March, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



119 



bud to pieces just after the leaf has separated from the twig 

 and it will be a matter for surprise to see how far advanced 

 is the new shoot. All the leaves are there, in a diminutive 

 state, it is true, but still in a perfect condition. In most cases 

 every part of the baby organ is thickly covered with down, 

 and in addition to this there are, of course, the protecting 

 scales, which are at times layered one upon the other, three or 

 four courses in depth. So that, no matter how hard the frost 

 may nip, there is no possible fear of the young leaves 

 suffering. 



A very large number of plants of perennial habit with 

 soft stems do not remain above the ground during the winter. 

 After they have blossomed their growth gradually decreases 

 in vigor, and finally they die down altogether. Snugly 

 packed away in Mother Earth, whose brown bosom is 

 clothed with a thick coating of snow, these species are unseen 

 throughout the rigorous months. But long before we above 

 the soil have begun to think that spring may be a possibility 

 these discerning roots have appreciated that the cold weather 

 is on the wane. The sluggish sap becomes active again, and 

 from the crown of the root-stock pink shoots begin to force 

 their way up through the mold. The spring sun has not 

 shone for many days ere these pushful plants break away 

 from their prison and extend upward into the light and air. 



In reviewing the whole question of the plant and the sea- 

 son it must be admitted that we are dealing with a very 

 obscure problem. Putting aside everything else and coming 

 down to the one fact of the movements of the sap in a tree 

 we are confronted with something which is very mysterious. 

 Take a walk in a forest in the springtime, and one is sur- 

 rounded on every side by one of the greatest marvels in the 

 world — yet a miracle of which one scarcely thinks. The 

 sap in these trees has been lying practically motionless 



A Hyacinth Bulb Grown Out of Season Yields Only a Few Inches of Shoot 



throughout the whole winter, yet without any very clear 

 cause this becomes on occasion tremendously active. The 

 upward flow rushes from the roots to the branches above 

 with a force which is little short of terrific. A bladder tied 

 over the cut end of a young tree which was still rooted in the 

 ground was burst into atoms in a very short while by the 

 force of the rising sap. Reaching the uttermost limit, the 

 downward stream is commenced, and thus the vitalizing fluid 

 of the tree, now much elaborated, finds its way back to the 

 roots again. These currents once properly established con- 

 tinue their courses throughout the whole summer, and it is 

 not until the fall that there is any slackening in its flow. 



The Flower of the Himalayan Arum Is Produced from 

 Its Bulbous Root After the Leaves Have Died 



The Himalayan Arum Seems to Know the Seasons 

 in a Way of Its Own 



