STUDIES IN NATURE 



tinue throughout the summer, but the actual 

 increase in the height of the tree and length of 

 its branches takes place in a very short time, 

 generally during a fortnight or three weeks at 

 the beginning or end of May, according to the 

 kind of tree and the character of the season. 

 We can easily find out how much a young tree 

 adds each year to its branches by measuring it 

 at the beginning and end of the month. After 

 that, the tree spends its strength in filling out 

 the new growth and thickening its trunk, unless 

 it is grown in a crowded place, when the stems 

 never become very thick, until some of the trees 

 are cut down and allow the sunlight and fresh 

 air to reach the trunks of those that have been 

 left. Trees are like people in one way, they 

 grow for a certain number of years and reach 

 their best time of life. They should then be 

 cut down if they are wanted for use, for after 

 a while they begin to get old and to decay, and 

 then their timber is no longer so valuable. 



When a tree is cut down, we generally see 

 that the wood has grown in rings round the 

 trunk, each ring marking the advance of a year. 

 These rings are chiefly found in trees that grow 

 in temperate countries, like England, where 

 there are distinct seasons of growth, and seem 

 to depend on the time of year when the wood 

 was formed. In trees grown in the hot climates 

 of tropical countries, where there is not much 

 difference between winter and summer, we do 



(4*4) 



