"How could Miss Miller tell, you ninny! She was only six years old!" said Jane.
"I don't think any one thought to investigate at the time. The people were not so keen for Nature lore then as now," laughed Miss Miller.
Then continuing, "This oak has leaves, you will see, with deep veinings; they are scalloped on the edges, and curved out toward the middle-sides and in again toward the end. This tree, I should say, is about eighty feet high, although they grow to a hundred. Their diameter is from one to three feet through. The leaves of this oak were green when they first grew but they turn red as the season advances and by fall they are a beautiful crimson."
As they passed on, Jane cried, "Here's a chestnut tree, as every one knows!"
"Do you know anything of its individuality?" asked Miss Miller.
"I know that it blossoms into long feathery catkins that smell very sweet, something like the blossoms on our grapevines," said Zan.
"And I guess every one knows that the fruit is found in a burr that pricks your fingers like fury if you're not careful," added Elena.
"I know that the wood is good for fence-posts 'cause Dad ordered Bill to be sure and get chestnut posts for the fence that closes in the out-houses," Zan remembered.
"Anybody else wish to contribute?" asked Miss Miller.
"Every one wants to but can't afford it this time," laughed Jane eagerly.