THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
in zero weather, but the passage of water from the roots up the trunk
ir « toth U"í" T M ' rekXeS ÍtS h° ‘d- The largest roots an<*or ‘he
tree to he soil and do but little else. The slender rootlets and the tips
f / o X ar~
CO' IeCt a' lth a tP a rt ° fth e ,ree’Sf°°d
—
Trees eat and drink through the leaves and the rootlets. While they
breathe all the time, day and night, rain or shine, as steadily as we do
they feed only part of the time. They sleep in the night, during rainy
weather and throughout the winter. The growing season is very short
ending by mid-summer. The Summer droughts cut off or diminish
t le supply of water. The leaves are battered and eaten by insects.
A long period of rest is essential that twigs mav harden and the
wood ripen. Careful preparation for Winter takes the place of further
thickening of the trunk or lengthening of the limbs. The twigs and
stems and roots must be stocked with food. The tree strives to take in
all nutritious parts of each leaf before it casts it off. When Winter
comes d go.
ny finds
tree ready
the W inter to prevent the breathing away of the tree's moisture.
Each leaf is a laboratory, where minerals and gases, water and sun
shine are made into nourishment for the living tissue, from which
conies wood, cork, flower, fruit and a large number of gums, oils, es
sences and perfumes which have become indispensable in art manu
facture and medicine.
T
o n l!'6 t
take Chal? e ° f the nourishment of 'he tree as soon as they
open. They prepare food only in the daytime and in the presence of
the sunlight; the mere warmth the more work. They make a com
plex s,distance known as starch, containing carbon, oxygen and hvdro-
f... f r
i fil,'ls ,ls Kr,l"'"iK season inaugurated when it is supplied
to have 432 000 f
A
S“gar map'e is estin,at«>
‘o have 432,000 leaves, presenting to the sunlight an area of half an
acre.
The closing of the leaflets at night reduces evaporation, which is a cool
ing process and enables the tree to save much of its heat. The cause of
le brilliant foliage in the Autumn is the chemical decomposition of the
useless mineral subtance in the leaves when the living substance is with-
aHke"'
tW° the Un‘°ld mil,ionsof ,eaves in the f°«*t are exactly
The wood of the tree is not alive, neither is the bark. But between
the bark and the wood is a peculiar cellular substance known as cam
bium, which is the living part of the tree, from which new tissues are
developed. Tins ministry, by the leaves, is what lengthens the bran
ches and roots and adds to the tree’s diameter. The upward mount
ing of the sap remains one of the unexplored mysteries of plant life.