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** You may as well forbid the mountain pines 
To wag their high tops and to make no noise 
When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven.” 
In ‘‘ Cymbeline, ” Belarius says of the ‘ two princely boys” : 
«« They are as gentle 
As zephyrs blowing below the violet, 
Not wagging his sweet head, and yet as rough, 
Their royal blood enchafed, as the rudest wind, 
That by the top doth take the mountain pine 
And make him stoop to the vale.” 
- The economic value of coniferous timber is very great, and will 
continue to be so as long es the present order of things shall last. 
Te tanner finds the bark of the larch and other species of great 
value as a tanning material. Resinous substances of various 
kinds, often called ‘‘gums,’’ seem to be indispensable to the 
maker of varnishes and polishes. The Chili pine furnishes an 
abundance of seeds which are eaten by the Arancarian Indians. 
The Bunya-bunya of Queensland has large edible seeds. The 
Stone Pine yields edible seeds, which are sold in the markets of 
Southern Europe, and the Californian nut pine formerly furnished 
a large supply of winter food. Itis often said, and not without 
good reason, that pines help to make a district healthy. They do 
80, it appears, by giving out hydrogen di-oxide and ozone, which 
tay be called nature’s purifier. It is known that, like the 
Eucalypti, some of the species are very suitable for planting in 
badly-drained and unhealthy districts. But I must leave this side 
of the subject, and go to one that comes under botanical geography. 
A very interesting enquiry is this, ‘‘How came the distribution of 
conifers to be as it is?’’ Before any answer to this is attempted, 
it must be noted that they belong in large part to the north tem- 
‘perate region. There are tropical and sub-tropical species, but 
many of them love the elevated plateau and the mountain side. 
The western side of North America from British Columbia, down 
through Washington, Oregon, California to Mexico is the home of 
conifer grandeur. Thence have come to us from mountain forests 
and lofty place, many of the giants, the Sequoia included, through 
the enthusiastic toil of a few men, the best known of whom is 
David Douglas, a great explorer, whose name will ever be held in 
highest honour by all lovers of conifers. The Douglas fir, the 
most valuable timber tree of the Pacific region, is named after him. 
This fir and several others, of which he was the discoverer, are 
largely planted in Britain, and some of them may be seen in our 
own neighbourhood. If we had the same conditions as exist on the 
Pacific coast, perhaps we could have trees three hundred feet high, 
but, in trees, as in many other things, we are not so ¢all as our 
