THE TREES 37 



the food is digested is not inside the trunk, but in the 

 leaves. Just the other way around from us, yet quite 

 as wonderful. 



Think for a moment about the long roots of the 

 tree. You know that they fasten the tree into the 

 ground and hold it firmly, but do you know that#those 

 roots spread outwards in a fine network of hairlike 

 rootlets that are drinking in food for the tree as well 

 as holding it steadfast and making it secure against 

 the wind? The tree is hke a hving pump, and up into 

 it from all those hair-like, interlaced roots gallons of 

 water are forced every day. The rootlets suck it up 

 through their millions of tiny mouths; it is pumped 

 by the sunshine up the trunk of the tree and into 

 the leaves where it is made over into the sap which 

 nourishes the tree and makes it grow. The leaves are 

 little kitchens where the water and the mineral salts 

 it contains are prepared for the use of the whole 

 tree. 



Now where should you think the heat comes from 

 that is used to prepare this food in those tiny kitch- 

 ens? From the sun, of course. So each leaf must hang 

 free and have its own place where it can receive the 

 life-giving sunshine and breathe in the air. Every 

 leaf is looked out for most carefully so that it shall 

 have sunshine and air, and God has planned each tree 

 so that it can provide for its leaves. 



A tree that has broad, heavy leaves like the horse- 

 chestnut, holds them stiffly and in an exact pattern so 

 that each leaf will stand out free from its neighbor, 

 yet so that all the leaves will fit together and take in 

 the sunlight without leaving waste spaces. The oak 



