78 PHANTOM FLOWERS. 



returns these mineral ingredients to the earth. With 

 the succeeding year the mysterious circuit is repeated, 

 the tree enlarging in bulk, and the forest soil increas- 

 ing in richness. Such forest soils, instead of being 

 impoverished by the growth of trees, receive back an- 

 nually the greater portion of those mineral elements 

 necessary to the tree, with much organic matter re- 

 ceived into the plant, from the atmosphere. The roots 

 suck up these minerals from great depths, but the 

 leaves deposit them on the surface. The surface soils 

 are therefore gaining instead of losing. 



These annual deposits of leaves upon a forest soil 

 are indispensable to the vigor of the trees. If, for 

 neatness' sake, the owner of a park or grove should 

 sweep away the autumnal deposit, and continue to do 

 so for a term of years, he would ultimately remove 

 so large a quantity of mineral matter as to impov- 

 erish the ground, and greatly check the growth of 

 the trees. It is because of the peculiar deposits found 

 in all leaves, that leaf manure is prized so highly by 

 every intelligent gardener. While generally regarded 

 as a purely vegetable substance, leaves are perhaps 

 the best mineral manure that can be applied to the 

 soil. It is alleged, moreover, on very high authority, 

 that the most efficient manure for any plant is found 



