A SHARP LOOKOUT 



The young tree was eight or nine feet high ; 

 it had sent its roots down into the log and 

 clasped it around on the outside, and had 

 apparently discovered that there was water 

 instead of soil immediately beneath it, and 

 that its sustenance must be sought else- 

 where and that quickly. Accordingly it 

 had started one large root, by far the lar- 

 gest of all, for the shore along the top of the 

 log. This root, when I saw the tree, was 

 six or seven feet long, and had bridged more 

 than half the distance that separated the 

 tree from the land. 



Was this a kind of intelligence ? If the 

 shore had lain in the other direction, no 

 doubt at all but the root would have started 

 for the other side. I know a yellow pine 

 that stands on the side of a steep hill. To 

 make its position more secure, it has thrown 

 out a large root at right angles with its stem 

 directly into the bank above it, which acts 

 as a stay or guy-rope. It was positively the 

 best thing the tree could do. The earth 

 has washed away so that the root where it 

 leaves the tree is two feet above the surface 

 of the soil. 



Yet both these cases are easily explained, 

 and without attributing any power of choice, 

 193 



