CHAPTER 2 

 HOW TREES GROW 



The friend of the tree is the friend of the race. JOHN BURROUGHS. 



FOR countless generations mankind has wondered about na- 

 ture and the innumerable processes of life and growth. From 

 the infancy of his race he has contemplated with each succeed- 

 ing springtime the slowly unfolding leaves and the blossoming 

 of flowers. He watched the steady transformation of seedling 

 to sapling and to mature tree. Regeneration, decay and death 

 were ever before him as baffling, unexplained miracles. 



Only in very recent times has this attitude of wondering 

 contemplation given way to study and experimentation, with 

 the result that gradually the boundaries of these unknown 

 realms have been pushed back. It will always be infinite this 

 realm of the unknown, but during the past hundred years 

 man has thrown more light upon it than in all the millions 

 of generations that have gone before. By painstaking study 

 and constant experimentation our knowledge of nature's work- 

 ings is increasing at a tremendous pace, yet almost all we 

 rightly know of tree growth has been gained within the last 

 half dozen generations. We are still feeling our way. We stum- 

 ble but we do learn, and year after year these dark frontiers 

 retreat before the light of science. The miracles of yesterday 

 become the explained facts of today. 



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