CHAPTER TWO 



THE STRUCTURE OF A TREE 



WE are awed by the 

 grandeur of a great 

 tree ; it is the largest 

 and the oldest of living 

 things. Its roots pene- 

 trate deep into the 

 earth to anchor the 

 tree in its place and to 

 gather water and food 

 materials from the soil. 

 Its trunk and branches 

 hold the crown of leaves 

 up to the light. It is 

 a living being like our- 

 selves and also a struc- 

 ture that, like a tall 

 building, must carry a 

 great weight and with- 

 stand the force of the 

 winds. And so well is 

 this structure planned 

 and built that genera- 

 tions of men and ani- 

 mals may come and go and even nations may rise 

 and fall while a tree lives on and on. In nearly every 

 part of the United States there are trees still stand- 

 ing that Indian children may have played under 

 before the white man came, and some of the trees that 

 are still growing in the Western states had already 



10 



U. S. Forest Service 



FIG. 6. The "Boone Tree" near Jones- 

 boro, Tennessee. On it was carved: "D. 

 Boon cilleD A BAR on the tree in yeAR 

 1760. " The tree was blown down in 1916. 

 It was a beech about 90 feet tall. 



