Plane tree

“ The Plane trees, the Sassafras, the curious Ginkgo tree or fern-leaved yew of Japan, are cases of similar decadence of genera once represented by many species, while other trees, like the Willows and Poplars, the Maples, the Birches, the Oaks and the Pines, though of old date, are still as abundant as « 224 » they ever were, and some genera would seem even to have increased in number of species, though on the whole the flora of our modern woods is much less rich than those of the Miocene and Eocene, or even than that of the Later Cretaceous. ”

“ The maple and buttonball or plane-tree were dug up by the boys in the woods the morning of Arbor Day. The trees were chosen from a rather open part of the wood. It is better to choose trees from the open places than from the denser woods. Trees thus selected are far more likely to grow on being transplanted into a place similar to that from which they came. The boys chose trees about five feet tall. The smaller the tree the better. The following directions were the ones agreed upon:
(1) Dig a hole large enough and deep enough to accommodate the roots without cramping. ”

“ It is a poverty-stricken flora one sees here especially in town;—plane-tree, plane-tree and again plane-tree, until one wishes all were not so plane. I have become possessed of a most excellent English book on trees, native and imported, quite the best, everything considered, and shall I say quite as good as our best ”

“ Some trees are greener than others, whilst others scarcely come up to the standard of leafy verdure displayed by their fellows. Taking the trees in the Park and arranging them in the inverse ratio of their distances at rectangular intervals from the common centre of their growth, it will be found that the surface area of a Plane-tree is equal to exactly five hundred times the cubic capacity of a gooseberry bush, measured from a point on its inner circumference."
Miss Robinson, Mrs. Touche-Arming, and Lady Cordelia Crossbit, were photographed yesterday. ”

“ The trees attain to a large size, though not assuming the gigantic proportions which they reach in their native land, Japan. That most uninteresting of all trees—the plane-tree—has been planted along the beds of the rivers in the town; and the oaks are in almost perpetual foliage, as the young leaves appear before the old ones have really fallen. ”

“ Nature's choice was very wise, for the plane tree, above all others, seems to have the gift of distributing a pervading greenness. As well as being green itself, it tinges the circumambient atmosphere with green. If one doubts this, let him visit Pump Court in the Temple, where two trees absolutely flood with leaves a parallelogram of masonry. ”

“ Between the plane-trees are box shrubs, and on the farther side of the shrubs is a ring of laurels which mingle their shade with that of the plane-trees. At the far end, the straight boundary of the riding-course is curved into semicircular form, which quite changes its appearance. It is enclosed and covered with cypress-trees, the deeper shade of which makes it darker and gloomier than at the sides, but the inner circles— for there are more than one—are quite open to the sunshine. Even roses grow there, and the warmth of the sun is delightful as a change from the cool of the shade. ”

“ Most of the old plane-trees are hollow, their tops being sustained by wood of recent growth. In this respect an exogenous tree resembles a coral-reef, where the vitality and growth are at the surface only.
Of chestnuts, we have the famous one at Tort worth, in
Fig. ”

“ The head of the Oriental Plane, during sunshine, often abounds in what painters call flickering lights; the consequence of the branches of the head separating themselves into what may be called horizontal undulating strata—or, as it is called in artistic phraseology, tufting—easily put in motion by the wind, and through openings in which the rays of the sun penetrate, and strike on the foliage below. The tree is by no means so suitable, as most others, for an extensive park, or for imitations of forest scenery ”

“ As we settled, I could make out the insignia of the ships, could see the pitted, stained earth of the clearing, brown with the dust of disintegration. I could see the surrounding trees very distinctly now: they seemed very similar to our weeping willows, on Earth, which, I perhaps should explain, since it is impossible for the average individual to have a comprehensive knowledge of the flora and fauna of the entire known Universe, is a tree of considerable size, having long, hanging branches arching from its crown and reaching nearly to the ground. ”

“ On other trees the leaves are so rigid in the stem, that a wind strong enough to set them in full activity is strong enough to set all the branches in motion. We recognize the force, and, in large trees, the grandeur of motion. When a strong wind moves the whole tree, it swings its great boughs hither and thither, all its leaves and twigs utter their voices, which in chorus often rise to a roar. Yet, though the whole tree is agitated, and seems convulsed, one sees that it is only upon the exterior; while the top and sides are in full motion, the trunk stands firm, and seems motionless. ”

“ They would be apt perhaps to generalise a little too daringly respecting these remote tree systems, concluding too confidently that a shrub or a flower was a tree system like their own, or that a great tree, every branch of which was far larger than their entire tree system, belonged to the same order and bore similar fruit. They might mistake, also, in forgetting the probable fact that as every fruit in their own tree system had its own period of life, very brief compared with the entire existence of the fruit, so every tree might have its own fruit-bearing season. ”

“ The seed is the characteristic maple key, with a wing to carry it. The fruit—and by that term the seed with its attached wing is meant—is bright red, and a tree loaded with the vivid clusters is a beautiful spectacle. Two seeds are generally fast together, and they make surprising flights in that condition, passing with whirling motion through the air. Gravity spins them, but wind carries them forward, and the random of their flight depends on the strength of the wind, which happens to be blowing when they sever their connection with the tree. ”

“ Where trees are exposed to strong winds, they develop deep and strong root systems. They produce large and strong trunks that can bend and resist violent winds which sway and twist them in every direction. Such trees are much stronger and sturdier than those that grow in a sheltered forest. The trees that are blown down in the forest provide space for the introduction and growth of new varieties. These activities are constantly changing the type of tree growth in the forest. ”

“ Many examples of the activity of the force-spheres represented by the three exterior planets are to be found also in nature external to man. From the realm of plant life we may take the woody and bark-like formation of the trees as representing the operation of Saturn-forces. Similarly, all that goes on in the organizing of the single leaf, and particularly in the organization of the countless separate leaves which make up the foliage of a tree into a unified whole, the characteristic crown of a tree, is an example of the work of Jupiter. ”

“ Then, taking the planks at each edge of the centre, by the same law their change and behavior will be quite different: they will still retain their original thickness at the centre, but will be a little reduced on each edge throughout, but the side next to the heart of the tree will be pulled round or bent convex, while the outside will be the reverse, or hollow, and the plank will be considerably narrower throughout its entire length, more especially on the surface of the hollow side. ”

“ The curving of the edges of the bract toward the fruit enables the wind to catch it all the better, and to lift it more or less from the snow. With changes in the direction of the wind, there is an opportunity for the fruit of a single tree, if not too much crowded by others, to spread in all directions. After watching these maneuvers, no one could doubt the object of the bent bracts of the basswood, and as these vary much in length and width and shape on different trees, it would seem that perhaps nature is still experimenting with a view to finding the most perfect structure for the purpose. ”

“ First, what is the botanical theory respecting the formation of the rings in a tree? In our climate trees make little or no growth during the winter season, hence the new spring wood, with its wide, thin-walled vessels, is rather sharply defined against the narrower, compact, dense-walled vessels which were formed in the preceding autumn or late summer. The successive concentric cylinders of new wood, therefore, when seen in cross-section, appear as zones, or “annual rings.” These rings are well shown in the transverse section of yew (Fig. 69) . ”

“ We sate down on a large rock, about twelve feet square, slightly elevated above the ground, and entirely overgrown with moss. A small fir tree, not ten inches high, grew in its centre, and the symmetry of its diminutive trunk, rendered more beautiful by the regularity with which its little branches sprung forth and drooped around first attracted our notice to the spot as one where we should rest. ”

“ Apart from care in measuring the rings, the details of which will be given in Chapter IV, the most fundamental and essential feature of the method of studying tree-growth is the cross-identification of rings among a group of trees. The ease and accuracy with which this can be done in a fairly homogeneous forest is remarkable. A group of 13 tree sections collected along a distance of a quarter of a mile in the forest of Eberswalde, near Berlin, show almost identical records. Two to ten rings in every decade have enough individuality to make them recognizable in every tree. ”

“ MAKING THE MOST OF WOOD STRUCTURE AND ITS APPEAL TO THE EYE
As is well known, trees grow in diameter by the addition of new layers of wood, one of which forms just under the bark each year during the life of the tree. If growth is rapid, these layers, which are known as annual rings, will be relatively thick; if slow, they will [Pg 87] be thin. In warm climates the growth of many trees is almost continuous, the fiber relatively uniform, and the annual rings very slightly marked. ”

“ But we must not remain among the Big Trees, for the forests extend much farther up the mountains. The most important tree of the upper forest belt is the fir, which is found growing from five thousand to nearly nine thousand feet above sea-level. It is one of the most graceful of the conifers. Sometimes these trees reach a height of two hundred and fifty feet and form dense forests with little undergrowth. The branches make the soft, fragrant beds which so rest and delight the tired mountain climber. ”

“ Seeds with wings sail away on the wind, and seeds with parachutes descend so slowly and gracefully that the winds carry them far out of their courses. The trees most fortunate in scattering their seeds, and thus colonising new territory, have peculiar devices.
The seeds of the basswood hang in clusters attached to a narrow, leaf-like blade. This is a parachute, by which the whole cluster is able to sail away on a good breeze. There is no seed parachute like this among our forest trees. ”

“ As you approach the Arctic circle, it becomes the characteristic tree. Then it appears in extensive forests, lending their picturesque shelter to the snowy desolation of the earth. One species of pine is the very last tree that disappears as the traveller, in approaching the pole, takes his leave of the limits of vegetation. This species is the “white spruce” the very one which, along with the birch-tree, had been pointed out by Norman to his companions. ”

“ Every one who has wandered in a primeval forest of the tropics, whether in the eastern or the western hemisphere, has been struck by the inconceivable profusion of the climbers and twiners with which the trees are laced together. They are found from the thickness of a warship's cable to that of pack-thread; the stronger ones often uncouthly twisted together, and binding tree to tree. ”

“ Even the trees most tolerant of shade in youth, like spruce, must have light later or perish, and hence in a forest there is the constant upward reach. This produces the characteristic "long-bodied" trunk of the forest tree, Fig. 71, in contrast to the "short-bodied" tree of the open, where the branches reach out in all directions, Fig. 72. In this constant struggle for existence is involved the persistent attempt of scattered seeds to sprout whenever there is an opening. The result is that a typical forest is one in which all sizes and ages of trees grow together. ”

“ Poles of the right length are often used to good advantage. In setting trees after the hexagonal plan an equilateral triangle made of light poles or wire is probably best, especially on small rough areas, as it is very accurate, simple, and quite rapid. Some men prefer to make measurements and set a stake at every point where a tree is to be placed. ”

“ If you stand under an oak-tree during a summer shower—a mode of passive scientific observation for which nature has afforded quite ample opportunities during the last few weeks—you will notice at once that the round mass of its foliage acts exactly like a huge umbrella, and conducts all the rain that falls upon its surface outward and downward towards the circumference of the circle. The drops that alight upon the central and tallest part of the tree are shed by the veined and channelled leaves till they fall off the tips on to the layer immediately below and outside them ”

“ The choice is additionally complicated by the very great variation found in the strength and characteristics of trees of exactly the same species, and also of different portions cut from the same tree. The nature of the site upon which a tree is grown exercises a marked influence upon its properties, while as a general rule, it may be taken that the greater number of annual growth rings per inch, the greater the strength. ”