LIFE OF A CHERRY TREE 



arranging and packing up those stores in the safest place and 

 in the most convenient form. 



Just as a bear, before it retires to sleep during the winter, 

 takes care to get as fat as possible, so the Cherry turns its 

 starch to fat, and stores it away in the innermost and least 

 exposed parts of the tree, that is in the central wood. As 

 soon as the winter ends, and indeed before it heis ended, pre- 

 parations are beginning for the great moment of the year. 

 For weeks there is a slow, gradual, almost imperceptible 

 growth of the buds, then they develop with a rush, and in six 

 to ten days double or treble their weight. Then comes the 

 supreme moment, for the flower-buds suddenly burst open 

 and the Cherry is in active and vigorous bloom and covered 

 all over with exquisite blossoms. All last year's fats and 

 starches are rapidly used up. Very soon the young leaves 

 are beginning to make sugar and other food, which give some 

 help during the ripening of the fruit. 



The flowers are actively at work. One of our usual mis- 

 conceptions as to the nature of a flower is that it is an em- 

 blem of peace, of restful enjoyment, of serene contemplation 

 of its own beauty. That is very far from being the truth. 

 The petals are actively, vigorously working. If one could 

 take the pulse of a petal, which shows the rapidity of its 

 breathing, one would find that it is twice as fast as that of 

 the leaf. The work of changing water into vapour and 

 pouring it out goes on three times as quickly in the petals 

 (as compared with the leaves). Moreover their temperature 

 is higher, and often distinctly above that of the atmosphere. 



This feverish activity of the flowers themselves is matched 

 by the hurrying crowds of excited and exhilarated insects 

 which are searching every blossom. 



No wonder that the Japanese Prime Minister, in the midst 



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