174 LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. 



curious gardener, anxious to know what plant furnished 

 this new wood, planted them, but unfortunately mistook 

 the upper end for the lower, and thus actually turned the 

 poor, mutilated trees upside down. Yet, in spite of their 

 early mutilation, the long sea voyage, and the subsequent 

 cruel treatment, they have grown and flourished beyond 

 all other orange trees on the continent. 



The next step in the life of a plant, after it has thus 

 riveted itself firmly and for ever to its mother earth, is 

 to send its stem or trunk upwards. In doing this, it is 

 evidently influenced by a desire to approach the light of 

 day. This has been proved by experiments as cruel as 

 those that used to shock our sensibilities in the days of 

 early anatomy. Seeds have been so placed, that the light 

 reflected from a mirror should fall upon them from be- 

 low, and lo! the so-called natural direction of the growth 

 of plants was completely changed ; the stem was sent 

 down and the roots grew up! When Nature, however, 

 is allowed to have her own way which we humbly sur- 

 mise to be the best stems grow towards the light, to 

 support the plant in its proper position and to raise it 

 to the requisite height above ground, where it may enjoy 

 air, light and heat. At a certain point, moreover, it spreads 

 out into branches, as the best mode of presenting the 

 largest surface, covered with leaves, to those necessaries 

 of life. Plants are thus enabled to receive the fullest 

 action of light and air, and the branches are, besides, so 

 arranged that they yield readily to the fitful impulses of 

 winds, and quickly return, by their elasticity, to their na- 

 tural position. 



