INTRODUCTION xix 



carian Indians of the South. To the English 

 palate they are not very agreeable, whether raw 

 or cooked, the flavour being decidedly resinous. 

 This, however, to a great extent, is got rid of by 

 boiling the seeds. 



It is hardly likely that pine nuts will ever find 

 much favour in this country, although the comfits 

 supplied by Messrs. Fuller, of the Strand and 

 Regent Street, and which consist of the kernels 

 embedded in sugar, are both toothsome and 

 enjoyable. 



As regards stature, some coniferous trees, as 

 the Sequoia, which attains to over 330 feet in 

 height, can only be approached by the Eucalyptus 

 of Australia ; while amongst dwarf forms we 

 have some of the Junipers which only rise a few 

 inches from the ground, and a New Zealand 

 Dacrydium that is smaller than an arctic willow. 

 As to antiquity, the first traces of the Order occur 

 in the Devonian and Carboniferous series, the 

 earliest Conifers of which geologists tell us being 

 the Ginkgo, Araucaria, and members of the pine 

 family. 



Conifers pass through several stages of growth, 

 for after the seed leaves have been formed comes 

 the particularly interesting transition period, when 

 leaves of a shape differing on the one hand from 

 the seed leaves and on the other from that of the 

 adult foliage are produced. By examining some 

 of the Junipers and Retinisporas, which latter 

 have no separate existence as a genus, two distinct 

 forms of leaves may be found on the same branch. 



As ornamental trees the Conifers rank high. 

 In point of colour we have every shade, from the 



