Trees of the Northern United States Part 1

Trees of the Northern United States.

by Austin C. Apgar.

PREFACE.

This book has been prepared with the idea that teachers generally would be glad to introduce into their cla.s.ses work dealing with the real objects of nature, provided the work chosen were of a character that would admit of its being studied at all seasons and in all localities, and that the subject were one of general interest, and one that could be taught successfully by those who have had no regular scientific instruction.

The trees of our forests, lawns, yards, orchards, streets, borders, and parks give us just such a department. Though many consider a large part of the vegetable kingdom of little importance, and unworthy of any serious study, there are few who do not admire, and fewer still who do not desire to know, our trees, the monarchs of all living things.

The difficulty in tree study by the aid of the usual botanies lies mainly in the fact that in using them the first essential parts to be examined are the blossoms and their organs. These remain on the trees a very short time, are often entirely unnoticed on account of their small size or obscure color, and are usually inaccessible even if seen. In this book the leaves, the wood, the bark, and, in an elementary way, the fruit are the parts to which the attention is directed; these all can be found and studied throughout the greater part of the year, and are just the parts that must be thoroughly known by all who wish to learn to recognize trees.

Though every teacher is at liberty to use the book as he thinks best, the author, who has been a cla.s.s teacher for over twenty years, is of the opinion that but little of Part I. need be thoroughly studied and recited, with the exception of Chapter III. on leaves. The object of this chapter is not to have the definitions recited (the recitation of definitions in school work is often useless or worse than useless), but to teach the pupil to use the terms properly and to make them a portion of his vocabulary. The figures on pages 38-43 are designed for cla.s.s description, and for the application of botanical words. The first time the chapter is studied the figure ill.u.s.trating the term should be pointed out by the pupil; then, as a review of the whole chapter, the student should be required to give a full description of each leaf.

After this work with Chapter III., and the careful reading of the whole of Part I., the pupils can begin the description of trees, and, as the botanical words are needed, search can be made for them under the proper heads or in the Glossary.

The Keys are for the use of those who know nothing of scientific botany.

The advanced botanist may think them too artificial and easy; but let him remember that this work was written for the average teacher who has had no strictly scientific training. We can hardly expect that the great majority of people will ever become scientific in any line, but it is possible for nearly every one to become interested in and fully acquainted with the trees of his neighborhood.

The attainment of such botanical knowledge by the plan given in this volume will not only accomplish this useful purpose, but will do what is worth far more to the student, _i.e._, teach him to employ his own senses in the investigation of natural objects, and to use his own powers of language in their description.

With hardly an exception, the ill.u.s.trations in the work are taken from original drawings from nature by the author. A few of the scales of pine-cones were copied from London's "Encyclopaedia of Trees"; some of the Retinospora cones were taken from the "Gardener's Chronicle"; and three of the ill.u.s.trations in Part I. are from Professor Gray's works.

The size of the ill.u.s.tration as compared with the specimen of plant is indicated by a fraction near it; indicates that the drawing is one fourth as long as the original, 1/1 that it is natural size, etc. The notching of the margin is reduced to the same extent; so a margin which in the engraving looks about entire, might in the leaf be quite distinctly serrate. The only cases in which the scale is not given are in the cross-sections of the leaves among the figures of coniferous plants. These are uniformly three times the natural size, except the section of Araucaria imbricata, which is not increased in scale.

The author has drawn from every available source of information, and in the description of many of the species no attempt whatever has been made to change the excellent wording of such authors as Gray, Loudon, etc.

The ground covered by the book is that of the wild and cultivated trees found east of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the southern boundary of Virginia and Missouri. It contains not only the native species, but all those that are successfully cultivated in the whole region; thus including all the species of Ontario, Quebec, etc., on the north, and many species, both wild and cultivated, of the Southern States and the Pacific coast. In fact, the work will be found to contain so large a proportion of the trees of the Southern States as to make it very useful in the schools of that section.

Many shrubby plants are introduced; some because they occasionally grow quite tree-like, others because they can readily be trimmed into tree-forms, others because they grow very tall, and still others because they are trees in the Southern States.

In nomenclature a conservative course has been adopted. The most extensively used text-book on the subject of Botany, "Gray's Manual,"

has recently been rewritten. That work includes every species, native and naturalized, of the region covered by this book, and the names as given in that edition have been used in all cases.

Scientific names are marked so as to indicate the p.r.o.nunciation. The vowel of the accented syllable is marked by the grave accent (') if long, and by the acute (') if short.

In the preparation of this book the author has received much valuable aid. His thanks are especially due to the authorities of the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts, and of the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, for information in regard to the hardiness of species; to Mr.

John H. Redfield, of the Botanical Department of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, for books, specimens from which to make ill.u.s.trations, etc.; and to Dr. A. C. Stokes, of Trenton, New Jersey, for a.s.sistance in many ways, but especially for the accurate manner in which he has inked the ill.u.s.trations from the author's pencil-drawings.

The author also wishes to acknowledge the help received from many nurserymen in gathering specimens for ill.u.s.tration and in giving information of great value. Among these, special thanks are due to Mr.

Samuel C. Moon, of Morrisville Nurseries, who placed his large collection of living specimens at the author's disposal, and in many other ways gave him much intelligent aid.

PART I.

THE ESSENTIAL ORGANS, AND THE TERMS NEEDED FOR THEIR DESCRIPTION.

CHAPTER I.

_Roots._

Though but little study of the roots of trees is practicable, some knowledge of their forms, varieties, and parts is important.

The great office of the roots of all plants is the taking in of food from the soil. Thick or fleshy roots, such as the radish, are stocks of food prepared for the future growth of the plant, or for the production of flowers and fruit. The thick roots of trees are designed mainly for their secure fastening in the soil. The real mouths by which the food is taken in are the minute tips of the hair-like roots found over the surface of the smaller branches. As trees especially need a strong support, they all have either a _tap-root_--one large root extending from the lower end of the trunk deep down into the ground; or _multiple roots_--a number of large roots mainly extending outward from the base of the trunk.

Trees with large tap-roots are very hard to transplant, and cannot with safety be transferred after they have attained any real size. The Hickories and Oaks belong to this cla.s.s.

Trees having multiple roots are readily transplanted, even when large.

The Maples and Elms are of this cla.s.s.

Roots that grow from the root-end of the embryo of the seed are called _primary roots_; those growing from slips or from stems anywhere are _secondary roots_.

Some trees grow luxuriantly with only secondary roots; such trees can readily be raised from stems placed in the ground. The Willows and Poplars are good examples of this group. Other trees need all the strength that primary roots can give them; these have to be raised from seed. Peach-trees are specially good examples, but practically most trees are best raised from seed.

A few trees can be easily raised from root-cuttings or from suckers which grow up from roots. The Ailanthus, or "Tree of Heaven," is best raised in this way. Of this tree there are three kinds, two of which have disagreeable odors when in bloom, but the other is nearly odorless.

By using the roots or the suckers of the third kind, only those which would be pleasant to have in a neighborhood would be obtained. One of the large cities of the United States has in its streets thousands of the most displeasing of these varieties and but few of the right sort, all because the nurseryman who originally supplied the city used root-cuttings from the disagreeable kind.

If such trees were raised from the seed, only about one third would be desirable, and their character could be determined only when they had reached such a size as to produce fruit, when it would be too late to transplant them. Fruit-trees, when raised from the seed, have to be grafted with the desired variety in order to secure good fruit when they reach the bearing age.

CHAPTER II.

_Stems and Branches._

The stem is the distinguishing characteristic of trees, separating them from all other groups of plants. Although in the region covered by this book the trees include all the very large plants, size alone does not make a tree.

A plant with a single trunk of woody structure that does not branch for some distance above the ground, is called a _tree_. Woody plants that branch directly above the soil, even though they grow to the height of twenty feet or more, are called _shrubs_, or, in popular language, _bushes_. Many plants which have a tendency to grow into the form of shrubs may, by pruning, be forced to grow tree-like; some that are shrubs in the northern States are trees further south.

All the trees that grow wild, or can be cultivated out of doors, in the northern States belong to one cla.s.s, the stems having a separable bark on the outside, a minute stem of pith in the center, and, between these, wood in annual layers. Such a stem is called _exogenous_ (outside-growing), because a new layer forms on the outside of the wood each year.

Another kind of tree-stem is found abundantly in the tropics; one, the Palmetto, grows from South Carolina to Florida. While in our region there are no trees of this character, there are plants having this kind of stem, the best ill.u.s.tration being the corn-stalk. In this case there is no separable bark, and the woody substance is in threads within the pithy material. In the corn-stalk the woody threads are not very numerous, and the pith is very abundant; in most of the tropical trees belonging to this group the threads of wood are so numerous as to make the material very durable and fit for furniture. A stem of this kind is called _endogenous_ (inside-growing). Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal and a cross section of an exogenous stem, and Fig. 2 of an endogenous one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2.]

Since all the stems with which we have to deal are exogens, a particular description of that cla.s.s will here be given. Fig. 1 shows the appearance of a section of an Ash stem six years old. The central portion, which is about as thick as wrapping-twine, is the _pith_; from this outward toward the bark can be seen the six annual layers of the _wood_; and then comes the _bark_, consisting of two portions. First there is an inside layer of greenish material, the fresh-growing portion, and lastly the outer or dead matter. This outer portion must crack open, peel off, or in some way give a chance for the constant growth of the trunk. The different kinds of trees are readily known by the appearance of the bark of the trunk, due to the many varieties of surface caused by the allowance for growth. None of the characteristics of trees afford a better opportunity for careful observation and study than the outer bark.

The Birches have bark that peels off in thin horizontal layers--the color, thinness, and toughness differing in the different species; the Ashes have bark which opens in many irregular, netted cracks moderately near each other; the bark of the Chestnut opens in large longitudinal cracks quite distant from one another. The color of the bark and the character of the scales are quite different in the White and the Black Oaks.

In the woody portion radiating lines may be seen; these are the _silver grain_; they are called by the botanist _medullary rays_.