Among the Trees at Elmridge — Reading Notes

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In Category - Field Botany

Authors: Church, Ella Rodman, 1831-1912 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2004 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Trees -- Juvenile literature Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 69,058

Reading time 301 min

Text sections 8

Before opening Among the Trees at Elmridge — Reading Notes, the edition data offers a quick orientation: 69,058 words, 5 hr 1 min estimated reading time, and 8 detected text sections.

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Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Trees -- Juvenile literature,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #11723

Ella Rodman Church's 1886 nature study follows a governess and three children through seasonal tree observations. The narrative blends botanical facts with gentle moral lessons, using vivid descriptions of catkins, sap flow, and tree families. The voice shifts from playful dialogue to patient instruction, revealing a quiet tension between scientific curiosity and Victorian domesticity.

Editorial Edition Score 4.7/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

How this score is calculated

Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg11723

Read the Text

CHAPTER I. A SPRING OPENING. CHAPTER II. THE MAPLES. CHAPTER III. OLD ACQUAINTANCES: THE ELMS. CHAPTER IV. MAJESTY AND STRENGTH: THE OAK. CHAPTER V. BEAUTY AND GRACE: THE ASH. CHAPTER VI. THE OLIVE TREE. CHAPTER VII. THE USEFUL BIRCH. CHAPTER VIII. THE POPLARS. CHAPTER IX. ALL A-BLOW: THE APPLE TREE. CHAPTER X. A FRUITFUL FAMILY: THE PEACH, ALMOND, PLUM AND CHERRY. CHAPTER XI. THE CHERRY-STORY. CHAPTER XII. THE MULBERRY FAMILY. CHAPTER XIII. QUEER RELATIONS: THE CAOUTCHOUC AND THE MILK TREE. CHAPTER XIV. HOME AND ABROAD: LINDEN, CAMPHOR, BEECH. CHAPTER XV. THE TENT AND THE LOCUSTS. CHAPTER XVI. THE WALNUT FAMILY AND THE AILANTHUS. CHAPTER XVII. SOME BEAUTIFUL TREES: THE CHESTNUT AND HORSE-CHESTNUT. CHAPTER XVIII. AMONG THE PINES. CHAPTER XIX. GIANT AND NUT PINES. CHAPTER XX. MORE WINTER TREES: THE FIRS AND THE SPRUCES. CHAPTER XXI. THE CEDARS. CHAPTER XXII. THE PALMS.

On that bright spring afternoon when three happy, interested children went off to the woods with their governess to take their first lesson in the study of wild flowers, they saw also some other things which made a fresh series of "Elmridge Talks," and these things were found among the trees of the roadside and forest.

"What makes it look so _yellow_ over there, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, who was peering curiously at a clump of trees that seemed to have been touched with gold or sunlight. "And just look over here," she continued, "at these pink ones!"

Malcolm shouted at the idea:

"Yellow and pink trees! That sounds like a Japanese fan. Where are they, I should like to know?"

"Here, you perverse boy!" said his governess as she laughingly turned him around. "Are you looking up into the sky for them? There is a clump of golden willows right before you, with some rosy maples on one side. What other colors can you call them?"

Malcolm had to confess that "yellow and pink trees" were not so wide of the mark, after all, and that they were very pretty. Little Edith was particularly delighted with them, and wanted to "pick the flowers" immediately.

"They are too high for that, dear," was the reply, "and these blossoms--for that is what they really are, although nothing more than fringes and catkins--are much prettier massed on the trees than they would be if gathered. The still-bare twigs and branches seem, as you see, to be draped with golden and rose-colored veils, but there will be no leaves until these queer flowers have dropped. If we look closely at the twigs and branches, we shall see that they are glossy and polished, as though they had been varnished and then brightened with color by the painter's brush. It is the flowing of the sap that does this. The swelling of the bark occasioned by the flow of sap gives the whole mass a livelier hue; hence the ashen green of the poplar, the golden green of the willow and the dark crimson of the peach tree, the wild rose and the red osier are perceptibly heightened by the first warm days of spring."

"Miss Harson," asked Clara, with a perplexed face, "what are catkins?"

"Here," said her governess, reaching from the top bar of the road-fence for the lowest branch of a willow tree; "examine this catkin for yourself, and I will tell you what my _Botany_ says of it: 'An ament, or catkin, is an assemblage of flowers composed of scales and stamens or pistils arranged along a common thread-like receptacle, as in the chestnut and willow. It is a kind of calyx, by some classed as a mode of inflorescence (or flowering), and each chaffy scale protects one or more of the stamens or pistils, the whole forming one aggregate flower. The ament is common to forest-trees, as the oak and chestnut, and is 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.

Continue Reading →

The first chapter of Among the Trees at Elmridge opens not with a lecture but with a child's exclamation: “What makes it look so yellow over there, Miss Harson?” The governess responds by turning a boy around and calling him a “perverse boy” for looking at the sky instead of the golden willows. This small exchange establishes a narrative voice that is both patient and teasing, blending precise observation with affectionate correction. The children—Clara, Malcolm, and little Edith—are not passive listeners; they interrupt, misidentify, and demand explanations. Miss Harson, in turn, uses their mistakes as teaching moments, grounding abstract botanical concepts in what the children can see: the “golden and rose-colored veils” of catkins, the “glossy and polished” twigs brightened by sap. The prose moves between dialogue and description, shifting pace from quick banter to slower, more meditative passages about the flow of sap and the swelling of bark.

A Governess Who Teaches by Turning Children Around

The narrative voice in Among the Trees at Elmridge is distinctive for its blend of authority and warmth. Miss Harson does not simply deliver facts; she engages the children in a back-and-forth that reveals their personalities. Malcolm, the “perverse boy,” is teased for his literal-mindedness, while Clara is praised for her quick observations. The governess uses physical gestures—turning Malcolm around, pointing to a clump of trees—to redirect attention. This method of teaching through gentle correction and humor gives the prose a conversational rhythm. The children’s questions drive the exposition: when Clara asks about “yellow and pink trees,” Miss Harson explains that the colors come from catkins, which are “nothing more than fringes and catkins” but are “much prettier massed on the trees.” The voice here is precise but not dry, using simile (“as though they had been varnished”) to make the unfamiliar vivid.

From Golden Willows to the Bread-Fruit Family

The book’s structure moves from immediate sensory impressions to broader botanical classifications. In the mulberry chapter, the children’s interest in Mrs. Bush’s mulberries leads Miss Harson to explain that the mulberry belongs to the bread-fruit family, alongside the fig, banyan, and “deadly upas tree.” Malcolm’s reaction—“Well, trees are queer things… to belong to families that are not a bit alike”—captures the tension between visible differences and hidden similarities. The governess responds by listing shared traits: “alternate, toothed or lobed or entire leaves and milky juice.” This shift from anecdote to taxonomy is characteristic of the book’s pacing. A story about visiting a lonely old woman gives way to a discussion of the cow tree of South America, which yields “rich and wholesome milk.” The prose moves fluidly between the domestic and the exotic, the familiar and the strange, without losing the thread of the children’s curiosity.

The Pace of Observation: Catkins, Sap, and Silkworms

Church varies the pace of her prose by alternating between quick, sensory descriptions and slower, explanatory passages. The opening chapter dwells on the appearance of catkins: “the still-bare twigs and branches seem… to be draped with golden and rose-colored veils.” This is followed by a more technical explanation of sap flow and bark swelling. Later, in the mulberry section, the pace slows again as Miss Harson describes the fruit as “unusually small for tree-fruit, and very soft when ripe… not unlike a long, narrow blackberry.” The children’s interjections—Clara’s surprise that silkworms do not always eat mulberry leaves, Malcolm’s question about birch bark—serve as punctuation, breaking up longer explanations. The result is a rhythm that mirrors the act of looking: a quick glance, a closer inspection, a moment of wonder, and then a patient unraveling of how things work.

Readers approaching Among the Trees at Elmridge will find that its value lies less in systematic botany than in the interplay between a teacher’s voice and her pupils’ curiosity. The book rewards attention to its small dramas—a child’s misidentification, a governess’s gentle laugh, a mulberry tree that leads to a lesson on the bread-fruit family. The pace shifts as naturally as a walk through the woods, and the best way to read it is to follow the children’s lead: stop when something catches your eye, ask questions, and let the answers unfold.

That rainy afternoon, Ella Rodman Church’s governess showed me how a maple’s sap rises before its leaves dare appear—patience dressed as science. Afterwards, I found myself lingering on the shelf, wanting that same quiet hush for blossoms, a gentler primer. So I opened Flowers, Shown to the Children — Key Ideas to Explore, and the rain kept falling, unhurried.