BOTANICAL: THE UPPER CLASSES. 157 



the moisture of the atmosphere, and, with the inorganic 

 substances drawn from the two great sources, earth and 

 air, produce our most necessary food. You will remember 

 that in the lilac as many as 160,000 have been reckoned 

 in a square inch. Let me take an average-sized leaf from 

 the lilac tree in my garden, and measure it. See, it is 

 2f inches in length, by 2^ inches in breadth. A careful 

 measurement shows that there are 4J square inches in its 

 composition, so that there would be upwards of 640,000 

 breathing mouths on this one leaf. "What must be the 

 total number on the entire tree ? Verily a tree is a 

 miracle. 



An oak in Sussex was twice carefully measured, and 

 its contents, trunk and limbs, accurately taken, and a cor- 

 respondent of the Standard newspaper sent the following 

 result : 



December 20, 1819 .. ..458 feet 7 inches. 

 May 11,1867 6dl 3 



The circumference of the tree at one foot from the 

 ground was 



December 20, 1819 .. .. 20 feet. 



May 11, 1867 28 6 inches. 



October 2, 1889 30 9 



Don't let us dismiss this part of our study without re- 

 flecting upon the variety and glory of a tree ; remembering 

 that a tree has a very striking resemblance to a man. 

 The leaves individually fall and decay, but the tree sur- 

 vives, and the race is perpetuated. As " one star differeth 

 from another star in glory," so one tree differs from another. 

 " There is one glory of the oak, which looks as if it had 

 faced a hundred storms, and, having stood them all, 

 was ready to face as many more; another glory of the 

 sycamore, that * spreads, in gentle pomp, its honeyed 

 shade;' another glory of the birch, so graceful in the 



