TREES WITH AN EDUCATION 73 



woody snakes of almost any tree. The owner of 

 such a garden can pick his breakfast fruit from his 

 window. If the weather is a little cold, or insects 

 especially hungry, he often places paper bags 

 around the ripening apples or pears. 



To the Japanese is granted the ability to make 

 playthings of the trees. By a special course of 

 repressive training they are able to dwarf the proc- 

 esses of nature so that a pine springing from ordi- 

 nary stock grows to a maturity perfect in every 

 way and dies at a ripe old age of one hundred and 

 fifty years without exceeding a height of one foot 

 and without ever getting its roots out of a flower 

 pot. It is positively uncanny to see one of their 

 gnarled but miniature maples and realise that this 

 is no product of the toymaker's art but a living, 

 growing thing reduced by man's genius to about 

 one-sixtieth of its normal size. It is not uncom- 

 mon to see a whole landscape reproduced on a 

 tray. 



Such phenomena are only developed through un- 

 ceasing care and patience. The general mode of 

 procedure is to plant an ordinary tree-seed in a 

 small pot. Just as soon as it raises an expectant 

 shoot above the ground some vigilant man by never- 

 ending pruning and nipping prevents it from ex- 

 panding its branches beyond a definitely proscribed 



