272 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



wind-break, sheltering the deciduous trees which 

 grow further inland from the first keenness of 

 ocean blasts; and in many places evergreen woods 

 border on the great lakes, and bear the brunt of 

 their gales. 



As one ascends high mountains the broad-leaved 

 trees grow fewer, till at last, all the rough slopes 

 are clothed with the sombre green of spruces and 

 pines. Indeed the word "pine" is derived from 

 the Celtic " pin," a crag, which is preserved in 

 the names of some Scotch and Welsh mountains 

 " Ben Lomond," " Ben Nevis," and " Penmaen- 

 Mawr." 



The forests of Maine and Canada are largely 

 evergreen, and as one travels northward deciduous 

 trees are left behind, till, at last, all the land is in 

 possession of the spire-shaped spruces and the 

 pines. 



Coast and mountain evergreens must brave rough 

 winds, and evergreens of high latitudes must be 

 enabled to shed the snows of northern winters. 



So Nature has fitted them for their circumstances 

 by giving them the stiff, slender leaves which are 

 popularly called " needles," or, as in the case of 

 the arbor-vitae, scale-like foliage, which invests 

 the branches as tiles cover a roof. However fierce 



