s also
found upon the willow and poplar.'"

"It's funny-looking," said Malcolm, when he had made himself thoroughly
acquainted with the appearance of the catkin, "but it doesn't look much
like a flower: it looks more like a pussy's tail."

"Yes, and that is the origin of its name. 'Catkin' is diminutive for
'cat;' so this collection of flowers is called 'catkin,' or
'little cat.'"

"I think I'll call them 'pussy-tails,'" said Edith.

"There is a great deal to be learned about trees," said Miss Harson,
when all were comfortably seated in the pleasant schoolroom; "and,
besides the natural history of their species, some old trees have
wonderful stories connected with them, while many in tropical countries
are so wonderful in themselves that they do not need stories to make
them interesting. The common trees around us will be our subjects at
first; for I suppose that you can scarcely tell a willow from a poplar,
or a chestnut tree from either, can you?"

"I can tell a chestnut tree," said Malcolm, confidently.

"When it is not the season for nuts?" asked his governess, smiling.

There was not a very positive reply to this; and Miss Harson continued:

"I do not think that any of us know as much as we ought to know of the
trees which we see every day, and of the uses to which many of them are
put, to say nothing of many familiar trees that we read about, and even
depend upon for some of the necessaries of life."

"Like the cocoanut tree," suggested Clara.

"That is not exactly necessary to our comfort, dear," was the reply,
"for people can manage to live without cocoanuts, although in many forms
they are very agreeable to the taste, and it is only the inhabitants of
the countries where they grow who look upon these trees as necessaries;
but we will take them up in their turn. And first let us find out what
we can about the willow, because it is the first tree, with us, to
become green in the spring, and, of that large class which is called
_deciduous_, the last one to lose its leaves."

"And why are they called _deciduous?_" asked Malcolm.

"Because they shed their leaves every autumn and are furnished with a
new set in the spring: 'deciduous' is Latin for 'falling off.' And this
is the case with nearly all our native trees and plants. _Persistent_,
or permanent, leaves remain on the stem and branches all through the
changes of season, like the leaves of the pine and box, while
_evergreens_ look fresh through th