4. Where are the cones borne? How long does it take a cone to grow? Is it heavy? Is there resin on it? Note that the scales are set in a spiral around the center of the cone. Wind a string around a cone following the same row of scales. How many rows between those marked with a string? Look into the tip of a cone and see the spiral arrangement. Sketch and describe a cone-scale, paying special attention to the shape of the tip. Try to tear a cone apart. Is this easily done? Hang a closed cone in a dry place and note what happens.

5. Describe the seed, its wings and where it is placed at the base of the scale. How many seeds under each scale? When do the cones open of themselves to scatter the seed? Do you observe squirrels tearing these apart to get the seed?

6. The Norway spruce blossoms in May. Find the little flower which will produce the cone, and describe it. What color is it? Is it upright or hanging down? Do the scales turn toward the tip or backward? Why is this? Where are the pollen-catkins borne? How many of them arise from the same place on the twig? Can you see the little scales at the base of each pistillate catkin? What are they? Are they very full of pollen? Do the insects carry the pollen for the Norway spruce, or does the wind sift it over the pistillate blossoms? After the pollen is shed, note if the scales of the young cones close up. How long before the cones begin to droop? Do you think it is their weight which causes them to droop?

7. What use do we make of the Norway spruce? What is it used for in Europe?

THE HEMLOCK
Teacher's Story

"O'er lonely lakes that wild and nameless lie,
Black, shaggy, vast and still as Barca's sands
A hemlock forest stands. Oh forest like a pall!
Oh hemlock of the wild, Oh brother of my soul
I love thy mantle black, thy shaggy bole,
Thy form grotesque, thy spreading arms of steel."

-PATTEE.

N ITS prime, the hemlock is a magnificent tree. It reaches the height of from sixty to one hundred feet, is cone-shaped, its fine, dense foliage and its drooping branches giving to its appearance exquisite delicacy; and I have yet to see elsewhere such graceful tree-spires as are the hemlocks of the Sierras, albeit they have bending tips. However, an old hemlock becomes very ragged and rugged in appearance; and dying, it rears its wind-broken branches against the sky, a gaunt figure of stark loneliness. The hemlock branches are seldom broken by snow; they droop to let the burden slide off. The bark is reddish, or sometimes gray, and is furrowed into wide, scaly ridges. The foliage is a rich dark green, but whitish when seen from below. The leaves of the hemlock are really arranged in a spiral, but this is hard to demonstrate. They look as though they were arranged in double rows along each side of the little twig; but they are not in the same plane and there is usually a row of short leaves on the upper side of the twig. The leaf is blunt at the tip and has a little petiole of its own which distinguishes it from the leaves of any other species of conifer; it is dark, glossy green above, pale green beneath, marked with two white, lengthwise lines. In June, the tip of every twig grows and puts forth new leaves which are greenish yellow in color, making the tree very beautiful and giving it the appearance of blossoming. The leaves are shed during the third year. The hemlock cones are small and are borne on the tips of the twigs. The seeds are borne, two beneath each scale, and they have wings nearly as large as the scale itself. Squirrels are so fond of them that probably but few have an opportunity to try their wings. The cones mature in one year, and usually fall in the spring. The hemlock blossoms in May; the pistillate flowers are very difficult to observe as they are tiny and greenish and are placed at the tip of the twig. The pollen-bearing flowers are little, yellowish balls on delicate, short stems. borne along the sides of the twig.

Hemlock bark is rich in tannin and is used in great quantities for the tanning of leather. The timber, which is coarse-grained, is stiff and is used in framing buildings and for railroad ties; nails and spikes driven into it cling with great tenacity and the wood does not split in nailing. Oil distilled from the leaves of hemlock is used as an antiseptic.

The dense foliage of the hemlock offers a shelter to birds of all kinds in winter; even the partridges roost in the young trees. These young tree often have branches drooping to the ground, making an evergreen tent

which forms a winter harbor for mice and other beasties. The seed-eating birds which remain with us during the winter, feed upon the seeds; and as the cones grow on the tips of the delicate twigs, the red squirrels display their utmost powers as acrobats when gathering this, their favorite food.

Leading thought-This is one of the most common and useful and beautiful of our evergreen trees. Its fine foliage makes it an efficient winter shelter for birds

Method-Ask the children the questions and request them to make notes on the hemlock trees of the neighborhood. The study of the leaves and the cones may be made in the schoolroom.

Observations-1. Where does the hemlock tree grow in your neighborhood? What is the general shape of the tree? What sort of bark has it? How tall does it grow? How are its branches arranged to shed the snow? What is the color of the foliage? How are the leaves arranged on the twigs? Are all the leaves of about the same size? What is the position of the smaller leaves?

2.

3. Break off a leaf and describe its shape; its petiole. Does the leaf of any other evergreen have a petiole? What is the color and marking of the hemlock leaf above? Below? At what time of year are the new leaves developed? How does the hemlock tree look at this time? lock ever shed its leaves?

Does the hem

4. Are the hemlock cones borne on the tip of the twigs or along the side? How long does it take a cone to mature? When does it fall? How many scales has it? Where are the seeds borne? How many seeds beneath each scale? Describe and sketch a hemlock seed. How are the seeds scattered? Study the tree in May, and see if you can find the blossom? 5. Make drawings of the following: The hemlock twig, showing the arrangement of the leaves; single leaf, enlarged; cone; cone scale; seed. 6. What creatures feed upon the hemlock seed? What birds find protection in the hemlock foliage in winter?

7. For what purposes is hemlock bark used? What is the timber good for? Is a nail easily pulled out from a hemlock board?

THE DOGWOOD
Teacher's Story

Through cloud rifts the sunlight is streaming in floods to far depths of the wood,
Retouching the velvet-leafed dogwood to crimson as vital as blood.

HERE is no prettier story among the flowers than that of the bracts of the dogwood, and it is a subject for investigation which any child can work out for himself. I shall never forget the thrill of triumph I experienced when I discovered for myself the cause of the mysterious dark notch at the tip of each great white bract, which I had for years idly noticed. One day my curiosity mastered my inertia, and I hunted a tree over for a flower bud, for it was rather late in the season; finally I was rewarded by finding the bracts in all stages of development.

The flowering dogwood forms its buds during the summer, and of course they must have winter protection; therefore, they are wrapped in four, close-clasping, purplish brown scales, one pair inside and one pair outside, both thick and well fitted to protect the bunch of tiny flower buds at their center. But when spring comes, these motherly bud-scales change their duties, and by rapid growth become four beautiful white or pinkish bracts calling aloud to all the insect world that here at their hearts is something sweet. For months they brood the flowers and then display them to an admiring world. The artistic eye loves the little notch at the tip of the bracts, even before it has read in it the story of winter protection, of which it is an evidence.

The study of the flowers at the center is more interesting if aided by a lens. Within each blossom can be seen its tube, set in the four-lobed calyx. It has four slender petals curled back, its four chubby, greenish yellow anthers set on filaments which lift them up between the petals; and at the center of all is the tiny green pistil. There may be twenty, more or less, of these perfect flowers in this tiny, greenish yellow bunch at the center of the four great, flaring bracts. These flowers

do not open simultaneously, and the yellow buds and open Blossom and bud of flowers are mingled together in the rosette. The calyx dogwood, enlarged.