188 DEATH OF THE TREE FOUNDED ON 



tion of the seed, and dies after nourishing into life the 

 embryo plant which is contained within its folds. 



Not only the leaves, but the shoots, branches, and 

 branchlets, arrive at their maximum development, and 

 then manifest all the symptoms of a gradually expiring 

 vitality ; and this, too, at different periods of time. It is 

 not always that leaves form buds, or buds become mother- 

 shoots or branches. The leaves situated towards the upper 

 part of the shoot usually form the finest buds ; and from 

 these shoots proceed, which develope other shoots, at their 

 sides and summits, and thus become mother-shoots or 

 branches ; and these branches develope another genera- 

 tion of shoots or branchlets ; and so on, until the vital 

 powers of the branch are exhausted, which happens some- 

 times in the second, third, and occasionally in the fourth 

 generation. But the buds produced by the under leaves 

 either form rudimentary shoots, or mere clusters of leaves ; 

 or, if the leaves should have a sufficiency of vital power 

 to form intern odes, and thus become separated from each 

 other, yet the buds produced by them remain inactive, 

 and the shoots thus formed never become mother-shoots, 

 but their term of life speedily draws to its close. Every 

 year may be perceived, especially on tlje under part of the 

 stem and branches of trees, these primary branches thus 

 gradually expiring, or absolutely dead. They are quite as 

 easily detached from the stem as an ordinary leaf, and are 

 generally removed by the wind. 



And the fate which thus overtakes the individual parts 

 of the tree, or the tree in the lower stages of its develop- 

 ment, will finally overtake the tree itself, when fully deve- 

 loped ; for the same law which gives form to the tree and 

 its several parts, the law of the decrease of growth in the 

 upper parts of the mdin stem or axis, as also in the suc- 

 cessive generations of branches, is that which must finally 

 set bounds to the existence of the tree itself. 



An animal may continue to live after it ceases to grow, 

 but with the tree it is otherwise ; for the tree continues to 

 grow as long as it livens, and when it ceases to grow in any 



