THE REAL TREE 157 



a monotonous stretch of treeless country as the plains 

 of Arizona that wait for irrigation, the Easterner 

 for the first time has a full appreciation of the beauty 

 of his familiar wooded hillsides and tree-lined 

 streets. Out of the homesickness for forest scenery, 

 as well as the necessity for protection and wood 

 supply, came the great tree-planting crusade that 

 swept over the Middle West and will yet dot every 

 state with homes surrounded by groves. 



THE REAL TREE 



BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 



From Over the Teacups 



WHAT a strange underground life is that which 

 is lead by the organisms we call trees! These great 

 fluttering masses of leaves, stems, boughs, trunks, 

 are not the real tree. They live underground, and 

 what we see are nothing more nor less than their 

 tails. 



Yes, a tree is an underground creature, with its 

 tail in the air. All its intelligence is in its roots. 

 All the senses it has are in its roots. Think what 

 sagacity it shows in its search after food and drink! 

 Somehow or other, the rootlets, which are its ten- 

 tacles, find out there is a brook at a moderate dis- 

 tance from the trunk of the tree, and they make for 

 it with all their might. They find every crack in 



