Root tips or root hairs take up water containing small quantity of minerals in solution
The buds, root tips, and [cambium] layer are the growing parts of the tree. Water containing a small quantity of minerals in solution is absorbed by the roots, carried up through the [sapwood] to the leaves and there combined with carbon from the air to make food. This food is carried by the inner [bark] to all growing parts of the tree, even down to the root tips
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The first edition of Forest Trees of Texas—How to Know Them was assembled by W. R. Matoon and C. B. Webster in 1928. The sections, “Trees as Mankind’s Friends”, “Studying a Tree”, “Other Texas Trees”, drawings of twigs, leaves and [fruits], and the glossary were incorporated into the fourth and fifth editions by S. L. Frost and D. A. Anderson. The sixth and seventh editions were edited by H. E. Weaver and W. A. Smith, respectively. Some of the drawings used in this publication were made available by the United States Forest Service.
The eighth edition was revised and edited by John A. Haislet to conform with the nomenclature in Check List of Native and Naturalized Trees of the United States (Including Alaska), Agriculture Handbook No. 41, prepared under the direction of the United States Forest Service Tree and Range Plant Committee. D. A. Anderson’s “A Guide to the Identification of the Principal Trees and Shrubs of Texas” was revised and incorporated in the eighth edition to give it greater utility to the non-technical student of trees.
TREES ... MANKIND’S FRIENDS
Trees have held an important place in man’s way of life since he has been on the earth. Trees provided early man with weapons to defend himself and helped provide him with food, shelter and fuel.
Trees have played an important role in the history of the United States. Timber was our nation’s first export. The forest also provided our forefathers with their homes, farm implements, rifle stocks and wagons. The forest, by furnishing ties and utility poles, made possible the expansion of railroad systems, electric power and telephone networks. Every industry depends upon forest products in one way or another.
Trees are more important today than ever before. More than 10,000 products are reportedly made from trees. Through chemistry, the humble woodpile is yielding chemicals, plastics and fabrics that were beyond comprehension when an axe first felled a Texas tree.
The American standard of living depends to no small extent on the care with which we use our forest resource. Fortunately, trees are a renewable resource. They can be grown as a crop and harvested in such a way that the stand is kept productive, and a steady supply of forest products is assured.