CHAPTER IV: HOW TREES SPEND THE 



WINTER 



Nine out of every ten intelligent people will see nothing of 

 interest in a row of bare trees. They casually state that buds 

 are made in the early spring. They miss seeing the strength 

 and beauty of tree architecture which the foliage conceals in 

 summertime. The close-knit, alive-looking bark of a living tree 

 they do not distinguish from the dull, loose-hung garment worn 

 by the dead tree in the row. All trees look alike to them in 

 winter. 



Yet there is so much to see if only one will take time to look. 

 Even the most heedless are struck at times with the mystery of 

 the winter trance of the trees. They know that each spring re- 

 enacts the vernal miracle. Thoughtful people have put questions 

 to these Sphinx-like trees. Secrets the bark and bud scales hide 

 have been revealed to those who have patiently and importunately 

 inquired. A keen pair of eyes used upon a single elm in the 

 dooryard for a whole year will surprise and inform the observer. 

 It will be indeed the year of miracle. 



A tree has no centre of life, no vital organs corresponding 

 to those of animals. It is made up, from twig to root, of annual, 

 concentric layers of wood around a central pith. It is completely 

 covered with a close garment of bark, also made of annual layers. 

 Between bark and wood is a delicate undergarment of living 

 tissue called cambium. This is disappointing when one comes 

 to look for it, for all there is of it is a colourless, slimy substance 

 that moistens the youngest layers of wood and bark, and forms 

 the layer of separation between them. This cambium is the 

 life of the tree. A hollow trunk seems scarcely a disability. The 

 loss of limbs a tree can survive and start afresh. But girdle 

 its trunk, exposing a ring of the cambium to the air, and the tree 

 dies. The vital connection of leaves and roots is destroyed by 

 the girdling; nothing can save the tree's life. Girdle a limb or a 

 twig and all above the injury suffers practical amputation. 



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