. The natural history of the farm : a guide to the practical study of the sources of our living in wild nature . Natural history. Pig. 65. A sap-sucker on a tree trunk, mak- ing lines of perfora- tions. Before the Indians, there were many animals that had dis- covered the springtime sugar supply of the maple trees: sap- suckers, that tap the trunks in the neatest and most methodical and least injurious way imaginable (fig. 65); and porcupines, that strip the bark disastrously from young trees, killing them outright; and red squirrels, that gnaw little basins in the upper surface of horizontal
. The natural history of the farm : a guide to the practical study of the sources of our living in wild nature . Natural history. Pig. 65. A sap-sucker on a tree trunk, mak- ing lines of perfora- tions. Before the Indians, there were many animals that had dis- covered the springtime sugar supply of the maple trees: sap- suckers, that tap the trunks in the neatest and most methodical and least injurious way imaginable (fig. 65); and porcupines, that strip the bark disastrously from young trees, killing them outright; and red squirrels, that gnaw little basins in the upper surface of horizontal boughs and, when these fill with the sap, come to the basins for a soft drink (fig. 66). And when these larger creatures set the sap flowing, there are innumerable lesser creatures, mostly flies and beetles, that come in swarms to be partakers with them. This store of sweets is the accumulated food reserve of the preceding season. It is stored as starch when the leaves are active, to be transformed into sugar and dissolved in the sap in early spring. When, at the approach of warmer weather in February and March, the days are warm and bright and the nights clear and frosty, changes of pressure in the vessels of the trees, due to the great diurnal changes of temperature, set the sap flow- ing. The warm sunshine on the treetops ex- pand the air in the trunks and increases the internal pres- sure, so that c — •— •„ Fig. 66. A squirrel drinking sap as it exudes from a maple from any mOS- bough (after Cram).. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Needham, James G. (James George), 1868-1956. New York : Comstock Pub. Co
Size: 1975px × 1265px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
