Branching

“ Whether some have the Circles in their Branches decreased from their Body to the extremity of the Branch in such order, that (e. g.) an Apple-tree shoot of this year hath one Circle of Pricks or Wood plac'd in the Graft of two years old, and that of two years growth will the next year have one Circle more then it had the year before? And whether this onely be till the Branch shoot no more Grafts, and whether then the utmost Twig get any new Circles, or stand at a stay, being nourish'd onely, not augmented in bulk as to the appearance of the Circles? ”

“ We all know what a branch is, and what its essential characteristic. It is simply a growth of the vine, produced by it and appointed to bear fruit. It has only one reason of existence; it is there at the bidding of the vine, that through it the vine may bear and ripen its precious fruit. Just as the vine only and solely and wholly lives to produce the sap that makes the grape, so the branch has no other aim and object but this alone, to receive that sap and bear the grape. Its only work is to serve the vine, that through it the vine may do its work. ”

“ A knotty ungovernable-looking branch five to eight feet thick may be seen pushing out abruptly from the smooth trunk, as if sure to throw the regular curve into confusion, but as soon as the general outline is reached it stops short and dissolves in spreading bosses of law-abiding sprays, just as if every tree were growing beneath some huge, invisible bell-glass, against whose sides every branch was being pressed and molded, yet somehow indulging in so many small departures from the regular form that there is still an appearance of freedom. ”

“ A branch groans as it bends beneath a burden which has reached, of a sudden, the last stage of growth; or perhaps an apple breaks from the twig, and falls on the damp earth at your feet with a dull sound. Then you hear rush by, brushing the branches and the grass, a creature you cannot see; it is the peasant’s dog, that prowling and uneasy rover, at once impudent and cowardly, always wandering, never sleeping, ever seeking you know not what, spying upon you, hiding in the brush, and taking flight at the sound of a falling apple, which he thinks a stone that you are throwing at him. ”

“ To the North its hundred branches.
Whosoe'er a branch has taken,
Has obtained eternal welfare;
Who secures himself a tree-top,
He has gained the master magic;
Who the foliage has gathered,
Has delight that never ceases. ”

“ It is a branch, gathered from that prettiest feature of mountain scenery,—a moss-grown fir-tree. You will see them at every step, standing all-lovely in this graceful robe. It is, in color, a vivid pea-green, with little hard flowers which look more like dots than anything else, and contrast beautifully with the deeper verdure of the fir. The branch which I brought home I have placed above my window. It is three feet in length, and as large round as a person's arm; and there it remains, a cornice wreathed with purple-starred tapestry, whose wondrous beauty no upholsterer can ever match. ”

“ Every bud and branch seems excited, like bees that have lost their queen, and tries hard to repair the damage. Branches that for many centuries have been growing out horizontally at once turn upward and all their branchlets arrange themselves with reference to a new top of the same peculiar curve as the old one. Even the small subordinate branches halfway down the trunk do their best to push up to the top and help in this curious head-making. ”

“ Branch’s strange, wild, energetic, incoherent nature, has been made use of by somebody else to accomplish his own purposes. Branch has been the catspaw of some deeper and more sanely plotting intellect behind the curtain; and we regret that the Recorder considered it necessary to rule out the testimony which might have introduced us to the principals in this offensive operation, instead of their harum-scarum instrument. ”

“ If it is necessary on the weak side, it is not done until the latest possible moment. This operation we may style bud-nipping, since the word ‘bud,’ by which we designate the germ of the future branch when it is still enveloped in scales, applies also for the sake of convenience to the branch already developed but still young and tender. ”

“ Suppose a branch has thirty buds, and that every bud should produce thirty branches, each of which in turn should produce thirty more,—do you think there would be any room left in the world for boys and girls? Would a tree be able to hold so many branches? ”

“ If the branches are not close enough to hide him, he gets as much as possible behind a large branch, and stretches himself along it—at the same time his tail, which at other times is bushy, seems to contract, so that he is less visible. ”

“ Now, in such a representative tree of life, the height of any branch from the ground may be taken to indicate the grade of organization which the leaves, or species, present; so that, if we picture to ourselves such a tree, we may understand that while there is a general advance of organization from below upwards, there are many deviations in this respect. Sometimes leaves growing on the same branch are growing at a different level—especially, of course, if the branch be a large one, corresponding to a class or sub-kingdom. ”

“ For instance, if the north branch has So-and-So’s Chemistry, there is no reason at all why, all things being equal, the south branch should not have Someotherbody’s Chemistry and the east branch Someone-else’s. ”

“ Every branch is an entire plant. All the tissues and systems are found in it. Tracheæ free themselves from the stalk, pass towards the circumference, break through the bark and carry with them the liber, whose external layer again becomes bark. The branch is only an elongated bud. The stalk is the soil or the root of the branches. Branches, that have been cut off and stuck in the earth, grow. There is nothing contradictory, in the tracheal fascicles of the branch growing downwards into the stalk. A branched tree is a complete wood. ”

“ The phrase, to destroy “root and branch,” meaning to destroy utterly, taken originally from Malachi iv. 1, was made famous in 1641 by the so-called “Root and Branch” Bill and Petition for the abolition of episcopal government, in which petition occurred the sentence, “That the said government, with all its dependencies, roots and branches, be destroyed.” Among technical senses of the word “branch” are: the certificate of proficiency given to pilots by Trinity House; and in siege-craft a length of trench forming part of a zigzag approach. ”

“ Therefore, the branch A B' m B, that is, the one which is approaching the field, will repel the lines of the same, while branch A B' n B, that is, the one leaving the field, will gather the lines of force upon itself. ”

“ A low, overhanging branch of a tree is chosen, and as many as it will bear, old and young, men and women, straddle it; and, holding on to the higher overhanging branches, they swing up and down with as much spring as they can get out of the branch they are on. ”

“ Each branch of the family, as it separates from the parent stock, builds for itself a fort in one or other of the villages which belong to its share of the acquired lands. In this fort the head of each branch of the family resides with his armed followers, and sallies forth to plunder the country and acquire new possessions. In small enterprises each branch acts by itself; in larger ones two or more branches unite, and divide the lands and booty they acquire by amicable arrangement. ”

“ The limits of communities, the divisions of fields, will be exactly outlined,—those that are already plowed, those where the battalions of sheaves still stand. I shall not fail to count each tree. The smallest house will be represented with an ingenuous industry. Looking closely, you may distinguish the people; he who crosses an arched bridge of stone, parasol in hand; he who washes buckets at a pond; the litter traveling on the shoulders of two porters, and the patient laborer who plows a new furrow the length of the old. ”

“ Below the point at which the digitals branch off from the plantar there is always more likelihood of the part we are attempting to render insensible being supplied by another and adventitious branch, or a branch that, as regards its direction, is abnormally distributed. ”

“ Interlocked branches are every moment broken off and flung to a distance, and even the trunks clash, and as it were, whet themselves against each other, with a shock and uproar that startles the firmest nerves. ”

“ He seems always to choose those branches which intermingle with an adjoining tree, on approaching which he stretches out his long arms, and seizing the opposing boughs, grasps them together with both hands, seems to try their strength, and then deliberately swings himself across to the next branch, on which he walks along as before. ”

“ The great extent to which the division of labour is carried, effectually prevents it. Each trade is divided into a great many branches. Each branch, in large manufactories, is again divided. A youth selects a branch, and by being engaged from day to day, in the same manipulation, he acquires, in the course of years, an extraordinary degree of skill and facility of execution. He works on, until the period of youth is beginning to wane; and then his particular division, or branch, or trade, is superseded. ”

“ One branch, which was hugely thick and strong, and ran horizontally at a small height from the ground, was pointed out as the principal gibbet, on which human sacrifices, thousands in number, have been offered century after century. ”

“ Among the mighty store of wonderful chains that are for ever forging, day and night, in the vast iron-works of time and circumstance, there was one chain forged in the moment of that small conclusion, riveted to the foundations of heaven and earth, and gifted with invincible force to hold and drag. ”

“ Many of the most successful houses owe their popularity more to their heads than their hands, hence the importance of studying this branch in all its ramifications. The endless assortment requiring different methods for preparing and manipulating make it necessary to sub-divide this branch into sections, order and arrangement being so necessary to be thoroughly understood. ”

“ If the root is holy, so are the branches. 011:017 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; 011:018 don't boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. 011:019 You will say then, "Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in." 011:020 True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don't be conceited, but fear ”

“ The branch meanwhile continues to grow outwards, and being supplied by its new support, thickens beyond it, whence the props always slant outwards from the ground towards the circumference of the tree. ”

“ As younger branches, we grow out further and further from the parent stem, until we are at length lost among the other trees of the forest, while the other and older branch continues to tower upwards. ”

“ Each of these branches may do what every other branch does—produce leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds. It is not so with the higher animals, for in them each part may do something which some other part cannot do: if the part is a leg, it runs; if an ear, it hears. Each part serves the whole animal; and it cannot reproduce the animal. But in the plant, each branch lives for itself: it grows on the parent stock; or, if it is removed, it may grow in the soil. And if it grow in the soil, it is relieved of competition with other branches and grows bigger: it makes what we call a plant.
Fig. ”

“ Here we see organic life and structure expressed in the vigorous spring of inter-dependent and corresponding curves, from the rigid sinuous column of the main stem springing from the ground, presently divided into the main forks of the branches, which again subdivide and subdivide into smaller forks, so that the tree may sustain and spread its life in the air and the sun, both supporting and continuing its existence by this wonderful economic system of co-operative, subdivided, and graduated helpfulness. ”

“ If you wish to plant firmly a tree that you have cut down, you may perhaps be able to drive a stake larger than the trunk of the tree; then loosen the stake by hitting it on the sides, and pull it out. ”

“ These subdivisions, it will at once be perceived, form the second branch of a regular analytical table, each of which has sprung from, and is intimately connected with, some one or other of the three great divisions forming the first branch, of which the "History of Joseph" is the comprehensive root. ”

“ The engineer must either climb down the steep banks, for the streams burrow deep in the stiff clay of these valleys, ford the stream and climb the opposite bank, or he must fall a tree from bank to bank and cross on its slippery trunk twenty or twenty-five feet above the water. ”

“ The majority of these branches end blindly with the death, caused by external circumstances, of that individual which corresponds with the branch. Only a few persist till the next period of conjugation, and then unite with other individuals and afford the opportunity for giving rise to a new family tree. ”

“ If a tree-trunk lengthens by any process of interior enlargement, it is quite certain that marks upon its surface, or lateral branches, would be carried upward as growth went on. A branch projecting at a given height from the ground would, later, become more elevated. ”