What a variety of size also have the leaves, from those of the birches and willows to those of the sycamores, the catalpas and the paulownias.  On the same tree also the leaves vary in size, those nearest the ground and nearest the trunk being usually larger than those more remote.  How different as to beauty would the trees be if their leaves were all of the same size; how much less pleasing to the sight.

Then what a wide difference is there in the position of the leaves on the trees and their relative adjustment to each other?  Sometimes they grow singly, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in whirls or clusters.  Some droop, others spread horizontally, while others still are more or less erect.  The leaves of some trees cling close to the branches, others are connected with the branches by stems of various length and so are capable of greater or less movement.  The leaves of poplars and aspens have a peculiarly flattened stem, by reason of which the slightest breath of wind puts them in motion.

These are some of the most obvious characteristics of the leaves, and by which they are made the source of so much of the beauty of the world in which we live.  It will be a source of much pleasure to anyone who will begin now, in the season of swelling buds and opening leaves, to watch the leaves as they unfold and notice their various forms and colors and compare them one with another.  There is no better way of gaining valuable knowledge of trees than this, for the trees are known by their leaves.

But let us turn now from their outward appearance and consider what is done by them, for the leaves are among the great workers of the world, or, if we may not speak of them as workers, a most important work is done in or by means of them, a work upon which our own life depends and that of all the living tribes around us.

Every leaf is a laboratory, in which, by the help of that great magician, the sun, most wonderful changes and transformations are wrought.  By the aid of the sun the crude sap which is taken up from the ground is converted by the leaves into a substance which goes to build up every part of the tree and causes it to grow larger from year to year; so that instead of the tree making the leaves, as we commonly think, the leaves really make the tree.

Leaves, like other parts of the plant or tree, are composed of cells and also of woody material.  The ribs and veins of the leaves are the woody part.  By their stiffness they keep the leaves spread out so that the sun can act upon them fully, and they prevent them also from being broken and destroyed by the winds as they otherwise would be.  They serve also as ducts or conduits by which the crude sap is conveyed to the leaves, and by which when it has there been made into plant food, it is carried into all parts of the tree for its nourishment.  Protected and upheld by these expanded woody ribs, the body of the leaf consists of a mass of pulpy cells