How Trees Live and Die 



Trees literally breathe, inhaling oxygen and exhaling 

 carbonic acid gas. The leaves are the lungs of the 

 tree. On the lower surface of the leaf are vast multi- 

 tudes of minute mouths or openings (100,000 to the 

 square inch, it is estimated) which admit the air and 

 expel the carbon. 



There are other openings, called lenticels, in the 

 bark, dots and lines which can be easily seen on the 

 twigs and smooth branches, which help the leaves just 

 as the pores of the skin help th'e lungs. The perspira- 

 tion of plants is technically known as transpiration. 



The exhalation of water from the leaves is very 

 great. That from a large oak is estimated at 150 gal- 

 lons a day during the summer. The evaporation of 

 water from the forests is fully as important as that 

 from the ocean, if not more so. The ocean alone could 

 not produce rain enough to sustain vegetation. 



The roots also are active in taking oxygen from the 

 air, which is always active in porous soil. A tree may 

 be smothered by piling earth on its roots or harden- 

 ing the soil around them, says the Christian Intelli- 

 gencer; it may be drowned by keeping its roots water- 

 soaked. Coal gas will choke it. 



The tip ends of the tree roots absorb moisture from 

 the ground, even in zero weather, but the passage of 

 water from the roots up the trunk is retarded until 

 winter relaxes its hold. The largest roots anchor the 

 tree to the soil and do but little else. The slender root- 

 lets and the tips of the large roots collect all that part 

 of the tree's food which coines from the ground. 



Trees eat and drink through the leaves and the root- 

 lets. 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 sea- 

 son is very short, ending by midsummer. The sum- 

 mer drouths cut off or diminish the supply of water. 

 The leaves are battered and eaten by insects. 



A long period of rest is essential that twigs may 

 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 the nutritious parts of each leaf before it 

 casts it off. When winter comes it generally finds the 

 tree ready. The lenticels are sealed during the winter 

 to prevent the breathing away of the tree's moisture. 



Each leaf is a laboratory where minerals and gases, 



water and sunshine are made into nourishment for the 

 living tissue, from which comes wood, cork, flower, 

 fruit and a large number of gums, oils, essences and 

 perfumes, which have become indispensable in art, 

 manufacture and medicine. 



The leaves take charge of the nourishment of the 

 tree as soon as they open. They prepare food only in 

 the day time and in the presence of the sunlight; the 

 more warmth the more work. They make a complex 

 substance known as starch, containing carbon, oxygen 

 and hydrogen. The tree finds its growing season inau- 

 gurated when it is supplied with foliage. Each leaf is 

 a builder. A large sugar maple is estimated to have 

 432,000 leaves, presenting to the sunlight an area of 

 half an acre. 



The closing of the leaflets at night reduces evapora- 

 tion, which is a cooling process and enables the tree to 

 save much of its heat. The cause of the brilliant foli- 

 age in the autumn is the chemical decomposition of the 

 useless mineral substance in the leaves when the living 

 substance is withdrawn. No two of the untold mil- 

 lions of leaves in the forest are exactly alike. 



The wood of the tree is not alive, neither is the bark. 

 But between the bark and the wood is a peculiar cellu- 

 lar substance known as cambium, which is the living 

 part of the tree, from which new tissues are developed. 

 This ministry, by the leaves, is what lengthens the 

 branches and roots and adds to the tree's diameter. 

 The upward mounting of the sap remains one of the 

 unexplored mysteries of plant life. If a tree is girdled 

 it usually dies because the descending sap cannot 

 reath the roots, which soon perish of starvation from 

 lack of food sent them by the leaves. 



A tree does not die of old age. It accumulates in- 

 firmities with the years and has many diseases. It 

 may starve or die of thirst; caterpillars may eat its foli- 

 age, scale bugs suck its juices, beetles tunnel under 

 the bark, scab, rust, moulds, rot, blight, may prey 

 upon it. The wind is also an enemy. Peeling the 

 bark of the birch does not kill it. The lumbering sea- 

 son is over when the sap begins to stream upward, as 

 wood cut "in the sap" is liable to decay. A sugar 

 maple in three weeks yields of its life blood to the ex- 

 tent of twenty-five gallons (seventy drops falling every 

 minute), which boils down to a little less than five 

 pounds of sugar. The trees are not injured if properly 

 treated, not exhausted by being bored too much or at 

 the wrong time. 



The Private Estate Superintendent 



By Henry Cliff. 



The superintendance of the private estates of our coun- 

 try is a subject of much concern to the owners, and full of 

 real interest to those whose lines are cast into this line of 

 occupation, as a realization of their life's hope and 

 learning, it becomes a topic of such importance that 

 though much has been written and spoken upon the sub- 

 ject, much remains unsaid ere the subject can become 

 threadbare. What manner of men must they be these 

 superintendents ; how and where are they trained, and 

 what is required of them ? The large private estates, and 

 many which can scarcely be called large if mere acreage 

 is meant, comprise all that can be considered necessary to 

 be at least desirable as adjuncts of the country homes of 

 those who are wealthy, and whose tastes and desires are 

 the one consideration. Absorbed in the town and stress 



of business, as is the case usually, the owner requires a 

 man who is at once competent and trustworthy, into 

 whose care he may safely leave his home, or so much of it 

 as may properly be'cared for by a superintendent. The 

 property itself, with its owner's houses, stables, garages, 

 barns and cottages. Horses for work on the property, 

 also for the use and pleasure of the family, the cow 

 barn, with its herd of valuable cattle, the dairy and poul- 

 try farm. The water supply and lighting equipment. The 

 greenhouses, where flowers and plants, also vegetables, 

 are to be raised all the year 'round, and only the first 

 quality is acceptable ; the flower garden, vegetable 

 garden, lawns, walks, roads. The care of trees, and the 

 farming land. Most of these, and in some cases all of 

 these, are matters which become the constant care of this 



