CHAPTER I. 



THE BUILDING UP OF THE TREE-FORM OUT OF ITS UNIT; OR, THE 

 LIFE OF THE TREE TRACED THROUGHOUT ITS VEGETATIVE PERIOD 

 FROM INFANCY TO PUBERTY. 



A TREE is indisputably the most highly-developed form 

 which vegetable life assumes. In the appearance of one 

 that has stood for centuries, there is something noble and 

 majestic. When we look at its now massive stem and far- 

 extended branches, and then call to mind its smallness and 

 feebleness at the commencement of its life; when we re- 

 member that this great tree was once so small as to be en- 

 closed within a little seed, and that the tons of solid timber 

 which it contains have been all drawn by that seed from the 

 earth and atmosphere, we cannot but feel that we have be- 

 fore us a most impressive proof of the operations of the at- 

 tractive forces. What an immense amount of vitally orga- 

 nized material has been here gathered together ! It is God's 

 own architecture ! This mass of vegetable matter is only 

 earth and air which has undergone transmutation ! The ma- 

 terial alike of wandering zephyrs and rushing storms, of 

 gently descending night-dews and angry thunder-showers, 

 has been here, on this spot, metamorphosed! 



Yet we pass these great and wonderful works of Provi- 

 dence every day of our lives without a thought. The 

 gradual and silent building-up of a tree excites no curiosity, 

 conveys no moral lesson. What may be learned from a tree ? 

 Clear and comprehensive views of the organization and laws 

 which govern the civilized world ! Rules of conduct which 

 lie at the foundation of all success in business, all progress 



