XIII 
BUDS ARE UNDERSTUDIES 
I SN’T IT ODD that every leaf on the trees has an un¬ 
derstudy ready to take its place when it is gone! 
When a leaf grows out on a twig in the spring, there 
goes along with it the beginning of another leaf or group 
of leaves, wrapped up as a bud that is just beginning. 
All through the summer when the leaf is in its prime, this 
bud is growing and developing. Whoever would like 
to may cut open the little stalk at the leaf base and 
examine it under a microscope. He will find that there 
is in it the form of a tiny leaf or of a twig that is al¬ 
ready taking shape, though it is unbelievably frail and 
delicate. 
In the summer time one sees the abundance of leaves, 
flowers, and fruit that a tree may put forth. This flourish 
of green would seem the one idea that the tree has in 
mind. But back of the flourish is the very definite prepa¬ 
ration that is being made for the season that is a year 
ahead. 
The popular belief that the tree waits until the spring 
to develop its buds is quite wrong. Every bud is in place 
with its whole plan laid out nearly a year ahead. Some 
of these buds may be flowers. If so, every fold is in place, 
in miniature, at the base of its leaf the summer before it 
is to appear. It is more likely that this bud is to develop 
into a twig. Twigs spring from the points where leaves 
were located the year before. It was the presence of the 
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