Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1903-10-14
PLANTS WITH OILSKlNS.
They Are Protected Equally Against
Damp and Drought.

Gather sycamore buG just before
1t bursts and look at it closely. You
will notice that it is enveloped III
tough scales. There are either twelve
or fourteen of these scales, which
make a close and compile covering
around every single individual bud.
Strip them off, and in the very heart
you come upon two pairs Of what Will
eventually be leaves tightly folded to-
gether.
Some of these sycamore buds are
larger than others. These, on exams.
nation, will be found TO contain
punches of flowers as we'll as leaves.
Sycamores, like all other trees, take
long time to make their buds for
the following season. They begin new
growth, indeed, just as soon as they
have got rid of their old leaves in the
Autumn, and go on quie ly working all
through the Winter. Hard frost would,
of course, kill the buds ut once were
they not protected: while, even II there!
were no frost, the cold rains and fogs
of winter would rob The tender begin
nings of the new leaf. Bud scales,
therefore, are grown by the sycamore
and other trees simply to protect the
buds from frost and damp. They are,
in fact, sort of combination over
coat and macllin, osh. When the leaves
break forth in spring-generally about
the middle of April-the sycamore
buds shed their overcoats, which fall
off, and may be seen -littering the
ground beneath the tree. ;,
Every tree of the kind known as
deciduous-;hat is, the trees which lose
their leaves in winter-acts in much
the same way as the sycamore; but
the form of overcoat is not always the,
same. Beech buds have very tough,
little brown overcoats, fringed with
white, silky hairs. The white willow
and some other trees also have hairy:
or furry coats for their young leaves,
and flower buds. These silky hairs!
entangle air just as animal fur does,l
and so keep t!o buds from the colo;
winds of spring.
All trees do not get rid of their.
bud projections. The hawthorn for
ins. ance, keeps them on all the sum
mer. They open into small green.
leaves, which do not fall until the
other leaves do. 3
,-or,- r.nrof,,1 r11Q nnt
to dispense with their overcoats toe.
soon; but yet they are occasionally
caught mapping. In 1891, for instance.
there was a terribly sharp frost late
in the spring, and the beech leaves
which were almost fully out, were,
caught and nipped. For weeks after.
ward the beech trees had brown and
withered look; but by he end of June;
fresh leaves pushed out from younger,
buds.
Regular oilskins are worn by the:
horse.chestnut. Anyone who has;
handled the bursting leaf buds of sthle,
tree knows how gummy and stiefMA
they are The use of the nm Whie
the coverings ofschestnps buds e2lS
is to protect them from moisture as
we'll as from cold
Later on in the year plants. need pro-
lection against the sun, which would
otherwise take up all the moisture in
their leaves and wilt them. The leaf
of cabbage has mealy look about
it-almost as If it had been busted with
flour. Many grasses have similar
appearance, and so have the leaves of
the Australian gum-tree. All these
leaves, if examined under the miscro.
scope, will be found to be covered with
a bloom consisting of tiny needles of
wax This stuff has been eXuded from
the leafpores in order to save the
water contained.