6 FOREST FANCIES 



water flavored with various nutritious brands 

 of minerals. Every leaf above was a green 

 tongue calling to the roots below for water; 

 and up it came, through the tiny cells; and 

 when the leaves and green bark received it, 

 they made a new mixture, like the busy little 

 chemists that they were. The method that they 

 followed had been handed down from genera- 

 tion to generation; so you see that the mixture 

 must be good — good for oak and ivy, with a 

 slight variation in the ingredients. Old trees 

 never fail to recommend it to little trees ; they 

 say, *^Look at me, see the benefit I have de- 

 rived therefrom. I am a living advertisement 

 of its nutritive qualities,'' adding that it is 

 pleasant to the taste. 



But here is the method itself : Out of the air 

 is filtered the same kind of gas that makes bub- 

 bles in your soda-water. This gas the busy 

 chemists split up, returning some of the oxy- 

 gen to the air, but keeping all the carbon, or 

 the part of wood which makes charcoal. Then 

 they split up the water that the roots send up 

 to them, and mix in the carbon to make some- 



