2 PINES 



We have explained the salient differences of these 

 two types of Pine trees in our definition of botanical 

 terms for our readers, and will leave it at their dis- 

 posal, that those who run may read, or those who 

 are not that way inclined may skip. The easily 

 acquired mastery of the number of leaves or needles 

 in a bundle or cluster obtained is the first rung on 

 the ladder of knowledge on which to secure a footing. 

 That humble position reached, the first awakening 

 into the mysteries of a differentiation of Pines has 

 begun. These groups of leaves, it will be noticed, 

 are held together at their base by a wrapper-looking 

 arrangement, varying in length and habit, and 

 which in form and general appearance bears certain 

 resemblance to those strips of cloth that encase the 

 legs of khaki-clad warriors, and are known as puttees. 



An accurate observance of this little binding, 

 which is termed, in the phraseology of the cult, a 

 leaf sheath, or leaf scale, comes in on occasions 

 opportunely, and helps to dispel doubts of identity. 

 Sometimes it is persistent, at other times deciduous ; 

 occasionally, in the case of the so-called Fox-tail 

 Pines, P. Balfouriana and P. Aristata, and the 

 members of the Cembroides group, it splits into 

 shreds and forms itself, with its reflexed remnants, 

 torn (so to speak) into ribands, into a rosette-shaped 

 appearance. One inestimable boon has been con- 

 ferred by Nature upon those (with whom we should 

 always be in sympathy) who move slowly along the 

 more stony path of hard work in their start upon 

 any quest, and it is this, that no mathematical 

 brain-worrying is incurred in the task of counting 

 these leaves in a bundle. Indeed, should there be 

 among us that unbrightened star of an age that 

 seems to have passed, who has only learned to cipher 

 upon his fingers, the task is rendered of easy mani- 

 pulation even to him, and for this reason, that the 



