The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1886-06-11
NATURES WORKSHOP.

Il
NATURES WORKSHOP.
Dne of the Busiest and Yet Most Quiet of
Places-Wonderful Workers That Never
Make Mistakes.
If you were to go out on one Of these
early spring days into forest you
would see that great work was going
on there, though you could not hear
sound save, perhaps, the rustic of
breeze among the branches, nor see
any thing in motion except it might be
a waving bough or luttering leaf.
But you would note that great and
rapid change was coming over the
scene before you. Where, but a few
weeks ago, the trees and shrubs and
the ground beneath were alike bare |
and brown, you would observe indica- |
tions of returning life and beauty. You
would see on some trees and plants the
red buds just starting, upoA others the
leaves half unfolded, and on the ground
the blades of wild grass and the stalks
of flowers pushing their way out OF the
layer of mold. 1t is evidently one of
the busiest places that could possibly
be imagined, and yet one of the most
quiet. There is no jar and whir OF
wheels, no hum of spindles and thud
Of looms, no grating sounds of files or
saws, or hammers, and yet the most
wonderful works of architecture are
going up, the most curious patterns
are being woven, and the most intri-
cate pieces of workmanship are being
put together.
If our sight could penetrate the bod
les of the trees we could gain some
knowledge of natures ways of work
ing. We would see ascending through
the most minute tubes, drawn up by
some invisible power, a countless num-
ber of streams Of sweet watery sub
stance called sap. This sap is COM
posed principally of water drawn out
Of the earth by the roots of the, trees
and carrying with it certain substances
which help to make the buds, leaves,
| flowers and the green, new wood. The
sap may be properly called the life
blood OF plants, since its Office is very
much the same in plants as that of the
blood In man and other animals, carry
ing the DEMONSTRATING properties to
every part of the body. Like man and
brutes, plants must have light and air
in order to live. The sap itself would
not sustain the life of the plant, if it
were not for the help it receives
from the sunshine and the surrounding
atmosphere, any more than the blood
III an animal would keep it alive aud
vigorous if it were placed in dark,
air-tight room. Every plant has lungs,
or organs which answer the purpose o.
lu ,gs in drawing air into its body
Every leaf of plant has counties,
number of little openings, or mouths
SO small that you can only see then
with microscope. Through thes'
mouths plants inhale various proper
ties, of which the air is full, especial,
the gases they need to make them live
Through them they also send out th
air and gases from which they hav
taken all they require, and which hav
become impure and unfit to breathe
The sap which has come up from th
roots into the leaves then meets wit
the air, and together they make won
derful combinations of new material
which the sap carries back in its retur
journey to help build up other parts Q
the plant.
We may imagine that the particles q
sap are little servants or workme
whom Nature employs to build up Uh
trees and shrubs and weave the tex
ture of their leaves and flowers. jus
follow, in imagination, one of thes
little workmen who are carrying u
: the materials to build the plants j
, some such way as you have seen othe
workmen carry the bricks and morts
to build the walls of house. Th
!, little burden-bearer gets his load (
carbon and some other substances tn;
, are called for down in the dark groun,
where Nature keeps her choicest store
I, and then he goes uiokly up the lor
/, winding stairways in the interior of Il
I, tree, up and up, leaving little he
a and little there, as he goes to the to
). most branch, and out into the lit
! tender twig. where he leaves his 10,
to help swell the bud and open Il
T leaf.
= And one of the strangest thin
I about this business is that these wor
men never make a mistake. Here a
4 growing in small space great va
- ETY. of trees and smaller plants of
. ferent general shape and texture, wi
different shaped leaves and foweI
and bearing different kinds of fruit, J
all drawing their life from the sar
ground. The sweet violet and t
RI poison ivy nestle at the foot of t
,. oak, and obtain their supplies of no,
!, ishment from the same soil that 81
:. tains their giant protector. The lit
as workmen select from the same gre
ID store-house the material that is need
le for each plant where they are appoi
I'D to work. They never make such
a blunder as to carry way up to the t,
II most twig of that maple a particle Il
10 was intended to help form BIZ
~ tree; and as for carrying up bit
70 poison, intended for the laurel into
=. innocent petals of the azalea, s1ch
Id thing is really impossible. We n
a trust these workmen always, for Il
never are disobedient to the gr
IN Architect of nature, under whose dir
= ton they are employed.
And what an innumerable MULTI,
va of these little joiners and masons, pm
- ers and master-builders, are at worl
: the forest to-day putting together
this wonderful architecture, th
massive columns, these graceful arcl
n these bowers of leaves and green pc
a ants. How MANY tons and tons of