Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-05-25


unfortunately, looks upon the tree as an
inanate and more or less useful accident the face
And yet the tree vesit brssthes It has real circla
on The tree dgests its food and assates it. 1t has
SEXUAL processes that just real and beautiful in any
environment 70 be sure It lacks intelligence nervous
syste and the power Of locomoon But in all the other
elemental processes the tree functions just truly
himself.
The tree breathes through the leaves chiefly and to
saN extent through the tiny entces In the young bark
Tho Ar 10 taken into the leaf in Just real 1t Is
taken into the human lungs enters through the many
microscopic openings the underside Of the leaf There
On the inside Of the elements air separated
The carbon Is absorbed and is used in the building
Of all animal life. ''' - - 80 '''' 0''
The circulation In the tree is just ss real as in the human
body. It does not fast round and round
In response to heart action Yet does and goes from
the tnest root hairs way down underground up to the
leaves and back again all the way to the roots again. On
the upward ow the circulation proceeds through the sap
WOOD travelling from cell to CELL from the small roots to the
large ones into the trunk and from there to the large
and then through the smaller ones to the leaves
From the leaf where it undesoes the necessary chemical
changes transform it into tree food It travels downward
through the cells Of the inner bark all the way to the small
est roots, building the canbiurn layer as 1t goes.
digestive processes of the tree take place In the leaf
There the crude food material brousht from the roots
leaf structure and under the influence Of the sunlight
10 combined with the carbon extracted from the air and Is
e This disested tree food assiated into the entire
growing parts Of the tree in the downward flow through the
cells of the inner bark from which the cambium layer Is
built and all growth takes place.
The sexual processes Of the tree fundamentally the
sanne a. elsewhere in living things The male and female
exst positive factors Sometimes the male and female
exist in the flower Many times they exist in different
flowers in the tree. In few all the flowers
of tree entirely male entirely female The pollen
ID created In the male and 10 carried by insects birds and
in number Of by the wind to the female portion
Of the flower to the female flower There it fertize and
produces the seed which nature
The tree adapts itself to its environment to amazing
degree Where trees thick they tall to reach the
sunlight Where two more trees grow close together 1t
ia rocks it sends its roots into almost impossible places in
search Of food and anchorage 1t often sends Its roots
hundreds OF feet in search of water and the roots travel
back and forth among the many obstacles toward their
destination.
All life has two primal purposes Of existence is self
preservation and the other reproduction The tree sub
srbes both and 10 governed by both. 1t undergoes
constant battle life from the time of it's advent until the
end 1t must battle against the tremendous winds against
now It must battle against himself who Is the most
destructive the most thoughtless and neonsderate enemy
that the has encountered Indeed it has lifelong
struggle for preservation Its scheme OF reproduction
10 the same plan of attraction that makes
possible the continuity Of all life.
The leaf probably the most wonderful and certainly
vital and indispensable factor in the world OF living
things without the leaf all life must perish 1t the one
and only connecting link between the organic and inorganic
worlds It 10 the only thing capable Of Transforming the
various mineral elements into available food material tor
both plant and animal The only minerals that man can
take into his and water and SALT but he can
use only limited quantity Of these Every other element
of food must to him either directly or indirectly
through the leaf