GROWING GOLD. 



43 



from the ground, how much more do they 

 need it when their heads are three or four 

 score feet higher ; but this is not all, for while 

 they are growing to that height, the leading 

 shoot has to ascend, therefore shelter is as 

 necessary then, as earlier ; besides, there is a 

 greater expansion of top, which, with the 

 additional length of stem, keeps the roots 

 upon the constant strain, whenever the wind 

 blows : thus, without admitting the principle 

 of the lever, no one can be competent to 

 manage woods and plantations. Frequently 

 white deal logs are to be seen in the merchants' 

 and builders' yards, of fifty or sixty feet in 

 length, which will square from eight inches to 

 two feet throughout: these white deals were 

 from spruce fir trees, which, when standing, 

 were considerably more than one hundred and 

 fifty feet high, and had tops of thick branches, 

 extending fifteen feet at least, covered with 

 leaves impervious to the wind. How is it 

 possible such a tree could singly stand the 

 rough gales of our climate? Yet it is at- 

 tempted, and in some places extensively ; one 



