Trees and Men 



A TREE IS A LIVING THING 



N. T. MIROV 



FROM THE SEED that in the au- 

 tumn falls to the ground and is 

 covered with leaves and soil, a tree is 

 born. The seed is a thing to marvel at. 



Pick up a pine nut; crack it open. 

 The rich kernel, called endosperm, is 

 packed with starch, fat, and proteins. 

 Inside the kernel is cradled the ivory 

 rod that is an embryo pine, a baby 

 tree. On one end of the miniature 

 stem is a tuft of pale leaves ; the taper- 

 ing opposite end of the rod will de- 

 velop into a root. 



Gut open a mellow acorn. In it the 

 baby tree does not rest inside rich, 

 nutritional tissue. The starch and fat 

 and proteins are packed in the two 

 seed leaves of the embryo, which are 

 plump and round like the two halves 



Pictured above is the famous Logan Elm, 

 in southern Ohio. State-owned, it antedates 

 the Revolution. In 1939, the tree was 70 feet 

 high and had a crown spread of 148 feet. 



802062 49 2 



of a peanut. The whole acorn inside 

 the shell is an embryo. 



In the spring, when the soil gets 

 warm enough and moisture is abun- 

 dant, deep changes begin to take place 

 in the dormant seed, already condi- 

 tioned by the low winter temperatures. 

 The embryo tree awakens from its 

 sleep and begins to grow. What causes 

 this awakening of life is not exactly 

 known, and what is known is compli- 

 cated, indeed. The growth hormone is 

 activated; the enzymes, whose part is 

 to direct and hasten living processes, 

 start their work feverishly. The insolu- 

 ble stored fats and starch begin to 

 break down to soluble sugars, mainly 

 dextrose. The stored proteins are split 

 by the enzymes into some 20 soluble 

 compounds called amino acids. Both 

 sugars and amino acids are rushed to 

 the growing points, where still different 

 enzymes rearrange them into building 



