THE STEM. 



215 



Nearly all the young folks expressed their 

 determination to adopt this neio plan in their 

 own little gardens. Mr. Longhurst said he 

 should not do so in his own garden ; having 

 found no inconvenience in gathering the fruit 

 from the parts of the trees at present above 

 ground. 



We next come to the stem. Trees and 

 shrubs have generally a woody or solid sub- 

 stance proceeding from the root, and which 

 commonly attains some height, before it divides 

 into branches. It is this substance that forms 

 the great provision of nature for necessary uses 

 and the comfort of man. It is this ligneous 

 or woody material which supplies him, as w^e 

 all know, with timber and fuel. These trunks 

 vary in magnitude, from the enormous trees 

 we have before mentioned, to the dwarf alpine 

 willow (Saliv herbacea)^ of which, it is said. 



