INTRODUCTION xix 



can be made to supply all the needs of a not too- 

 luxurious member of society. In certain islands 

 of the seas this prolific plant furnishes the natives 

 with the wood from which they build their houses, 

 their boats and their utensils. When the leaves 

 are young, they are eaten. When they are old, 

 they are woven and braided into hats, baskets, cloth, 

 fans, bedding, paper, and thatch. The ribs of the 

 mature leaves are converted into arrows, spears, 

 brooms, torches, and paddles. Out of the flowers 

 come wine, vinegar, and sugar. The fruit makes 

 a delicious food, and its husk yields oil, cord, and 

 matting. Even the roots of this useful creature 

 are sometimes used for food. 



These things are not cited to further the idea 

 that the trees were created to be the servants of 

 man. They have their own lives to live and their 

 own problems to solve. But under the existing 

 laws of life, every creature lives at the expense or 

 rather by the help and co-operation of many others. 

 Man, as the highest type of vegetable or animal 

 life yet evolved, is able to enlist the services of vast 

 numbers of his fellow creatures. Right generous 

 and royal is their co-operation, and often beastly 

 and rapacious is his squandering of their lives and 

 bodies. 



Botanically, trees are perennial plants having 



