i^42 GROWTH OF TREES. 



unintelligible to us. Nor are we informed how nature, in so 

 hasty a manner, can protrude such a length of shoot as is often 

 seen, in the autumn particularly. And yet all this is of the ut- 

 most importance to be known j it is that leading ray, which 

 should enlighten all the rest,/and give a more perfect perception 

 of the formation of that extraordinary production called a tree, 

 which perhaps may be truly said to collect within itself more 

 wonders than any other matter whatsoever, and which nothing 

 but the custom of viewing daily could enable us to see without 

 constantly increasing astonishment J a being endued with life, 

 and yet governed by mechanical powers ; capable of selecting 

 from the juices of the Earth the quantity of sap necessary to 

 its increase, and yet drawirsg only that, and adapting its increase 

 to the quantity drawn ; elaborating its own juices, and by this 

 means rendering them more suitable to the tender existence of 

 the new bud, fit to invigorate the flower, and prepare it for the 

 The mechani- perfecting the seed ; enabling it, by mechanical means, to sup- 

 cal powers of port its leaves, that no rain water may drop from them on those 

 /' below, which, if not provided against by nature, would soon 



putrefy the lower part of the foliage* j but by their varied mo- 

 tion, and mechanical action, so manage, as to throw off to a dis- 

 tance the water thus gathered : enabling the leaves to turn in 

 such a direction, that each may partake of that light absolutely 

 necessary to the welfare and health of the whole, and though 

 producing a deep shade for the solace and refreshment of man, 

 yet each leaf capable of placing itself so as to receive rays of 

 that vivifying matter, light, which we every day learn is more 

 necessary, not only to the animal creation, but also to the vege- 

 table world. 



For a considerable period my time has been dedicated to the 

 studying the new shoot in trees, watching its daily progress, 

 marking it with threads, and then dissecting it in various states 

 of augmentation. By these Yneans I have, I flatter myself, 

 gained a tolerably perfect knowledge of the whole proceedings, 



* The contrivance selected by nature to enable the leaves of trees to 

 throw off the rain water which is not necessary to them, is to be found 

 in the gatherers: tliey have moments of shaking, which seems to be 

 caused by some sudden effect of the spiral wire. I have repeatedly 

 placed a paper windmill to ascertain whether it was the effect of wind, 

 and found it not so. 



2 and 



