It is excellent practice to collect winter twigs of different kinds of trees and bushes, and to compare the form and color of the shoots, and the size, shape, color, and make-up of the buds. Lay the twigs side by side on the table and notice how one differs from the other. What part of the twig grew last year? Notice the "ring" at the base of the last year's growth. After all the differences are noted, put the twigs in water, as you would a bouquet. Sometimes flowers and leaves will appear. If the twigs are two or three feet long, the buds are more likely to grow, for then there is sufficient supply of food in them. Change the water frequently, and cut off the lower ends of the twigs so that a fresh surface will be exposed to the water. It will be two to five weeks before the buds open, depending mostly on the kind of plant. Mark one bud on a maple, or apple, or lilac, or other plant, by tying a string about the twig. Look at it carefully from day to day: observe how it opens, and what comes out of it. The pupil should know that a winter twig has interest. * * * * * The bud may be peach or apricot. Soon the bud begins to swell at its top. The scales open. A white lining appears. This lining soon protrudes (Fig. 220). Soon the lining opens. We see that it is a flower. Or perhaps the peach bud sends out a green shoot rather than a flower. There must be two kinds of peach and apricot buds,--a flower-bud and a leaf-bud. Can you tell them apart? The flower-bud is thicker and rounder. Usually one stands on either side of a leaf-bud. But the leaf-bud may stand alone. Find one: any peach tree or apricot tree will have leaf-buds, but all may not have flower-buds. As the bud expands and the flower or leaf appears, notice that the bud-scales fall away. Do these scales leave scars? And do not these scars, standing together, make the "ring" which marks the beginning of the new growth? [Illustration: _Fig. 220. Opening of an apricot bud._] * * * * * Observe a pear bud. Notice that the scales elongate as the bud swells. You can see the white bases of the scales, marking the new growth (Fig. 221). If it is a leaf-bud the scales may become three-fourths of an inch long before they fall. But sooner or later, they are cast, and their places are marked by scars. If it is a flower-bud, notice that several flowers come out of it. In the apricot and peach, there is only one flower in each bud. Each of these little pear flowers is closed up like a bud and elevates itself on a stalk before it opens: and this stalk becomes the stem of the pear fruit. But this pear flower-bud contains leaves as well as flowers. Fig. 222 shows what comes out of a pear bud. This, then, is a mixed flower-bud,--it contains both leaves and flowers. The apricot and the peach bear true or simple flower-buds. [Illustration: _Fig. 221. Opening of a pear bud._] [Illustration: _Fig. 222. What came out of a pear bud._]