READING SIGNS 13 



upward through trunk and branches. Then, 

 suddenly, winter came howling back and the 

 "sap" froze, making a great ugly split or 

 wound in the tree. Probably that was years 

 ago, when the tree was young and vigorous. 

 Nature set to work at once to grow new wood 

 over the wound. In time the scar will probably 

 entirely disappear. Should such an accident 

 happen to-day, the tree would, no doubt, be too 

 old to repair the damages, and the wound 

 would become a point of attack and way of en- 

 trance for a horde of insect enemies, which 

 would soon bring death in their wake. 



Let us look about a little and find the stump 

 of a tree cut recently. Note that it appears to 

 be made up of numerous rings, one within an- 

 other. Begin in the center and count outward. 

 Forty-seven rings ! A ring for each year. A 

 study of the rings close to the pith or center 

 shows them to be very close together. Prob- 

 ably the little seedling was shaded by older 

 neighbors growing near it, possibly, too, they 

 greedily robbed it of water and soil nourish- 

 ment. At the seventeenth ring the circles begin 

 slowly to widen. Something evidently in- 

 creased the tree's vigor, possibly some of its 

 nearest-neighbors were cut down : it gives every 

 proof of having started to grow lustily. The 



