790 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



branch of the upper 

 whorl shall be elected 

 to rise up and take the 

 place of the dead leader ; 

 but this is an election 

 which we know less 

 about than we do of 

 those resulting from 

 our blanket ballots. 

 Whether the tree 

 chooses, or whether the 

 branches aspire, we may 

 not know; but we do 

 know that one branch 

 of this upper whorl 

 arises and continues the 

 growth of the tree. 

 Sometimes there are 

 two candidates for this 

 position, and they each 

 make such a good strug- 

 gle for the place that 

 the tree grows on with 

 two stems instead of 

 one and sometimes 

 with even three. This 

 evil insect injures the 

 leaders of other conifers 

 also, but these are less 

 likely to allow two 

 competitors to take the 

 place of the dead leader. 

 The lower branches 

 of many of the pines 

 come off almost at right 

 angles from the bole; 

 the foliage is borne above the branches, which gives the pines a very 

 different appearance from that of other trees. The foliage of most of 

 the pines is dark green, looking almost black in winter; the pitch pine 

 has the foliage yellowish green, and the white pine, bluish green; each 

 species has its own peculiar shade. There is great variation in the color 

 and form of the bark of different species. The white pine has nearly 

 smooth bark on the young trees, but on the older ones it has ridges that are 

 rather broad, flat and scaly, separated by shallow sutures, while the 

 pitch pine has its bark in scales like the covering of a giant alligator. 



The foliage of the pine consists of pine needles set in little bundles on 

 raised points which look like little brackets along the twigs. When the pine 

 needles are young, the bundle is enclosed in a sheath making the twig look 

 as if it were covered with pin-feathers. In many of the species this sheath 

 remains, encasing the base of the bundle of needles ; but in the white pine it 

 is shed early. The number of leaves in the bundle helps to determine the 

 tree ; the white pine has five needles in each bunch, the pitch pine has three , 



The young and the mature cones of white pine. 



Photo by Ralph Curtis. 



