Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-01-25
TREES m wmTER.
A Few simple RuIes 1Aat win Als
in Distinguishing the
Varieties.

Those who live constantly among
the trees learn almost unconsciousIy
to recognize them in winter, as in
summer, by their bark and by their
so-called habit-that is, by their gen
eral shape, height, spread and mode
of branching. Yet these do not al
ways suffice for their determination,
and the most observant as well as
the novice may be deceived and mis-
take one kind of tree for another, says
the Old Farmers Almanac. OF some
trees the bark is unmistaka BILE. The
long, untidy strips that hang from the
shagbark, the thick, lozenge-shaped
plates of the white ash. the chall6y
white patches on the trunks of but
tonwoods distinguish these trees at
once from all others.
On the other hand, while four of our
New England birches, the gray, the
canoe, the yellow and the black birch,
each have a strikingly Characteristic
bark, the fifth is called the cherry
birch because it's bark resembles that
Of the cherry. The beech is one Of
the few trees with smooth, unfur-
rowed bark, but this is true also Of the
rarer ironwood and virgilia; and, al
though poplars in general may be rec
Ognized by their peculiar greenish
bark, the different species can hardly
be distinguished from each other.
According to situation and environ
ment, individual trees of the same
species may assume very different hab-
its, while trees of diverse species often
resemble one another in general ap-
pearance. Thus it will be seen that
bark and habit alone are not perfectly
trustworthy guides to Identification.
Leaves, flowers and fruit are our
guides to the study of trees in the sum-
mer. The leahess tree bears equally
in fallible tokens, which once known
render it impossible to mistake It's
identity. These are: 1. Winter buds.
2. Leafscars. 3. General character of
the yearling twig. 4. Color and shape
Of pith.
Winter buds are quite conspicuous
objects on the branchlets during the
winter. They first appeared with the
developing leaves in the preceding
spring, as small excrescences just
above the spot where the leaf-stem
joins the twig. They increase in size
during the summer and attain their
characteristic winter color and APP
pearance by the time the leaves fall.
They consist of few or many papery
or leathern scales that fold over and
protect group of tiny leaves and
sometimes flowers also, which are to
develop into the branch of the COM
ing season. One needs only to com
pare the large, sticky, brown buds of
the horse-chestnuts, the very small,
dry buds of the elm, the long, slender,
spindle-shaped buds of the beech, the
velvety, gray buds of the butternut
and the buds Of the various species of
maple to see how very diverse they
are in appearance and how easy it is
to recognize each one second time.
The buds Of the common locust and
the honey locust are not, however,
to be seen, as they are concealed be-
meath the bark, through which they
push in the warm days of late spring.
Flower buds are usually rounder and
stouter than those which contain only
leaves. Leaf-scars are TO he found be-
low each winter-bud; they mark the
place whence the leaf fell and CORE
spond in shape to the base of the leaf
stem. On them are raised dots, the
broken. ends of woody fibers. Nature
gradually prepares for the fall Of the
leaf, heals the tissues even while it is
breaking of and makes a clean scar.
whereas if a leaf is torn off violently
before its time an ugly wound results.