Although there are not necessarily villages where there is sun, there must be trees where there are villages. Under the shade of trees, the village can appear quiet and serene, like an old man sitting in front of the door, enjoying the warmth and tranquility of life. However, in the rural areas of northern Jiangsu, the tree species are relatively simple, and many villages are Italian poplars, so it is difficult to see other tree species. The reason why Italian poplar can be popularized and widely planted is that its growth period is very short, and it can be listed and traded in only ten or even several years.
This single planting structure not only destroys the ecological environment of trees, but also brings troubles to people. At the turn of spring and summer every year, during the flowering season of Italian poplars, a lot of cotton wool floats with the wind and dances in the air like snow. People have to wear masks to avoid the feeling of Italian poplar cotton wool. Some people are allergic to Italian poplar cotton wool and dare not go out at this time. It can be said that in recent years, the ecological environment has been destroyed and people have been greatly troubled because of the large number of Italian poplars planted. It is suggested that Italian poplars should be eliminated. This kind of opinion is worthy of local reference.
When I was a child, the rural tree species were not so single. At that time, there were many kinds of trees in the countryside, which could be said to be everything. There are many trees in the village in my memory, among which the most common ones are poplar, willow and locust, as well as elm, locust, Pterocarya stenoptera, oak, mulberry and paulownia. Fruit trees include peaches, apricots, pears, dates, cherries, chestnuts and persimmons. These different kinds of trees hold up a big umbrella for the village, forming a green world. Every spring, some trees are full of flowers, which can be described as a hundred flowers blooming and colorful. Due to different tree species, the flowering period is also different, and the flowering period is continuous, so that the whole village is shrouded in the ocean of flowers.
Cherry trees are the first to blossom. Every spring, it blooms first. When the grass just sprouted, the cherry trees deliberately bloomed. Cherry blossoms often bloom inadvertently overnight. At the moment when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, the sky seemed to light up at once, and the whole world looked bright and bright. Subsequently, apricot trees and peach trees rushed to open, filling the whole village with fragrance.
The acacia flowers will bloom in late spring and early summer, and when all the fruit trees fall, the acacia flowers will bloom! Robinia pseudoacacia is ugly, but its flowers have the strongest fragrance. In the season when Robinia pseudoacacia is in full bloom, the whole village is immersed in the fragrance of Robinia pseudoacacia flowers. It is really refreshing to breathe such air. There are not many villages. As long as there are three or five acacia trees, its fragrance can cover the whole village. If there are many acacia trees, this fragrance will be more fragrant and spread further. Every spring, these trees in the village will bloom, red and white, with green leaves in the gap, making the village beautiful.
Sophora japonica is also the most common tree. Even in the capital Beijing, it is widely planted. In the article Peiping in May, Zhang Henshui, a literary giant, described the scene of planting acacia in Beijing: "Especially, acacia is planted everywhere, regardless of streets and lanes, regardless of family. In May, if you climb the top of Jingshan Mountain and have a bird's eye view of Beiping City, you will see that the houses in Beiping are scattered in the green sea. ..... The white acacia flowers are piled with snowballs on the green branches, and the sun is shining, which is very beautiful. " However, in recent years, the locust tree in our village is on the verge of extinction, which makes people sigh.
Willow is one of our favorite trees. We have a custom there, that is, in Tomb-Sweeping Day, willows should be planted in front of every house. Spring has come, willows are green and thousands of branches are hanging down. Buds appear on the branches, and over time, these buds become green leaves.
Every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, we pick willow branches and put them under the eaves above the doors and windows. This custom has continued. It is said that there is a saying in China that Tomb-Sweeping Day, July 30th and the first day of October are the three major Halloween festivals. Willow has the function of ward off evil spirits in people's minds. People insert willow and wear willow to prevent the harassment and persecution of monsters. Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty said in the Book of Qi Yao Min: "Take a willow branch and put it on the house, and a hundred ghosts will not enter the house." No wonder Tomb-Sweeping Day has become a traditional custom, which has the function of exorcism. Tomb-Sweeping Day is Halloween, and it happens to be the time when willow branches sprout, so people naturally insert willows to ward off evil spirits. It is said that the custom of inserting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. At that time, people thought that wearing willow branches could get rid of the harm of poisonous insects when offering sacrifices by the river on March 3. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the custom of inserting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day was very popular. When people come back from an outing, they stay at home to avoid insects. In fact, the purpose of inserting willow in Qingming Festival is not only to ward off evil spirits, but also to decorate the whole village with green willow branches inserted in front of every household. Every year when Qingming comes, weeping willows in front of every household in rural areas make the whole village look brand-new. What a beautiful and poetic scene it is!
When I was a child, a family in Zhuangzi had an oak tree. The fruit of an oak tree is a small acorn. When we were young, we often went to pick up small acorns under the oak tree. Gouge out the meat inside the small acorn with a knife, then open a hole at one end and dig another hole in the middle to form a 90-degree angle. Then make a hookah out of the hole at one end of the hollow bamboo. Light the hole in the middle of the cigarette acorn and you can smoke like a pipe. There is a tree with flowers like bees. At first, we didn't know the name of this tree. Later we learned that this tree is called Pterocarya stenoptera. There is also a chestnut tree. Every autumn, when the chestnuts are ripe, they will fall. The fallen chestnuts are generally ripe chestnuts, all of which have cracked their mouths. We can see chestnuts lying in chestnuts bags like babies. They are very cute. Chestnut shells are like hedgehogs. If you are not careful, your hand will be stabbed by its thorns. Therefore, we love and hate chestnuts. There is also a neem tree, which we call "Nianzao Tree". The fruit of neem tree looks like jujube, but it is smaller than jujube and can't be eaten. But the neem tree full of fruits can attract our attention, and its seeds sometimes become "bullets" for us to attack each other when we play. As for fruit trees, there are many, the most common ones are apricot, cherry, persimmon and peach. Peach trees are divided into big peaches and hairy peaches. The so-called big peach means that the skin of the peach is smooth and the peach is big. The skin of peach is covered with fluff and the fruit is relatively small. Therefore, big peaches are more edible than hairy peaches, and they are also our children's favorite. When I was a child, there was a family on the edge of the village, and a tree was covered with young trees, which made us very jealous. When the wheat is almost ripe, the small seeds can be eaten. At that time, we often went to play under the tree and looked at the children in the tree greedily, hoping that they would fall down automatically.
In the past, there were many kinds of trees growing in rural areas, because people didn't regard trees as commodities at that time, so trees could grow freely without worrying about being cut down casually. However, I don't know when trees became commodities. Tree dealers walked through the countryside and shouted in the village, which tree seller? Groups of trees were cut down. Later, because many trees grew slowly, people didn't like planting, which led to some tree species being eliminated and quitting the village. There was a time when paulownia trees became popular in rural areas because of their fast growth. Paulownia tree is also called "five-year hug", which means that after five years of growth, it can grow to the size of a person's hug. However, because the root system of paulownia is underdeveloped, the root system of paulownia is shallow in the soil, and there is no protective root around the root of the tree, so it is very resistant to lodging. In a storm in summer, most paulownia trees were blown down. Paulownia trees have short growth cycle, loose wood and little economic value. Later, slowly, paulownia trees were eliminated by the market. I don't know when poplar became the new favorite in rural areas. Now there are poplars everywhere in the rural areas of northern Jiangsu, and some places are also called "the hometown of Italian poplars", which shows that there are many poplars planted. Due to the short growth period and rapid economic benefits of poplar, people planted it vigorously, which led to the sharp decline of other tree species. The extensive planting of poplars also destroyed the ecological balance. At the turn of spring and summer every year, Yang Shuhua floods and poplars float in the air, endangering people's health. Some people are allergic to catkins, but they also avoid poplars.
People pay more and more attention to the harm caused by poplar single planting in rural areas. Many people suggest eliminating poplars. However, in today's pursuit of economic benefits, can people listen? Xin Qiji, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote in the Jade Case: "Thousands of trees bloom in the east wind night. Blowing down, the stars are like rain. BMW carved cars are full of incense. The phoenix flute moves, the jade pot turns, and the fish dragon dances all night. " A hundred flowers blossom here, vividly depicting the flourishing scene. The east wind not only drives the flowers of many trees, but also drives the flowers of many varieties of trees. What a beautiful picture this is! However, when will the present countryside go back to the past?