The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-04-24
A SkillfuI Packer.

we nave ali READ, IN line ARABIAN
Nights" how gigantic genie came
out OF a small pickle-jar. If we look
about us this spring we will see this
wonder outdone by hedgerow.
The lilac buds are no larger than
the tip of woman's little finger; yet
some of them contain a spray with
several leaves and from others there
will come ii great spire of flowers.
The sticky horsc-chestnut buds will
open to let out into the sun four or five
great spreading leaves surrounding
a pyramid of blossoms.
How snUgly they are folded away
in these little brown buds! No shop
man could wrap parcels half SO cleyerly
as Mother Nature does. No French
maid ever packed her mistress's tinery
with half the skill which Nature has
shown in the folding of baby blossom
or tender leaf.
Girls know that dresses that have
been lying for long time folded away
in a drawer or trunk are creased when
they are taken out
SO are the leaves. when they come
out of the buds where they have been
tightly folded for so many months.
After while the breezes will shake
out all these little wrinkles, but when
the foliage is new and fresh we can see
them plainly.
Some leaves have been rolled like
/ music i'll portable case, or like win
dow-shade around its roller. Some
have been folded like fans. and some
have been doubled lengthwise down
| the middle as a schoolgirl folds her
composition. May-apple leaves come
up looking like closed umbrellas, and
then open just as the umbrellas do.
The crankled spring foliage is very
| pretty and interesting, too; for the
| creases show how Mother Nature con-
trived to get so many leaves into SO
small a parcel.
And where is the food which has
been prepared for these awakening
| buds? Growing leaves and flowers,
| like growing children. need plenty of
nourishment, and Dame Nature has
| provided whole storehouses full of food
| just such as young foliage and baby
blossoms need.
The crocus and the daffodil get their
| food from little storehouses under
| ground.
If we dig up root in early spring,
| before the flowers have opened. we
| shall find it white, firm round, and fat.
| The t1ower-stem is able to shoot up SO
| fast, because it is nouriShed by this
abundant good fare. just as boy who
I is outgrowing all his clothes is doing it
by means of unnumbered breakfasts,
dinners, and suppers. The blossom
,,,rrnh IF its hnat,t,- TO +hiC CTR
food; and if the supply were to give
out, the colorS of the flower would grow
dim.
BY the time the blossom dies the little
storehouse will be emptied, but then
the crocus will have formed long
leaves and active roots, and will be
| able to gather enough nourishment
from the soil and the air to satisfy all
its wants.
The lilac leaves grow so fast, because
they are we'll fed on food which has
been saved on purpose for them all
winter long. 1t has been stored away
just under the bark, so that the lilac's
storehouse is in its branches.
All the boughs which are now be-
ginning to put forth leaves and flowers
are full of gum and sap. These juices
have been saved up" all winter in the
wood and bark and now they feed the
swelling buds, the unfolding leaves, and
tie opening flowers.
There is plenty for all, and each is
getting just the sort of food it needs,
for Nature, like 4 wise and loving
mother, guards the slumbers and pro-
vides for the wants of her children
T.. NJ. Harding, IN st. Nicholas