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are only needed to protect the leaves from browsing 

 animals ; the leaves will have and not have spines 

 in various stages of growth. The holly, when young, 

 has very many and stiff spines on the tender leaves, 

 dangerously within reach of nipping teeth ; when 

 well grown the leaves are far less armed. The ever- 

 green oak, as a tree, has smooth leaves. If you keep 

 it trimmed into a shrub it puts spines on its leaves. 

 A famous botanist says : " Such observations throw 

 us back on the unity of design in nature, leading us 

 aw^ay from the earth to Him who is the end of 

 problems and the font of certainties." 



Near the holly stands that beautiful evergreen, the 

 juniper, abundant in hoary, blue berries. This is the 

 darling of our winter woods, joy of the artist's ej^es, 

 good providence to the hungry birds. " Sweet is the 

 juniper, but sharp his bough ;." " Azure tinted 

 juniper " — so sing the poets. 



Around the holly and the juniper stand the tree 

 immortals — fir, pine, hemlock, cedar, spruce, balsam. 

 They have not the gay gifts of the holly and juniper, 

 but their brown cones, large and small, jDointed or 

 round, compact or loosely opened, have their own 

 beauty. 



We noted that the spines on leaves were for de- 

 fense, found chiefly low down, and abandoned as the 

 tree grows. The evergreens have another protective 



