THE TREE FOLK 5 



such curves, butt to butt, so to speak, define the shape 

 of the apple as cut from stem to blossom end. The gen- 

 eral direction of the stem and the shape of the seeds and 

 of their cells are determined by that same forceful line. 

 The fruit of the apple is golden, juicy, mellow, delicious. 



But both these tree souls are predisposed in favor of 

 the number five. Cut the spear sheaf crosswise and you 

 find the radial section (E). Each spear shaft has two 

 flat sides and one curved side like a piece of pie. Cut the 

 apple crosswise and you get the larger rosette (F). Sev- 

 eral star forms are here beautifully related to one 

 another. 



Emerson's Poet, you remember, walked abroad: 



Pondering shadows, colors, clouds. 

 Grass buds and caterpillar shrouds. 

 Plants on which the wild bees settle, 

 Tints that spot the violet's petal; 

 Why nature loves the number five. 

 And why the star form she repeats; 

 Wonderer at all alive, 

 Wonderer at all he meets. 



TREES HAVE SOULS. Let us stop to wonder a mo- 

 ment over this mystery. How does it happen that 

 these two tree souls, reacting on the same earth with the 

 same sunshine and the same rain, manage to produce so 

 consistently such diverse results? We may as well con- 

 fess that we do not know. Nobody knows. It is as great 



