* * * * * Watch apple buds. The scales do not elongate as in the pear, but the flower-buds are mixed. Fig. 223 shows the expanding cluster from an apple flower-bud. Four flowers will open; and there are six leaves. If the buds are made to open in the house on severed twigs, the leaves do not grow so large before the flowers expand, for the twig does not contain sufficient food. Fig. 224 is a photograph of an apple twig which I had in my window one winter's day. [Illustration: _Fig. 223. Opening of an apple bud._] [Illustration: _Fig. 224. Apple flowers in midwinter._] * * * * * Examine a hickory twig. The illustration (Fig. 225) shows the "ring" marking the beginning of the annual growth. See the large leaf-scars. Notice that the terminal bud is much the largest. It is the one which will grow. The other buds will remain dormant unless they are forced into growth by the death of the terminal bud or by other unusual circumstances. Notice that buds differ in size on shoots of all plants; consider that not all the buds are to grow: there is a struggle for existence. When the hickory bud expands, some of the scales fall away; but some of the inner parts enlarge into leaf-like bodies, as shown in Fig. 226. In some hickories these bodies become two or three inches long before they fall. Hickories open very late in the season. The Norway maple, commonly planted on lawns, behaves in a similar way. Observe the sugar maple. * * * * * [Illustration: _Fig. 225. Shoot of a hickory._] [Illustration: _Fig. 226. The opening of a hickory bud._] A twig of the common elm is shown in Fig. 227. Notice the "ring." See the two kinds of buds. We suspect that the three larger ones are flower-buds. With the very first warm days--before the robin has built her nest--these three buds will burst; soon the red-brown tassels will hang on the leafless twigs. Each tassel is a flower. Several flowers come from each bud. We see them in Fig. 228; and the leaf-buds have elongated somewhat. Watch for the fruits or seeds that blow about the walks so early in spring; and note how the leaves come out. [Illustration: _Fig. 227. Twig of elm._] [Illustration: _Fig. 228. Blossoms of the elm._] * * * * * With the first breath of spring, the "pussy willows" come. And what are the "pussies"? They are clusters of flowers. So snugly are the little flowers wrapped in wool, that the "pussies" are silken-soft as they begin to expand. Fig. 229 is a willow shoot. Find one when the buds first begin to burst. Notice the big brown-black scale that covers the bud as a shield and falls when the "pussy" first begins to appear. * * * * *