60 DA VET'S PRIMER 



The roots and the leaves always work together ; 

 they co-operate. The roots are the first to move, send- 

 ing up the water which has in it very small potions of 

 plant food. It travels on, on, up, until it comes to the 

 bud which, kissed by the sun, expands, and out here 

 that wonderful something, by the scientists called 

 " protoplasm," in a marvelous way constructs that 

 beautiful network of veins in the leaf; at the same 

 time, filling in the space with a pulpy substance, called 

 "parenchyma" ; thus the leaf is formed, and is never 

 ungrateful for favors received. The leaf is a busy fel- 

 low, catching up the infinitely small particles of carbon, 

 and forming what we call "cambium," that is, the 

 new building material. This flows down, down, build- 

 ing as it goes until it reaches away out into the farthest 

 points of the smallest rootlets ; and here, in return, for 

 faithful pumping, feeds those untiring little workers. 

 Marvelous ! is it not ? 



Ought it not to be made criminal to allow our 

 friends, the trees, to die of thirst? Dead tops are not 

 always produced on trees for the WANT of water ; 

 there are a few cases where the roots have too much, 

 and the little rootlets drown ; in deep fillings, they 

 smother for the want of air. In drv, sandy, gravely 

 soil it is almost always the 'want of water. People do 

 not understand this, and they sow grass seed all around 

 the trees. The thick sod shuts out both air and water. 

 You should cut a ring around the tree, say three feet 

 from the tree, and then take out the soil about six 



