BREAD FROM PINE-TREES. 167 
Autumn has now come. The tree forms no 
more wood, and having, as we have seen, in suc- 
cession put forth its leaves, flowers, and fruit, little 
now remains for us to say concerning it, before 
the arrival of the Winter of the natural season, 
and of the Winter of vegetable old age; but this 
little is both important and interesting. After 
the month of August, trees form no more the 
woody bands, of which we have before spoken, 
and which form the concentric ring-marks noticed 
at the commencement of this chapter. ‘The tree 
is not, however, inactive. Its leaves still continue 
in activity, though with diminished powers; but 
instead of forming wood, they now form starch 
out of the food they obtain from the air and. the 
soil. This starch is stored up in cells through- 
out the whole tree, sometimes accumulating more 
in one part than in another. It is intended not 
for the use of the tree itself, but generally for 
the nourishment of the young leaves and branches 
of the next Spring. 
The starch thus deposited in the trunk of the 
tree, sometimes is extracted by man for the pur- 
pose of food. Thus we are told that bread is 
made from the bark of pine-trees in Sweden 
