CHAPTER III 

 THE GROWTH OF THE TREE 



No book on forestry, no matter how "popular" it may 

 be, would be complete without a brief sketch describing 

 the parts of a tree and how it grows, for on that knowl- 

 edge is based the management of the woodlot in all its 

 phases. 



A tree is a plant of upright growth which usually 

 attains a height of at least fifteen feet. It consists of an 

 upright branching stem, roots, leaves, buds, flowers and 

 fruit. The stem is usually unbranched below, when the 

 plant is grown, forming a trunk or bole. 



The leaves, the most evident part of the tree in summer, 

 are the factories where the food for the nourishment of the 

 whole tree is prepared. In this process they take in 

 carbonic acid gas from the air, and give off oxygen as a 

 waste product. They may be almost any shape, from the 

 feather-like compound leaves of the honey locust to the 

 needle-like leaf of the pine or the mere scale of the arbor- 

 vitse, and the size varies greatly. No matter what 

 their shape or size, they perform the same functions of 

 manufacturing the raw materials taken from the air 

 and soil into carbohydrates for plant-food. 



If the leaves remain on the tree over winter, this tree 

 is called an evergreen; if the leaves all fall off in the 



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