AUTUMN LEAVES AND BUDS 169 



thing.) It is true that the buds need the leaves 

 when they are so tiny, but they do not push the 

 leaves off. Notice carefully these leaves on the 

 branch. Here is a little fence which has been 

 slowly built up between the leaf and the branch. 

 When the fence is done, the leaf drops. But this 

 fence is never built up too fast. The leaves, all 

 through the summer, are working away, for they 

 prepare all the food which the tree needs. When 

 the little fence is begun, the tree ceases to need much 

 food and so stops growing. Instead of using now the 

 food prepared by the leaves, it packs it away in its 

 trunk and branches, for it will need it in the spring ; 

 and when the leaves have furnished the tree all the 

 food it needs, their work is done, and they are ready 

 to go, and just at that time the fence is finished. 



Of what use are the leaves after they fall ? (They 

 cover the roots of the plants and protect them from 

 the cold. The snows and rains cause them to decay.) 

 Of what use are the decayed leaves? Bring leaf 

 mold to the class coarse and fine. How is it 

 made ? Of what use ? 



[This is probably as deep as we shall care to go 

 into the subject with little children who have just 

 entered school.] 



