WILD PASTURES 



in which they might grow was washed 

 away from the roots of the great 

 stumps. These, in the main, have en- 

 dured, losing their bark and sap-wood, 

 but with the heart-wood still firm after 

 the lapse of two centuries. 



Here at this ebb tide I read the rec- 

 ord of growth of trees that had their 

 beginnings more than three centuries ago. 

 These roots so twine and intertwine 

 that the original sap, drawn from the 

 tender tips, must have nourished any 

 one of several trees indifferently, for 

 heart-wood joins heart-wood in scores of 

 places near the stump and far from it, 

 showing that each tree stood not only 

 on its own roots, but on those of its 

 neighbors all about it; not only was it 

 nourished by its own rootlets, but by 

 those of trees near by. No gale could 

 uproot these swamp cedars. United they 

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