p. MONTANA 65 



Taxads oj Japan, and makes a particularly interesting 



illustration of the curiosities of coniferous growths. 

 Another illustration of this curious tree is figured 

 in The Gardener's Chronicle, May 5th, 191 7, and shows 

 the disposition of the main stems, extending them- 

 selves flatly along the ground, and is commented on 

 there by Professor Augustine Henr}'. 



All these shorter and more scrubby-growing two- 

 leaved Pines I refer to the P. Echinata and Virginiana 

 (or Mitis and Inops), Banksiana, Contorta, and 

 Montana. All have their individualities set forth 

 in the Table, so that in theory the}^ ought, with a 

 little working out, to create no puzzlement in the 

 mind of the identifier ; but, as a matter of fact they 

 do, as many have borne me witness. The insur- 

 mountable difficulty is their rarity and the want of 

 object-lessons. If we could occasionally see them 

 all together side by side, difficulties would vanish like 

 snow on a river. 



Nature does not, however, permit a mastery of her 

 secrets b\' any such simple, helpful processes as 

 these, and perhaps for some reasons it is for the best, 

 since that which is acquired easily and swiftly is 

 often as easih^ and swiftly forgotten. 



A perfected Pinetum, set before us in classification 

 array, with bud and flower and cone concomitant 

 complete, would perhaps be a duller study in reality 

 than we imagine, and like a limiting of the lesson- 

 books to dictionaries and encyclopedias. Of such 

 w^orks, all know, we can make valuable use for refer- 

 ence and reminder, but cannot hope to build up from 

 them alone a lasting interest in any subject, cult, or 

 science. A campaign to conquer the comparative 

 anatomies of the Conifers has to be undertaken with 

 more Fabian methods. 



