60 The Tree and How it Lives 



let is pushing its way deep down into Mother 

 Earth in search of water and earthy foods. 



Suddenly, in place of the seeds, we have a lot 

 of little trees, growing larger day by day. Each 

 tree lives its life mfive ages. They have reached 

 the first age, for now they are "seedlings," little 

 trees not yet three feet tall. The seedlings may 

 be only a year or two old, yet on them, young 

 as they are, the three parts of every tree are 

 very plainly shown. There are the first small 

 branches with their pine needles, the body of the 

 tree, and the roots with their fine root hairs. 



At first the seedlings grow slow r ly, but in a few 

 years they are more than three feet in height. 

 Some of them have become taller than a man 

 and are three or four inches thick. The seedlings 

 are "saplings" now, and at the second age of 

 the tree's life. 



Beneath the saplings stands a young man. 

 He is a forester, a man who takes care of trees, 

 planting young ones, and cutting down the old 

 when they have stopped growing. He aids Na- 

 ture in one of her greatest works, the care of the 

 forest. 



The seedlings needed a great deal of shade. 



