UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



a vital process also. The making of a loaf of bread 

 is, up to a certain point, a mechanical process; then 

 higher and finer processes set in. And all the cake 

 and pastry and loaves in the bakeshop do not differ 

 from the original bin of wheat any more than the 

 great family of secondary rocks differs from the un- 

 milled harvest of the earth's original crust. And the 

 increase in bulk seems to have been quite as great 

 as that which the bin of wheat undergoes in passing 

 from the kernel to the loaf or the roll. The leaven 

 that went to the making of our shale and sandstone 

 loaves seems to have been contributed by the sea 

 when the batch was mixed and baked. Little doubt 

 that the bulk of the material of the sedimentary 

 rocks came through the process of erosion and depo- 

 sition from the original igneous rocks, but how has 

 it expanded and augmented during the process ! It 

 seems to have swelled almost as the inorganic swells 

 in passing into the organic. 



