight trunk from two to three hundred feet in height; and although the trunk may be from six to ten feet in diameter yet it looks slender, so tall is the tree. A sugar pine cone on my desk measures 22 inches in length and weighs almost one pound, although it is dried and emptied of seed.

There is something majestic about the pines, which even the most ignorant feel. Their dark foliage outlined against wintry skies appeals to the imagination, and well it may, for it represents an ancient tree-costume. The pines are among the most ancient of trees, and were the contemporaries of those plants which were put to sleep, during the Devonian age, in the coal beds. It is because the pines and the other evergreens belong essentially to earlier ages, when the climate was far different than it is to-day, that they do not shed their leaves like the more recent, deciduous trees. They stand among us, representatives of an ancient race, and wrap their green foliage about them as an Indian sachem does his blanket, in calm disregard of modern fashion of attire.

All cone-bearing trees have typically a central stem from which the branches come off in whorls, but so many things have happened to the old pine trees that the evidence of the whorls is not very plain; the young trees show this method of growth clearly, the white pine having five branches in each whorl. Sometimes pines are seen which have two or three stems near the top; but this is a story of injury to the tree and its later victory.

Photo by Ralph Curtis.]

The very tip of the central stem in the evergreens is called “the leader,” because it leads the growth of the tree upward; it stretches up from the center of the whorl of last year’s young branches, and there at its tip are the buds which produce this year’s branches. There is a little beetle which seems possessed of evil, for it likes best of all to lay its rascally eggs in the very tip of this leader; the grub, after hatching, feeds upon the bud and bores down into the shoot, killing it. Then comes the question of which branch of the upper whorl shall be elected to rise up and take the place of the dead leader; but this is an election which we know less about than we do of those resulting from our blanket ballots. Whether the tree chooses, or whether the branches aspire, we may not know; but we do know that one branch of this upper whorl arises and continues the growth of the tree. Sometimes there are two candidates for this position, and they each make such a good struggle for the place that the tree grows on with two stems instead of one--and sometimes with even three. This evil insect injures the leaders of other conifers also, but these are less likely to allow two competitors to take the place of the dead leader.

The lower branches of many of the pines come off almost at right angles from the bole; the foliage is borne above the branches, which gives the pines a very different appearance from that of other trees. The foliage of most of the pines is dark green, looking almost black in winter; the pitch pine has the foliage yellowish green, and the white pine, bluish green; each species has its own peculiar shade. There is great variation in the color and form of the bark of different species. The white pine has nearly smooth bark on the young trees, but on the older ones it has ridges that are rather broad, flat and scaly, separated by shallow sutures, while the pitch pine has its bark in scales like the covering of a giant alligator.

The foliage of the pine consists of pine needles set in little bundles on raised points which look like little brackets along the twigs. When the pine needles are young, the bundle is enclosed in a sheath making the twig look as if it were covered with pin-feathers. In many of the species this sheath remains, encasing the base of the bundle of needles; but in the white pine it is shed early. The number of leaves in the bundle helps to determine the tree; the white pine has five needles in each bunch, the pitch pine has three, while the Austrian pine has two. There is a great difference in the length and the color of the needles of different species of pine. Those of the white pine are soft, delicate and pliable, and from three to four inches in length; the needles of the pitch pine are stiff and coarse and about the same length; the white pine needles are triangular in section, and are set so as to form distinct tassels, while those of the Austrian pine simply clothe the ends of the twigs. The needles of the pine act like the strings of an aeolian harp; and the wind, in passing through the tree, sets them into vibration, making a sighing sound which seems to the listener like the voice of the tree. Therefore, the pine is the most companionable of all our trees and, to one who observes them closely, each tree has its own tones and whispers a different story.

Photo by G. F. Morgan.]

The appearance of the unripe cone is another convincing evidence that mathematics is the basis of the beautiful. The pattern of the overlapping scales is intricate and yet regular--to appreciate it one needs to try to sketch it. Beneath each scale, when it opens wide, we find nestled at its base two little seeds in twin boxes; each provided with a little wing so that it can sail off with the wind to find a place to grow. The shape of the scales of the cone is another distinguishing character of the pine, and sketching the outside of scales from several different species of pine cones will develop the pupils’ powers of observation; the tip of the scale may be thickened or armed with a spine, and one wonders if these spines are for the purpose of discouraging the squirrels from stealing the green seeds.

The pine cone requires two years for maturing; the pistillate flower from which it is developed is a tiny cone with each scale spread wide and standing upright to catch the pollen for the tiny ovule nestled within it. The pistillate flower of the white pine grows near the tip of the new twig, and is pinkish in color. In the Austrian pine it is the merest pink dot at first, but after a little shows itself to be a true cone with pink-purple scales, which stand up very erect and makes a pretty object when viewed through a lens; each scale is pink at its three-pointed tip, with pink wings just below, the inner portions being pale green. The cone is set just beside the growing tip of the twig, is pointed upward, and its sheath-scales are turned back like chaff around its base.

Photo by Morgan.]

In June when the new shoots of the pine twigs stand up like pale green candles on a Christmas tree, at their bases may be found the staminate catkins set in radiating whorls, making galaxies of golden stars against the dark green background of foliage. In the Austrian pine, one of these pollen catkins may be an inch or two long and a half-inch in width; each little scale of this cone is an anther sac, filled to bursting with yellow pollen. From these starry pollen cones there descends a yellow shower every time a breeze passes; for the pine trees depend upon the wind to sift their pollen dust into the lifted cups of the cone scales, which will close upon the treasure soon. The pollen grains of pine are very beautiful when seen through a microscope; and it seems almost incredible that the masses of yellow dust sifted in showers from the pines when in blossom, should be composed of these beautiful structures. When the pine forests on the shores of the Great Lakes are in bloom, the pollen covers the waves for miles out from the shores.

Photo by G. K. Gilbert. Courtesy of U. S. Geological Survey. ]

If we examine the growing tips of the pine branches, we find the leaves look callow and pin-feathery. The entire leaf is wrapped in a smooth, shining, silken sheath, at the tip of which its green point protrudes. The sheath is tough like parchment and is cylindrical because the pine needles within it are perfectly adjusted one to another in cylindrical form. The sheath is made up of several layers, one over the other, and may be pulled apart. The new leaves are borne on the new, pale green wood.

The uses of pines are many. The lumber of many of the species, especially that of the white pine, is free from knots and is used for almost everything from house-building to masts for ships. In the Southern States, the long-leafed pines are tapped for resin, which is not the sap of the tree, as is generally supposed. Pine sap is like other sap; the resin is a product of certain glands of the tree, and is of great use to it in closing wounds and thus keeping out the spores of destructive fungi. It is this effort of the tree to heal its wounds that makes it pour resin into the cuts made by the turpentine gatherers. This resin is taken to a distillery, where the turpentine is given off as a vapor and condensed in a coiled tube which is kept cold. What is left is known as “rosin.”

This species stands upright normally and is often over one hundred feet high; but on the mountain tops, exposed to wind and snow, its trunk reclines on the ground and its branches look like shrubs, as shown in the foreground. Trees of the same species, wind-beaten but standing are shown in the background.

Photo by G. K. Gilbert. Courtesy of the U. S. Geological Survey. ]

LESSON CCII

THE PINE

_Leading thought_--The pines are among our most ancient trees. Their foliage is evergreen but is shed gradually. The pollen-bearing and the seed-bearing flowers are separate on the tree. The seeds are winged and are developed in cones.

_Method_--At least one pine tree should be studied in the field. Any species will do but the white pine is the most interesting. The Austrian pine which is commonly planted in parks is a good subject. The leaves and cones may be studied in the schoolroom, each pupil having a specimen.

_Observations_--1. What is the general shape of the pine tree? Is there one central stem running straight up through the center of the tree to the top. Do you find any trees where this stem is divided into two or three near the top? Describe how the pine tree grows. What is the “leader?” What happens if the leader is injured? How do the topmost branches of the young pine look? Do they all come off from the same part of the stem? How many are there in a whorl?

2. What color is the bark? Is it ridged or in scales?

3. Do the branches come off the main stem at right angles or do they lift up or droop down? Where is the foliage borne on the branches? What is the color of the foliage? Is the pine foliage ever shed or does the pine leaf, when it comes, stay on as long as the tree lives?

4. Study the pine leaves. Why are they called needles? Note that they grow several together in what we call a bundle. How many in one bundle? Is the bundle enclosed in a little sheath at the base? Are the bundles grouped to make distinct tassels? Study one of the needles. How long is it? Is it straight or curved? Flexible or coarse and stiff? Cut it across and examine it with a lens. What is the outline in cross section? Why does the wind make a moaning sound in the pines?

5. Study a pine cone. Does it grow near the tip of the branch or along the sides? Does it hang down or stand out stiffly? What is its length? Sketch or describe its general shape. Note that it is made up of short, over-lapping scales. What pattern do the scales make as they are set together? Describe or sketch one scale; has it a thickened tip? Is there a spine at the tip of the scale?

6. Where in the cone are the seeds? Describe or sketch a pine seed. How long is its wing? How is it carried and planted? When the cone opens, how are the seeds scattered? What creatures feed upon the pine seed?

7. Study the pine when in blossom, which is likely to occur in June. This time is easily determined because the air around the tree is then filled with the yellow pollen dust. Study the pollen-bearing flower. Is it conelike in form? Does it produce a great deal of pollen? If you have a microscope, look at the pollen through a high objective and describe it. How many of the pollen catkins are clustered together? On what part of the twigs are they borne? Where are the pistillate flowers which are to form the young cones? How large are they and how do they look at the time the pollen is flying? Do they point upward or droop downward? Why? Look beneath the scales of a little cone with a lens and see if you can find the flowers. What carries the pine pollen to the flowers in the cone?

8. Name all the uses for pine lumber that you know. Write an English theme on how turpentine is produced from pines and the effect of this industry upon pine forests. Where does resin appear on the pine? Of what use is it to the tree? Do you think it is pine sap? What is the difference between resin and rosin?

9. How long do the pine trees live? Write a story of all that has happened to your neighborhood since the pine tree which you have been studying was planted.

10. Make the following drawings: A bundle of pine needles showing the sheath and its attachment to the twig; the cone; the cone scale; the seed. Sketch a pine tree.

_Supplementary reading_--Trees in Prose and Poetry, pp. 32, 151, 152; The Spirit of the Pine, Bayard Taylor; To a Pine Tree, Lowell; Nature in Verse, pp. 15, 288.

THE NORWAY SPRUCE

_Teacher’s Story_

The Norway spruce is a native of Europe, and we find it in America the most satisfactory of all spruces for ornamental planting; it lifts its slender cone from almost every park and private estate in our country, and is easily distinguished from all other evergreens by the drooping, pendant habit of its twigs, which seem to hang down from the straight, uplifted branches. We have spruces of our own--the black, the white and the red spruces; and it will add much to the interest of this lesson for the pupils to read in the tree and forestry books concerning these American species. Chewing gum and spruce beer are the products of the black and red spruce of our eastern forests. The Douglas spruce, which is a fir and not a spruce, is also commonly planted as an ornamental tree, but it is only at its best on the Pacific Coast, where it is one of the most magnificent of trees.

Photo by G. F. Morgan.]

The Norway spruce tree is in form a beautiful cone, slanting from its slender tip to the ground, on which its lower drooping branches rest; the upper branches come off at a narrower angle from the sturdy central stem than do the widespreading lower branches. On the older trees, the twigs hang like pendulous fringes from the branches, enabling them to shed the snow more readily--a peculiarity which is of much use to the tree, because it is a native of the snowy northern countries of Europe and also grows successfully in the high altitudes of the Alps and other mountains. If we stroke a spruce branch toward the tip, the hand slides smoothly over it; but brush backward from the tip, and the hand is pricked by hundreds of the sharp, bayonet-pointed leaves; this is another arrangement for letting the snow slide off.

If we examine a twig of the present year’s growth, we can see on every side of its brown stem the pointed leaves, each growing from a short ridge; but the leaves on the lower side stretch out sidewise to get the light, and those above lift up angularly. Perhaps the twig of last year’s growth has shed its leaves which grew on the under side and thus failed to reach the sun. The leaf of the spruce is curved, stiff, four-sided and ends in a sharp point. It is dark yellowish above and lighter beneath and is set stiffly on the twig. The winter buds for next year’s growth may be seen at the tips of the twigs, covered with little, recurved, brown scales quite flowerlike in form. In the balsam fir, which is often planted with the Norway spruce, these buds are varnished.

_A cone of Norway spruce, showing that the spiral of the
scales is in rows of five._

Photo by Cyrus Crosby.]

The cones are borne on the tips of the branches and hang down. In color they are pale, wood-brown; they are from four to six inches long, and are very conspicuous. They are made up of broad scales that are thin toward the notched tips; they are set around the central stem in spirals of five rows. If we follow one spiral around marking it with a winding string, it will prove to be the fifth row above the place where we started. These manifold spirals can be seen sometimes by looking into the tip end of a cone. The cone has much resin on it, and is a very safe box for seeds; but when it begins to open, squirrels impatiently tear it to pieces, harvesting the seeds and leaving a pile of cone-scales beneath the tree to tell of their piracy.

A Norway spruce in blossom is a beautiful sight; the little, wine-red pistillate cones are lifted upwards from the tips of the twigs, while short, terminal branches are laden with the pollen-bearing catkins, which are soft and caterpillarish, growing on soft, white stems from the base of scales which enclosed and protected them during the winter; these catkins are filled with the yellow dust. The young cones continue to stand upright after the scales have closed on the pollen which has been sifted by the wind to the ovules which they guard; and for some time they remain most ornamentally purplish red. Before the cone is heavy enough to bend from its own weight, it turns deliberately around and downward, as if the act were a wilful deed, and then changes its color to green, ripening into brown in the fall.

The Norway spruce grows on the Alps abundantly, and like the youth with the banner, “excelsior” is not only its motto but its scientific name, (_Picea excelsa_). Here it grows to the height of one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet. Its wood is valuable and its pitch is marketed. In this country, it is used chiefly for ornamental planting and for wind-breaks.

LESSON CCIII

THE NORWAY SPRUCE

Photo by Cyrus Crosby.]

_Leading thought_--The Norway spruce is one of the most valuable of the trees which have come to America from Europe. It grows naturally in high places and in northern countries where there is much snow; its drooping twigs cannot hold a great burden of snow, and thus it escapes being crushed.

_Method_--This lesson should begin in the autumn when the cones are ripe. The tree should be observed by all of the pupils, and they should bring in twigs and cones for study in the schoolroom. The lesson should be taken up again in May when the trees are in blossom.

_Observations_--1. What is the general shape of the tree? Do the lower branches come off at the same angle as the upper? If untrimmed, what can you see of the trunk? Do the lower branches rest upon the ground? What advantage would this be to the tree in winter? Do the twigs stand out, or droop from the branches? Of what advantage is this in case of heavy snow? What is the color of the foliage? Where did the Norway spruce come from?

2. What is the color of the twig? How are the leaves set upon it? Are there more leaves on the upper than on the under side of the twigs of this year’s growth? Of last year’s growth? Brush your hand along a branch toward the tip. Do the leaves prick? Brush from the tip backward. Is the result the same? Why is this angle of the leaves to the twig a benefit during snowstorms?

3. Take a single leaf. What is its shape? How many sides has it? Is it soft or stiff? Is it sharp at the tip? Describe the buds which are forming for next year’s growth. Look along the twigs and see if you can discover the scales of the bud which produced last year’s growth?

4. Where are the cones borne? How long does it take a cone to grow? Is it heavy? Is there resin on it? Note that the scales are set in a spiral around the center of the cone. Wind a string around a cone following the same row of scales. How many rows between those marked with a string? Look into the tip of a cone and see the spiral arrangement. Sketch and describe a cone-scale, paying special attention to the shape of the tip. Try to tear a cone apart. Is this easily done? Hang a closed cone in a dry place and note what happens.

5. Describe the seed, its wings and where it is placed at the base of the scale. How many seeds under each scale? When do the cones open of themselves to scatter the seed? Do you observe squirrels tearing these apart to get the seed?

6. The Norway spruce blossoms in May. Find the little flower which will produce the cone, and describe it. What color is it? Is it upright or hanging down? Do the scales turn toward the tip or backward? Why is this? Where are the pollen-catkins borne? How many of them arise from the same place on the twig? Can you see the little scales at the base of each pistillate catkin? What are they? Are they very full of pollen? Do the insects carry the pollen for the Norway spruce, or does the wind sift it over the pistillate blossoms? After the pollen is shed, note if the scales of the young cones close up. How long before the cones begin to droop? Do you think it is their weight which causes them to droop?

7. What use do we make of the Norway spruce? What is it used for in Europe?

* * * * *

“_All outward wisdom yields to that within,
Whereof nor creed nor canon holds the key;
We only feel that we have ever been
And evermore shall be._

_And thus I know, by memories unfurled
In rarer moods, and many a nameless sign,
That once in Time, and somewhere in the world,
I was a towering pine._

_Rooted upon a cape that overhung
The entrance to a mountain gorge; whereon
The wintry shade of a peak was flung,
Long after rise of sun._

_There did I clutch the granite with firm feet,
There shake my boughs above the roaring gulf,
When mountain whirlwinds through the passes beat,
And howled the mountain wolf._

_There did I louder sing than all the floods
Whirled in white foam adown the precipice,
And the sharp sleet that stung the naked woods,
Answer with sullen hiss._

_I held the eagle till the mountain mist
Rolled from the azure paths he came to soar,
And like a hunter, on my gnarled wrist
The dappled falcon bore._”
--From “The Spirit of the Pine,” BAYARD TAYLOR.

_White pine._ _Norway spruce_ _Pitch pine_ _Hemlock_ ]

THE HEMLOCK

_Teacher’s Story_

“_O’er lonely lakes that wild and nameless lie,
Black, shaggy, vast and still as Barca’s sands
A hemlock forest stands. Oh forest like a pall!
Oh hemlock of the wild, Oh brother of my soul
I love thy mantle black, thy shaggy bole,
Thy form grotesque, thy spreading arms of steel._”
--PATTEE.

In its prime, the hemlock is a magnificent tree. It reaches the height of from sixty to one hundred feet, is cone-shaped, its fine, dense foliage and its drooping branches giving to its appearance exquisite delicacy; and I have yet to see elsewhere such graceful tree-spires as are the hemlocks of the Sierras, albeit they have bending tips. However, an old hemlock becomes very ragged and rugged in appearance; and dying, it rears its wind-broken branches against the sky, a gaunt figure of stark loneliness. The hemlock branches are seldom broken by snow; they droop to let the burden slide off. The bark is reddish, or sometimes gray, and is furrowed into wide, scaly ridges. The foliage is a rich dark green, but whitish when seen from below. The leaves of the hemlock are really arranged in a spiral, but this is hard to demonstrate. They look as though they were arranged in double rows along each side of the little twig; but they are not in the same plane and there is usually a row of short leaves on the upper side of the twig. The leaf is blunt at the tip and has a little petiole of its own which distinguishes it from the leaves of any other species of conifer; it is dark, glossy green above, pale green beneath, marked with two white, lengthwise lines. In June, the tip of every twig grows and puts forth new leaves which are greenish yellow in color, making the tree very beautiful and giving it the appearance of blossoming. The leaves are shed during the third year. The hemlock cones are small and are borne on the tips of the twigs. The seeds are borne, two beneath each scale, and they have wings nearly as large as the scale itself. Squirrels are so fond of them that probably but few have an opportunity to try their wings. The cones mature in one year, and usually fall in the spring. The hemlock blossoms in May; the pistillate flowers are very difficult to observe as they are tiny and greenish and are placed at the tip of the twig. The pollen-bearing flowers are little, yellowish balls on delicate, short stems, borne along the sides of the twig.

Hemlock bark is rich in tannin and is used in great quantities for the tanning of leather. The timber, which is coarse-grained, is stiff and is used in framing buildings and for railroad ties; nails and spikes driven into it cling with great tenacity and the wood does not split in nailing. Oil distilled from the leaves of hemlock is used as an antiseptic.