TREES THAT BUILD CITIES 3 



reach up toward the sunshine and the great sky. 



Alas, for the young and inexperienced! A 

 greedy bird pulls up and eats some of the choicest 

 seedlings. A careless animal tramples half their 

 number to death. That very autumn there comes 

 a drought. Rain does not fall for months. Even 

 the strongest roots shrink up with thirst ; they grow 

 seer and yellow with premature age. Then comes 

 not the deluge, but the fire of destruction. A great 

 conflagration roars across the horizon, advances 

 with incredible rapidity and licks up the whole 

 colony with one cruel tongue of flame. 



Everything is over now No, not quite. Three 

 or four of the hardiest varieties, especially those 

 that had sent roots deep into the soil, still have a 

 little life left. All winter long they lie dormant, 

 but with spring's quickening touch they raise feeble 

 heads and push their way up into the sunlight. 

 They are ready to start all over again! 



So is a tree colony founded in toil and tribulation, 

 and year after year must its members struggle both 

 with outside agencies and among themselves. The 

 more one studies a tree city, the closer does its re- 

 semblance to human cities appear. The more one 

 studies a single tree, the more it seems like some 

 lone human soul struggling for life amid millions 

 of its fellows. 



