74 THE TREE BOOK 



One fork outstrips the other by leaps and 

 bounds, and finally the weaker fork gives way in 

 a fierce wind storm. A forester, who looks at 

 the little tree, says that no doubt the stem will 

 straighten shortly and grow on into a single 

 trunk, giving no sign whatever of its early mis- 

 fortune. If all goes well, it bids fair, then, to 

 become the tree of our dearest hopes; for no 

 other trees are near enough to rob it of light, 

 food, and foothold. We have only to guard it 

 from accident, and leave the rest to Time. 



But we have seen enough in our study of 

 these little trees to know what the struggle 

 for existence really means. Once more our 

 thoughts turn to the forest. "What hotly con- 

 tested battles must have taken place here 

 while the trees we have noted were gaining 

 their places ! And where are the parent trees 

 which gave them being? Fallen, no doubt, be- 

 neath the hand of the wood-cutter, the light- 

 ning stroke, or the less merciful agencies of in- 

 sect enemies and disease. Nor is the struggle 

 for existence over here, by any means! It 

 goes on deathlessly, tirelessly, a continuous 

 battle among the twigs for light and air. Each 

 tree, also, encroaches daily upon its neighbors' 

 food preserves : beneath the soil the little root- 

 lets are struggling every whit as fiercely as the 



