How the Tree Grows 



47 



tory of the tree is shown. On one side may be 

 seen a large, dark scar. Years ago the stump 

 itself tells just how many a fire swept through 

 the forest. It did not kill the old oak, a young 

 tree then, but it left the burned place which you 

 see now. Some of 

 the rings are very 

 close together. In 

 those years there 

 was little rain; the 

 tree grew slowly 

 and but very little. 

 Some of the rings 

 are far apart, show- 

 ing how well the 

 tree could grow with SECTION OF A TREE SJ 

 plenty of water. Perhaps there are other scars, 

 of other fires, to be seen; perhaps also a scar 

 where years ago the tree was struck by lightning. 

 Now as it grows in thickness, the tree at the 

 same time is busy growing in height. In the first 

 year of a tree's life its little twigs grow by a sort 

 of stretching out, as if they were reaching up- 

 ward for light and air. After the first year, these 

 new shoots stop growing longer, and grow thicker. 



