Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1915-01-21
HOW NATURE
MARKS SEASONS
Buds, Messy Bark, Leaves and
Fruit Tell Nature Student
The Month.
THE TREE A MODEL parent
Protects Seed Ia h.any Ways and Pro
vides Transportation When
Mature.

nave been, more than temples; they
are the index on natures dial announc,
ing the progress and evolution of the
seasons.
Any student of nature can look upon
the forest and tell the month by the
buds, the mossy bark, by the leaves or
by the fruit.
Any Rip Van Wrinkle awakening
from the slumber Of years, can read
the seasons by an inspection of the
forest trees. Even in the dead of win
ter the moss, the bark, the twigs and
the buds give the seasons age to him
of woodcraft lore. The very month
thus may be named with marvellous
certainty. The trees are never dead;
the life in them never is wholly sus.
pended; even in winter they breathe,
a slow respiration. easier for the scien
tist to measure than 1t is to measure
the feeble, almost ineffable heat that
reaches us from any fixed star.
But we speak here of any Van Win
kle who knows no science.s but who
knows the wild woods as our father
knew them, and as we may know them
The broadest distinctions are mani
tested for the months running from
March to November.
The vivid weeks Of swelling buds
and Of early flowers and unfolding
leaves Of the spring time, could mis-.
lead no one. while the lisping, silken
song of the June foliage sets this
month apart as the most perfect and
the most distinguished of any in the
IL months; In July the full-grown,
lusty LEAKAGE, not yet old nor alto.
gether young is not to be mistaken for
any other season or month; in August
the foliage becomes stiff, slumberous
and little shopworn; in September
we depend no longer on the foliage
for the seasons chronometer, as we
have a more reliable indicator in the
fruit than in the leaves. Ye shall
know the tree by its fruit; also you
may know the month by the nuts and
acorns and seed pods.
Throughout the glowing months of
summer the woodland fruits have not
been visible; they were in hiding; Sc
creted in the bosom Of the foliage,
screened by curtain of leaves from
the worlds baleful gaze. But now, as
II by the sudden revelation of en-
chantment, the autumnal harvest on
every twig comes boldly forward to be
seen each day during the summer and
failed to observe the bountiful supply
Of young walnuts, but now you are
. surprised to note how abundant and
how large the nuts are.
Nature had purpose in Withholding
treasures from a too watchful world.
The young fruit and the young leaves
were enwrapped with the same tint OF
green We have heard it remarked
over and over again that birds are pro-
tected by natures scheme of colora'
ton. The same powerful agency is at
work among the trees. The mother
bird seeks a secure retreat for her
young ones, but WITH equal solicitude,
the trees hide their young and imma-
ture fruits, whereby perpetuity is sc.
cured to the species, employing color
alton even as the birds employ it.
But after growth has been completed
and maturity has been attained the
parent tree reveals its secret and
broadly claims to the world that the
fruit is ready for distribution. The
tree seems actually to pull its leaves
aside that the fruit may be seen and
appreciated, even as the shopkeeper
displays his wares in his front win
dow.
The redbud or Judas tree Is perhaps
the most instantaneous of all the
trees in the discovery and revealment
of its fruit. This tree is very small,
but in multitudinous seeds 1t far sur
passes its most prolific neighbor Its
branches are horizontal like those of
the honey locust tree; from each slen.
der branch depend thickly set rows
of dark brown seed pods. These are
only two or three inches in length, very
fiat and thin like the rusty blade OF
a pocketknife.
During the months of summer these
seed pods were scarcely distinguish
able from the leaves in color; indeed,
they might be mistaken for leaves.
But they turned brown almost in one
night and are now in striking contrast
| to the overhanging foliage, dangling
| like pendants from a chandelier. The
seeds of the red bud are of no use
whatever to birds or animals. The
human utilitarian is astonished at such
useless prodigality in the realms OF
nature.
The honey-locust tree behaves In a
manner very similar in fruit time to
the red bud. The seed pods have been
inconspicuous until now. Suddendly
they change in color, from vivid green
to dark brown. The honey locust Is
one of the most graceful trees to be
found In an American forest.
In the open pasture land round
about Kansas City the honey locust is
not usually of great magnitude, but 1t
is very abundant, rising to height OF
80 or 40 feet; the top Is often fiat by
reason of the longitudinal reach of the
branches. which are very slender and