~Other leaves~, instead of being very much developed, or specially developed along some line, ~are simply reduced~, that is, are very little developed indeed. For example, as you saw in the under-ground part of the potato and many rhizomes growing horizontally, the leaves never become large and green, but remain as simple brown scales. Some ~scale leaves~ have quite a special work to do in the way of protecting the very young green leaves while they are in the buds, and we will look at these carefully in the next chapter. We have now seen that leaves, like all the other parts of the plant, can modify themselves in a very great number of ways, and may do many extra pieces of work above and beyond their chief work of food manufacture. CHAPTER XIV. BUDS The proper time to study buds in nature is the spring, but then you will have to wait long to see all the different stages of their slow unfolding. But they can be made to open artificially, and it is really wise to study buds in winter, when there are not so many other things to do. You can arrange this very well if in the late autumn you cut off fairly big branches with buds on them (horse chestnut is particularly good for this) and keep them in a warm room. You must, of course, keep the cut ends of their stalks in water, which you should change every three or four days, sometimes cutting off a piece from the ends of the branches so that they have a fresh surface exposed to the water. In this way they should live for months, and may just begin to unfold and show fresh young green leaves about Christmas time, when the buds on the trees out in the cold are still tightly packed up. [Illustration: Fig. 62. Buds of the Horse Chestnut beginning to unfold.] Watch the buds as they unfold, and you will find that round each bud are several dry brown scales; these drop off, and within them are more green, leaf-like scales enclosing the true young leaves, which are still curled up and very small when they first come out. If you examine a big bud which has not yet begun to unfold, and carefully pull off all the parts separately with the help of a needle and knife, you will see how the outer scales fold over one another like a coat of mail, and where they are exposed to the outside air they are hard and shiny, and in many plants are covered over by a sticky waterproof substance like tarpaulin. These outer scales keep off the rain and snow, and keep the inner parts dry and unharmed. Within them the scales are softer and often quite green, and they, too, wrap round each other, so that there is no crack left which could allow the cold rains to enter to the little leaves within. In many cases also the young leaves are wrapped up in soft, long hairs which look almost like cotton wool. These hairs grow on the leaves themselves, and you can see them after they have opened out, but as the leaves are then much bigger, the hairs are scattered further apart and do not show so much.