THE PARK* 125 



machines for forcing up water for distribution. What 

 human skill and ingenuity have done for cities and 

 towns, the Divine Author of the universe has done for 

 the tree, providing the roots and stems with a perfect 

 system of pipes, through which water is carried upward 

 by virtue of some subtle force breathed into them by 

 that Great Author, What is that subtle force that is 

 employed in raising the water? We had better enter 

 into a little detail. 



How roots and stems convey water. The roots are 

 made up of cells placed end to end ; so that those at the 

 very extremity of the root fibres and root hairs are 

 necessarily in contact with the earth. These cells have 

 a special power of absorbing moisture from the soil 

 with which they are in content. They go on 

 absorbing water and passing it onwards to neighbouring 

 cells and the water is thus ultimately transferred to the 

 water-conducting tissues of the wood in which a system 

 of tubes is present serving to convey fluid to the 

 most distant parts of the plant. This is the way 

 plants drink water, and with it take in other materials, 

 such as nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur, phosphorus &c., in 

 the form of nitrates, sulphates, phosphates &c., which 

 are essential for the building up of living tissues 

 of plants. 



Leaves also considerably help the upward flow of 

 the water. But to be able to properly understand 

 what part leaves take in this difficult business of 

 raising water to such a height, we must first learn 



