LXXVII 
PALMS BUILD CHIMNEYS 
I SN’T IT ODD that the bodies of palm trees are no 
bigger around when they are old than when they are 
young! 
The older a pine tree or an oak tree gets, the bigger it is 
around the trunk. The palm tree, on the contrary, builds 
itself as big at the base as it will ever be and never there¬ 
after, though it may live two hundred years, adds to its 
circumference. 
This comes about because the palm tree is of a differ¬ 
ent breed from other trees and has a different scheme of 
growth. Most of the trees of the forest or orchard grow 
on the outside. The sap carries building materials up 
from the roots through channels just beneath the bark. 
These trees are outside growers, adding each year a new 
layer to their girth. The palm tree, on the contrary, is an 
inside grower. Its sap goes up through the middle of it. 
It grows only at the top, by adding one layer after an¬ 
other to its height. 
Its crown at any time is a big “cabbage” of unde¬ 
veloped leaves. That crown, however, is as big across 
as the body of the tree. When the leaves finally un¬ 
furl themselves, they may be twenty feet long. They 
open back in such a way that they have added a bit 
to the height of the tree trunk. They tie into an out¬ 
side shell that is firm and unchanging. Its diameter 
will thereafter always remain the same. The sap will 
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