106 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



THE SHAPE OF TREES 



Let them grow in the crowded forest 

 where the light can come easily only from 

 above, and the trees vie with each other in 

 the race toward the blue sky. As they 

 grow higher, the lower limbs have the light 

 cut away from them and they soon shrivel, 

 die, and finally drop. This may continue 

 until many of our tulip-poplars, cucumbers, 

 and hemlocks will tower for fifty feet with- 

 out a branch, while not a few may even 

 reach seventy feet from the ground before 

 we come to a limb of any material size. On 

 the other hand, if the tree can grow out in 

 the open, not only will it attain greater bulk, 

 but its shape will be completely altered. 

 Its lower limbs will spread quite as rapidly 

 as its trunk ascends; and, instead of the 

 majestic erectness of the forest, we get a 

 well-rounded contour, but scarcely half the 

 height of its woodland congener of equal age. 



GREEN LEAVES AND HEAT 



The trees too are actually greener in June 

 than they will be later in summer. Just 



