117 



The female or pistillate flowers resemble very small 

 cones, and are usually upon the higher branches of the 

 tree. When in condition to be fertilized, they are erect, 

 and the scales are open to receive the pollen grains which 

 may be wafted to them by the wind. The pollen acts 

 directly upon the ovules, of which there are two in each 

 scale of the young cones. "When fertilized, the scales 

 close, and the cone becomes pendant instead of erect. 

 With our pines, the cones grow to considerable size by the 

 end of the first season, increasing their size and perfecting 

 at the close of the second season, when the seeds may be 

 collected. By the spring following, the seeds will fall 

 from the cones. 



The seeds of the pine may remain in, or on the ground 

 for a long time, without injury, protected by the dampness 

 and coolness of fallen leaves. But if the old trees are 

 cut away, admitting the light and heat of the sun, these 

 latent seeds will soon germinate, and in a few years a 

 healthy new growth of pines will be the result, provided 

 nature is left to herself, and the too often wickedly reck- 

 less hand of man does not interfere. 



The pines are to us in New England the most valuable 

 forest trees, and the ones best adapted to our soils and 

 climate, but there are at present but few of those grand old 

 trees which our forefathers walked beneath when Essex 

 county was first settled. I have, in company with Mr. 

 J. H. Sears, of Danvers, visited and measured several of 

 the largest White pines in Boxford, Andover and Middle- 

 ton, where, undoubtedly, are situated the largest trees of 

 this species now left standing in the county. Several 



been told, and which have been regarded with superstition or incredulity, of 

 showers of sulphur." Lambert describing the common Scotch fir, sa}S : '"The 

 pollen is sometimes in spring carried away by the wind in such quantities as to 

 alarm the ignorant of the notion of its raining brimstone."— Lambert's Genus 

 Pinus, London, 1828-37. 



