130 Natural Theology. 



if their leaves remained upon them. Their trunks 

 divide into large branches, that in some old trees 

 break down by their own weight. And these large 

 branches, if loaded with snow and ice, would be torn 

 from them by the winds, and decay and death would 

 follow. But our northern evergreens, the spruce, 

 the firs, and pines, were made to endure the frosts 

 and snow without danger. Their whole plan of 

 structure is different from that of the broad-leaved 

 trees. Their trunks rise single shafts, never divided 

 except by accident. Their limbs are disposed in 

 circles ; they are small, compared with the size of 

 the trees. They are not subdivisions of the trunk, 

 but are fastened into it as pins are driven into posts. 

 The well-arranged, bending limbs, remind one at 

 once of a well-formed roof, from which the snow 

 easily slides. Even when the ice gathers upon them, 

 the\ are with the greatest difficulty broken from the 

 trunk ; and if broken, their structure is such that 

 harm is seldom done to the main shaft. 



Here, then, we have all wide-leaved trees, like 

 prudent mariners, furling their sails when the dan- 

 gers of winter approach, thus presenting only bare 

 poles to the wind, while most of the northern cone- 

 bearing trees, as though conscious of the strength 

 of their spars, keep every stitch of canvas spread 

 and bid defiance to the storm. 



Did the elm form the joint to its leaf and deter- 

 mine the time for it to do its appointed work before 

 the frosts and snow ? Did the pine and spruce find 

 by experience how their limbs must be fastened to 



