44 SUMMER 



looks most solid, a hill of green, against the cloud ; but it is 

 in reality a hollow hill, an architectural dome, hollow in the 

 centre. Of course the shell of the dome is not symmetric, 

 but in tree or bush, in elm or rose, a vast majority of the 

 leaves reach to the outside, and the obscuring of one leaf by 

 another is avoided with amazing success. Only those who 

 climb will quite realise this. The leaves on most trees inter- 

 fere not at all, and though there are little leafy twigs here, 

 there, and everywhere, the number of leaves they carry is 

 very small indeed compared with the case of the dome. 

 Bush leaves are even more successful than tree leaves in this 

 struggle for 'a place in the sun.' If you were to take an 

 instrument and peel a wild rose-bush you would disclose an 

 emptiness of leafless shoots. But the successful skill of the 

 struggle for light is best seen in the arrangement of the 

 leaves that have reached the outer circle. They arrange 

 themselves in mosaics so accurate that a bird looking outward 

 would scarcely see more than a pattern of slender cracks of 

 daylight, in places would see merely a pattern of unbroken 

 leaves. This natural mosaic is perhaps seen best of all in 

 some climbing plants, notably the ivy. The ivy shoot seems 

 to rejoice in darkness. It bores its head into any crack, as 

 it should do seeing that it carries roots. But the leaves are 

 light-lovers, and however thick they grow they arrange them- 

 selves so that each overlaps its neighbour as little as may 

 be. Without much searching, especially if you look to the 

 younger shoots, you may find patterns as neat and comely 

 as they are ingeniously fitted. 



It is true that leaves both old and young may suffer from 

 much light, and do indeed take precautions against its dangers. 

 But the precaution is seldom found by way of avoiding the 

 field of light. The defence is from within. We can all see 

 the difference between the bright fresh green of spring, when 

 first ' burgeons every maze of quick ' and the sober greens 



