LEAVES. The leaves of plants act, in a sense, both as do the stomach and luno's of mals. They are the vital organs and may not be unduly taken away without serious injury to the plant, for just in proportion to the leaf surface so will be the roots. Hence the more leaf surface that is quired by a newly transplanted tree, the more vigorous will be the root action, for root action can never become vigorous until leaf action is established. Many persons are in the habit of stripping the lower leaves of plants in the garden to feed to pigs and cows. Nothing could be more senseless, since it directly reacts upon the vigor of the plants. The leaves remaining when plants are mature, if suitable for the food of animals, as corn, beets, cabbage, etc., are of value, and the dried or dead leaves are valuable as manure. The leaves of forest trees are especially valuable for mulch, and as a separator for strong ing manure in making hot-beds, since they not only counteract lent fermentation, but cause the heat to be held for a long time through their slow decomposition. As mulch, leaves are cleanly, easily gathered and applied and keep the ground cool, and when decomposed are valuable through the humus, and potash they contain. Bagasse, the stalks of sugar cane after it is crushed, makes an excellent mulch in the South, and the bagasse of sorghum in the North.
Potato and tomato stalks dry, make an admir able mulch for strawberries in the garden. Where forest leaves are plenty and bedding scarce, these should by all means be gathered in the autumn, and stored away dry for use. The structure of the leaf presents a curious and instructive study. A section of leaf properly prepared, and placed under a strong microscope, will show the breathing pores, numbering often over 60,000 to the square inch, the cellular struc ture, and the branching vascular bundles. Accom
panying we present a section of leaf highly magnified, showing the cellular structure of the orange leaf. When viewed under a high power it becomes an object of much interest. The branching vascular bundles will be distinctly seen, resembling in some respects the arteries and veins of the human body. A careful exami nation will show that these are also covered with a very fine lace-work of cells under and over them, and interspersed among the latter will be seen a vast assemblage of translucent dottings, each having an opening across it cor responding to those of the stomat,-s, under which they were situated before dissection. The structure of the leaf, taken as a whole, indi cates the great necessity of cleanliness and high culture; for the more complicated the organic structure of the plant is, the greater will be the number of its economic products, and the more apt are abortions in the form of fruit to be pro duced in the case of neglected culture or tmfavorable climatic conditions. In plants there are milk-vessels, turpentine, oil-receptacles, and the like, which form canals or cavities between or among the cells, and are filled with the par ticular product of the plant. Not so with the lower forras of fungi. Their roots may grow in profusion, although frequently torn to pieces, because of their simple form of structure and habits. A single cell of mycelium will germi nate, bud, or reproduce its kind as perfectly 0,s will a spore of its fruit.