De, LIFE OF A TREE. 
it would become thicker and thicker. So it is 
in the plant from the beginning to the end of 
its existence. It is always growing tall and stout, 
by fresh cells of different kinds being added to 
it, at the top for the stem, at the bottom for the 
root, and at the sides for the branches. Thus 
we may say that a whole tree is a mass of little 
vegetable cells, put together in different ways, 
and of different kinds as to what they contain 
inside, &c. Methinks I hear one say,—What! 
is wood made up of cells? are leaves, and flowers, 
and fruit, all cells! All are cells, — but con- 
taining various different ingredients, and shaped 
in various different ways, as they have different 
and perhaps opposite duties to fulfil in the great 
tree to which they belong. 
Yet more wonderful is the fact, that all these 
minute cells are so many chemical laboratories, in 
which the most remarkable changes take place. 
Here, for example, in these little cells is pre- 
pared the food which is to nourish and sustain 
the lives of men, beasts, and birds. Here, also, 
all our pleasant odours are produced, before the 
evening air, laden with dew, has snatched them 
from the flower; strong and potent drugs to 
