84 
FIRST BOOK. 
Yes/' said his father, ''and so have gourds, 
passion - flowers, and many 
other plants. 
''Now let us think in 
what other ways stems are 
unlike each other. 
5. " Many are round, but 
others are either square or 
three-cornered; some are 
smooth, others are covered 
with hairs, or even with 
Leaf of English Pea, showing prickles; some are jointed, 
Tendrils. , i , t i 
others are not; some, like 
the bamboo, are hollow, others, like the sugar- 
cane, are filled with pith or with w^ood. 
6. " Even the hard, 
woodv stems of trees differ 
very much. The stem of 
that palm is not at all like 
the stem of the orange- 
tree, the mango, or the 
logwood. It differs from 
them not only in form, 
but also in the manner 
in which fresh wood grows 
to increase its size. 
7. "A mango- tree gets bigger by rings of new 
wood growing outside the older wood — that is, 
Bamboo cut 
across. 
Bamboo cut 
downwards. 
