IN TREES. 301 



and if the leaves are stripped off, or eaten by cater- 

 pillars, or destroyed by any other means, the only 

 effort that can be made by the food from the root, is 

 the pushing out of new leaves and buds ; and if these 

 are picked off as soon as they make their appear- 

 ance, no more wood is added to the tree. It is by 

 availing themselves of this property of trees that 

 the people of China contrive to get several succes- 

 sions of leaves from their tea-plants in the course 

 of the season. But as the first crop comes after the 

 winter's repose of the tree, and when the roots are 

 in the greatest activity, that crop is fine and more 

 highly flavoured than those that are gathered later 

 in the season. 



As in most trees the roots are put out before the 

 stem at the commencement, in each year's action, 

 the rootlets, or absorbent vessels of each year, are 

 formed before the leaves of that year. For that 

 reason, the autumn or winter is a much better season 

 for planting trees than the spring, provided those 

 trees are intended to show leaves in the ensuing 

 summer. Indeed, if the transplanting is delayed till 

 the rootlets are fully formed, the tree is in as much 

 jeopardy as if it were completely in leaf, or even 

 in more. The action of the rootlets ceases sooner 

 than that of the leaves, so that they pass into the 

 state of winter repose at an earlier period of the 

 autumn. 



During the first winter after it issues from the 

 acorn, the oak of the first year, with the loss only 

 of its leaves which have been cast off, remains in- 

 active till the return of the season. When that 

 comes round, the elaboration of the second oak is 

 begun. 



The growth of that oak, though still an interesting 

 operation, is not quite so wonderful as the first, for 

 there is a basis of both wood and bark for the second 

 one ; and the vegetable action is expanded over the 

 whole surface where they come in contact ; whereas, 

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