115 



Prof. J. H. Huntington exhibited some specimens of 

 minerals which he had collected and spoke of the geologi- 

 cal features of the vicinity. 



Rev. C. C. Beaman, formerly of Salem, spoke of the 

 pleasure he had enjoyed at being present at this meeting, 

 and warmly commended the work of the Institute. 



Mr. John Robinson read a paper on the 



The Life of a Pine Tree. 



At the field meeting at Boxford, during the summer of 

 1877, one of the residents of that town, present at the 

 meeting held tor discussion in the afternoon, asked this 

 question: "Can you tell me where the seeds of the Pine 

 trees are, and how to plant them in order to produce young 

 trees?" I had not thought until then of bringing up before 

 a field meeting anything which seemed so simple as this ; 

 but, upon reflection, it seemed to me that perhaps some- 

 thing might be proposed upon the subject, which would 

 be of sufficient interest to present at a field meeting, and 

 I have, therefore, prepared the following sketch of the 

 life of a pine tree. 



Suppose we commence by examining the seed, which 

 will be found enclosed among the scales of the cone. 1 



The seeds are in pairs, each seed being provided with a 

 membraneous wing, which renders it more easily blown 

 to great distances by the wind, as the seed falls to the 

 ground. In the seed will be found, if the magnifying 

 glass is used, a little embryo showing several rudimentary 

 leaves, and a radicle to produce the root. The seeds of 

 pines germinate readily, and the little trees are found 

 abundantly in the vicinity of pine groves. 



1 As presented at the meeting, the paper was illustrated by several diagrams 

 specimens of wood, cones, flowers, etc. 



