34 PINES 



it has not a place among its varieties, instead of being 

 starred alone in the pride of an independent species. 

 A smoother bark and more slender branchlets are all 

 its claims to isolation, and it is for this that the more 

 lowly intelligence of the lesser-endowed tribunal, 

 composed of Mankind in the Street, has to bow before 

 the decision of the superior court of appeal. 



The P. Hartwegii. — Although it is nothing else than 

 the Montezuma of the north, and representative of 

 higher regions and colder climes, it can produce many 

 a testimonial in favour of its claim to a separate title. 

 It has shorter leaves and a hardier constitution than 

 the more tropically inclined Montezuma, and seems 

 to be able to thrive in any English climate, favoured 

 or unfavoured, as the authorities divide them. Where 

 the Montezuma can only just poke up his nose, imbibe 

 with distaste a little winter air, and then ingloriously 

 die, the Hartwegii, like the green bay tree of the 

 Psalmist, flourishes in the rudest appearance of 

 unchecked health. 



George Russell Shaw, in a U.S.A. Arnold Arboretum 

 publication, mentions some eighteen species of Mexi- 

 can Pines. Upon about half of these we have received 

 our instructions from authoritative writers on Conifers. 

 The P. Oocarpa takes after the Montezuma in the 

 number of leaves per bundle, while seven or so of 

 these Mexicans take after the P. Patula in that 

 direction, and sometimes other respects. They may 

 be found and seen, e.g. the P. Nelsoni, Teocote, 

 Leiophylla, Greggi, in the Temperate House at 

 Kew. Whether they take after the Montezuma and 

 Patula, or the Montezuma or Patula after them, from 

 a patriarchal-system point of view, is a question 

 better settled upon outside the radius of our shores. 



There are other Mexicans besides these, cropping 

 up at intervals, and inviting attention, but they have 



