Editorial 
Welcome to all new subscribers. Without readers a newsletter is pointless if you like what you read here send it to a friend.  Here on the West coast, October is a time for cleaning up the garden. My husband and I took down two trees to provide light  and space for other plants and trees.  It is amazing how much space a tree takes up when it is laying across the lawn and not vertical. I made good use of the chain saw my sons bought me for Christmas one year to take out smaller trees and cut branches ready for the fire. I can't imagine taking down huge trees with a hand saw.

I look forward to receiving your suggestions for subjects to research. Tell me what amazes you

Trees

Lungs of the Planet
Trees are a very important part of our landscape and lifestyle.  We make very good use of them in a variety of ways. Shade on a hot sunny day to provider of fresh fruit, lumber and the basic material of paper, but did you know they are considered the lungs of the planet. They keep our air supply fresh by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. Acting as an enormous "carbon sink", trees soak up carbon dioxide from the air,  producing life-giving oxygen in return.
 
In one year, a single tree can absorb as much carbon as is produced by a car driven 26,000 miles. In a tree, 'breathing' takes place in the leaf.  Chlorophyll (the substance causing the green colour) absorbs the CO2 and uses it along with water to dissolve minerals taken up through the roots.  After the chemical reaction is completed, the leaf releases oxygen and water vapor through its pores. One tree produces nearly  118 kg (260 pounds) of oxygen each year.  One acre of trees removes up to 2.34 tons (2.6 tons) of carbon dioxide each year.

Defying gravity & outperforming mechanical pumps 

There are two ways that a tree can take in water: through the leaves and through the roots. They absorb small amounts of moisture from the air through their leaves and their bark.  Most of their water, however, comes via the roots.

To carry the great amounts of water needed to the leaves, a tree is equipped with a circulation system of amazing intricacy that extends from the millions of root hairs through the trunks and the branches to the hundreds of thousands of leaves. In the case of the Giant Sequoia of California, this means that some of the water collected by the roots must travel a distance of nearly 450 feet (this measurement includes
estimated root size!  to get to the highest leaves of the tallest trees.

This seems to contradict a basic law of physics.

To raise water that high requires a pressure of about 420 pounds per square inch.  However, atmospheric pressure at sea level is only about 15 pounds to the square inch, and this limits the height that a suction pump can raise water to a mere 33 feet. Not only does the tree attain the tremendous pressure required, but it does so with a speed of flow so great that in certain  trees water rises at the speed of almost 150 feet an hour. Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds. We need to protect our forests, not just for their beauty and habitat for plants,
fauna and animals but the breath of life they give us.

Did You Know    
Trees are the longest living organisms on earth
General Sherman a giant redwood sequoia of California is about
84 m  (275 ft) high with a girth of   8 m (25 ft)

The cottonwood tree seed is so light, it can be carried on the air for several days.

The world's tallest tree is a coast redwood in California, measuring more than   110 m (360 ft).

The world's oldest trees are 4,600 year old Bristlecone pines in the USA.

A mature birch tree can produce up to 1 million seeds per year.

A mature oak tree can draw up to 190 litres (50 gallons) or more of water per day.

Amazing trees.
Africa has the Baobabs with enormous trunks that are living water
towers topped with a few wizened limbs. A good specimen is capable
of storing more than 25.000 gallons. Some are up to  three thousand years  old   With age these great trees will often become hollow and have been known to be used as houses. There was one famous tree, which was used as a bus stop and could shelter as many as 30 waiting people from the burning sun. The Ada Tree of Australia  is  72 m (236 ft)  high and has a  15.4 m (50 ft)  girth and a root system that takes up more than an acre.

Australian  Bottle Trees  can  withstands temperatures of -10 C.
(14 F) to +50 C (122 F) in it's natural habitat.

Diesel Tree
In the  Amazon there is the diesel tree  Copaiba Langsdorfii, that  produces a sap which is so similar to diesel that it can be poured straight into a truck's fuel tank

The Serendipity berry is 3000 times sweeter than sucrose.  In spite of this it has a lower calorie content.

Africa's sausage tree smells like a mouse; this compels bats to pollinate it.

Paper consumption.
In Canada an acre of forest is cut every 12.9 seconds. Trees logged from Canadain  a single year, would fill more than 4.300.000 logging trucks; lined up bumper to bumper they would be long enough to encircle the world 2½ times. 

Paper consumption in the 20th century  continues to increase. Do we really want to shred up the lungs of the Earth to receive yet more unwanted junk-mail to our homes?
Think about this when you use paper.