26 THE TREE BOOK 



This is an item of vast importance to the tur- 

 pentine "farmers." 



A tree's growing season begins with the 

 warm, mellow days of early spring, and usually 

 ends by midsummer. The leaves, battered by 

 wind, eaten by insects, and clogged with the 

 weight of mineral matter they have sorted out, 

 are beginning to feel old. The summer 

 droughts have cut short the water supply. And 

 there is a great deal to do before winter. The 

 buds are to be made ready; the shoots must be 

 hardened; the new wood ripened; the twigs and 

 roots stored with food. So thickening of trunk 

 and lengthening of limb give way to more urg- 

 ent business, and it is seldom that Jack Frost 

 finds the tree unprepared. 



