Trees, Shown to the Children

Synopsis

In this little book I have written about some of the trees which you are likely to find growing wild in this country, and Miss Kelman has painted for you pictures of these trees, with drawings of the leaves and flowers and fruit, so that it will be easy for you to tell the name of each tree. But I think there is one question which you are sure to ask after reading this small book, and that is, “How do the trees grow?”

The tree grows very much as we do, by taking food and by breathing. The food of the tree is obtained from two sources: from the earth and from the air. Deep down in the earth lie the tree roots, and these roots suck up water from the soil in which they are embedded. This water, in which there is much nourishment, rises through many tiny cells in the woody stem till it reaches the leaf, twigs, and green leaves. As it rises the growing cells keep what they need of the water. The rest is given off as vapour by the leaves through many tiny pores, which you will not be able to see without a microscope.

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