Uncle George and the two boys had been for a long walk. They brought
home a lot of twigs which they had cut from trees at the roadside.
Uncle George placed some of these twigs in bottles filled with water.
These bottles were placed in the window, so that they could get plenty
of sunlight. The rest of the twigs were laid upon the table.
“Now, boys,” said Uncle George, “we are going to find out what buds are.
Here is a twig of the horse-chestnut tree, and here is one of the beech
tree. Do you notice any difference between them?”
“Oh, yes,” said Frank, “they are very different. The beech buds are
longer.”
“Anything else?” his uncle asked.
“The horse-chestnut buds have sticky stuff all over them,” said Tom.
“Quite right,” said Uncle George. “On the beech twig the buds are placed
singly on opposite sides. On the horse-chestnut twig the buds are in
pairs.”
Then Uncle George cut one of the buds through with his knife, and they
saw that a great number of thick scales were folded round a little green
thing in the centre. They saw also a mass of woolly stuff between the
scales and the little green object.
Uncle George gave each of the boys a twig, and showed them how to take
the scales off the top bud with a large needle. The outside scales were
not easily removed. They were so sticky—they stuck to everything that
touched them, and soon the boys’ fingers were covered with the sticky
stuff. As they went on with their work, they found out that the inner
scales were not sticky. At last they got all the scales off, and there
was nothing left but a tiny woolly mass. On teasing out, this woolly
bundle was found to be a little branch bearing small leaves. Every part
of it was covered with wool.
[Illustration: Twigs of Beech and Chestnut, showing Buds.]
“Now,” said Uncle George, “you can perhaps tell me what a bud is.”
“It is just a little baby branch, snugly tucked up in a tiny blanket and
well covered over with many scale-leaves,” said Frank.
“Very good,” said Uncle George. “Now tell me why it is tucked up in this
warm blanket, and perhaps Tom can tell us what the sticky stuff on the
outer scales is for.”
“I am sure I cannot tell,” said Frank.
“Just think,” said his uncle kindly. “Why did you call it a _baby_
branch? Is it because it is so small, or because it is so snugly wrapped
up? Why are babies wrapped up in soft warm clothing?”
“Oh, I know now,” said Frank, “The woolly stuff is to keep out the
winter cold.”
“And the sticky stuff on the outside,” said Tom, “must be for keeping
out the rain.”
“You are both right,” said Uncle George. “Buds are formed in autumn and
early winter. They are, as you have seen, very tender little things.
Frost or wet would kill them. But rolled up in soft woolly clothing,
covered in with many thick scale-leaves, and made quite waterproof by a
thick coat of the sticky stuff, they do not fear the cold.
“If you look at your twigs again, you will find that in taking off the
scales you have left a thick ring of marks right round the twig.
“Now, if you look down the twig, you will notice another ring of such
marks. These are the scale-marks of last year’s bud. The part of the
twig in between these two ring marks is a year’s growth.”
“There is a third ring on mine farther down the stem,” said Frank.
“Yes, and another farther down still,” said Uncle George. “These are the
bud marks of former years. Let us measure the distance between them, for
in this way we can tell the kind of summers we have had in past years.
[Illustration: Hedge and Trees in early Spring]
[Illustration: Plants protected by Thorns and Prickles]
“Last year’s growth, you see, is two inches. The growth of the year
before is three inches, and the one beneath that is four and a half
inches. This tells us that there was very little sunshine during last
summer or the summer before, and that three years ago there was a warm
summer, causing much growth.”
“I see some other strange marks on the twig,” said Tom.
“Oh, you mean the horse-shoe marks. These are the scars left by the big
green leaves which fell off in autumn. You will find one of these
curious horse-shoe marks under each bud.
[Illustration: Hawthorn Twigs.]
“Here is a hawthorn twig. I brought it to let you see another way in
which plants protect their buds. In the hawthorn the buds usually occur
in pairs together. Between each pair of buds there is a long sharp
thorn.
“The reason why every pair of buds is guarded in this way is very clear.
The horse-chestnut and beech have tall, stout stems, which rear up their
branches far out of the reach of grazing animals. The hawthorn is a low
growing tree. Its branches are within easy reach, and its tender buds
would be nipped off by sheep and cattle if it were not for these sharp
thorns.
“The thorns also prevent the buds from being knocked off by anything
rubbing against the hawthorn hedge. You will notice that each thorn is
very much longer than the buds beside it. These thorns can give a very
cruel prick, as every boy knows who has tried to cut a twig from the
hawthorn hedge.
“By and by we shall see that there are many plants which arm themselves
against animals in this way.”
Exercises on Lesson III.
1. Take in twigs with buds on them in December. Place them in water,
and watch them from day to day.
2. Select one bud, and make a drawing of it every third day from the
time it begins to open. Keep your drawings.
3. How are buds protected? (1) from cold; (2) from animals.
4. What causes the “horse-shoe” marks on horse-chestnut twigs?
5. Make a drawing of a small beech twig, showing buds and leaf-scars.