APRIL 



47 



rich sap is built up in the leaf it is taken 

 away to be distributed to the growing por- 

 tions of the plant. Its pathway now lies 

 through the inner layers of the bark. Much 

 of the precious substance, not being im- 

 mediately needed, is stored away in the 

 silver grain that runs from the centre of the 

 tree to the bark, but probably most of it is 

 carried down to the roots and gorges them 

 with food, stored beyond the reach of frost. 

 As soon as winter begins to break, and 

 even before the snow has left the forest, 

 this sap starts on its return journey up the 

 tree, this time travelling, not through the 

 inner layers of the bark, but up the outer 

 layers of the wood. It is this rising flow of 

 richness that is tapped from our splendid 

 native sugar-maples. 



HOW SAP ASCENDS 



One of the very perplexing questions 

 which the plant suggests to the mind of 

 those who are trying to gain an insight into 

 the very life of the tree is that of the nature 

 of the forces which drive or draw or coax 





