Evening star., 1920-03-14

ga ol8 trees were growing tncTe, ioT
men with axes had struck down all
tat were strsns and heavy enough to
oefvs - sAwlogs or that seemed to be
WostA splitting into rails. Young
trees had grown UP. but they. too, at
maturity had been chopped down and
hauled away. So, the only trees that
were standing were youngsters OF
efteen or twenty years. Around the
$noldering stumps families OF saplings
had grown up. clinglng with persist
Sncy and love to their ancestral soil
ana perhaps holding In reverent re-
gard the old trees whose roots had
brought them into being. Feeding on
many Of the stumps were gray and
black, white and scarlet mushrooms-
strange cryptograms that support life
by taking their carbonaceous food
from the bodies OF dead trees. Why do
they feed themselves In this way?
because they lack that green coloring
matter which scientists have named
ehlerophyll. by means OF which other
plants decompose the carbon dioxide
OF the air. It 10 one OF the miracles
which you come upon at every foot
Stsp in the woods and ne,ds. God
moves In mysterious way His Won
ders to perform"
Though few OF these trees are very
Old, they grow in land which has been
In woods longer than you or I have
fvsd. Every man who chewed or
smoked tobacco raised on that land
laid aside his auid or pipe long. long
ago. Nearly all the trees in these
woods are oaks. but . young pine
stands here and there among them as
leahsss friends by his show Of green.
Perhaps he tells them that March Is
here Thought, OF course. they know
that - well as he) and that within
few weeks they also shall be green.
~ \
There are other little CLEANS Of
green In the DUH gray-brown woods.
The laurel, though 1t has been driven
from many wooded hilisides and ra-
viaes about the city. grows there, and
the happy days are net far OF when q.
its fatr clusters of bowl-shaped bios
sons, pink and white. will unfold.
eau 1t '1<almia latifolia," mountain
lAurol," wild ivory" or "kalmia an
gustifolia." or even sheep laurel" 1t
-. Or they are, among the beauti-
full bellies OF our Potomac woods.
Thsn, among the leaves that fell last
autumn. you will see that plant which
the Rambler's learned friends. Fred
Coville, Paul STANDBY, A. s. Hitch
cock, p. L. Kicker. c. v. Piper. p. G.
Russell, Il. 8. steel and 8. c. Stuntz
and all the other botanists in Wash
ington, Familiarity call 'lycopodium,"
and which. Is curious club moss
which you and l have called ground
pine" running pine crows loot
and christmas green" since We were
boys and girls. You use 1t in the
form Of wreaths and stars and crosses
and you twine 1T around posts ana
pillars or festoon it on the walls az
the merriest time Of the year. And,
by the way, those botanical friends OF
the Rambler, named above, with the
assistance Of other distinguished men,
have prepared what is very likely the
most valuable work on the "Flora
Of the District of Columbia and Nicin-
ity" that has ever come from the
press, 1t has been published as a
bulletin Of the United States National
Museum, and the preface, written by
Frederick V. Coville, curator of the
United States national herbarum fol-
lows:
N person walking in the conntf! IN
search Of rest from labor the wild plants are
very friendly, IL he has a speaking acanain'-
auce with them. Such an acquaintance Is OF
untnld yalue as q means Of rest and recreation.
Yet to most persons our books on botany, in
stcad Of opening the path to knowledge, close
It with the barrier Of technical language
Botanical science is beginning TO recognize the
prohibitive effect Of this barrier and TO take
steps TO open the path TO the public. The
nora OF the District Of Columbia and vicinity,
now presented for publica ton, II provided with
Keys to tine families, genera and species, ana
. In the prepa ration OF these keys common
words have been used extensively AS substi-
tutes for technical and unusual words. This
Is especially true Of the key TO the families
which Is SO written that a person with almOs,
no knowledge OF botany trace q strange
plant to Its proper family. The identiica tion
Z Of many Of the native species IL made still
easier BY the illustrations, and it is only the
limitation Of space and cost that has pre-