202 &!)* $*ed) of tf)c Jprit^ Common. 



other, owe their power, and their play, to the unseen 

 members of the mighty column which are buried deep 

 within the earth. These, though still, are ever working. 

 Though they cannot move themselves, they move others. 

 They draw up the moisture of the earth and send it, 

 by means of a secret influence on an undiscoverable 

 machinery, which is seen in its effects, though the way 

 in which it operates is entirely unknown, to fill with life 

 the smallest leaf that quivers in the sunbeams, or the 

 tender bud that is not yet emerged from its silken 

 cradle. 



They serve likewise to brace the tree within the earth, 

 and they vary according to climate and locality. Take 

 the beech for instance, which flourishes alike in deep 

 valleys, and on windy hills. When growing in a shel- 

 tered place the roots are thrown out equally, like rays 

 diverging from a common centre. When standing on 

 an eminence or on a plain, exposed to the action of a 

 wind that blows generally from one quarter, the roots 

 spread out and grapple the firm soil towards the quarter 

 from which the wind comes. In this country it is gene- 

 rally south-west, or west-south-west; hence it happens 

 that when other causes do not interfere, our native 

 trees generally incline their heads to the north-east, 

 and their strongest roots go forth in an opposite direc- 

 tion, for the evident purpose of holding the tree 

 firm, when the stonns beat upon it. Trees are, conse- 

 quently, often uprooted by a sudden squall of wind 



