HOG an] a city GIRL'S STORY, MISS MAPLE TREE 309 



But before she retired for her beauty sleep, she thought it best 

 to send out cards, stating when she would be at home. She did this 

 by gracefully disposing of a number of leaf cards for Mr. Wind to 

 distribute to her numerous friends. Next she carefully blanketed 

 her treasures, which were her buds, in waxy sheets, for Sir Frost 

 was not careful about how he treated her treasure in winter. 



Now, Miss Maple Tree did not always go to parties, for she is a 

 busy, lively body, and she runs a starch factory. The cells that 

 make up each one of her leaves form the factory. There are lots 

 of interesting things in this factory. Miss Maple Tree has raw 

 materials which are carbon-dioxide and water. She has machinery 

 too, which is made up of little green bodies called chlorophyll 

 grains. And do you know what power runs this factory? Well, 

 it is sunHght power. Now every factory must have waste material 

 that it does not need, and in this factory it is oxygen. But the 

 most important thing of this factory is the finished product which 

 is starch, and is what Miss Maple Tree eats in order to live and grow. 



Miss Maple Tree does not use all this starch at once. No, she 

 is very saving. She sends it down in an elevator through the eleva- 

 tor shaft called the tree trunk. Then she stores it in many con- 

 venient places including her cellar which is at the base of the 

 elevator shaft. When she needs it, she immediately sends her 

 messenger boy, little Mr. Sap. He rushes down and around and 

 brings the quantity back. 



Miss Tree has also connected with her factory, a subway, which 

 is an extensive root system. Her cars, the rootlets, travel along 

 from the end of the subway all through the underground surface 

 and pick up the raw materials for the factory. The windows let 

 the materials in through osmotic panes of glass. At a short dis- 

 tance from where the little rootlet cars stop, little Mr. Sap is busy 

 at his job and drags the materials the rest of the way. 



To make it more clear, let us watch Mr. Sap. He rushes to the 

 cars for he can see them full of raw materials. He opens his arms 

 and takes them from the cars. Now he has quite a heavy bundle, 

 so it will take him some time to travel. He drags the materials 

 through the long tunnels, the roots, until he reaches the end, which 

 is at the base of the tree. Then Miss Tree sees him and sends the 

 elevator down through the sap wood of the trunk shaft. Mr. Sap 

 hops on, delighted to be lifted with his burden. Up goes the elevator, 

 to the factory doors, the ends of the branches. Then Mr. Sap 



