FARM PENC1LLINGS AT LAKESIDE. 241 



way for a higher vegetation. At the present time 

 there are few rocks so barren or smooth that the 

 tenacious lichens will not fasten upon them and 

 flourish through storm and cold, as do ti.e cereals 

 in the best of soils and in the warmest sunshine. 

 Suppose the reader becomes interested in these 

 statements, and starts out botanizing some day in 

 the coming winter months. Such an excursion 

 will by no means be devoid of interest or instruc- 

 tion. Everywhere on rocks, fences, and fallen 

 trees, and in the pebbly bottoms of brooks, the rich 

 mosses will be found in great variety ; and their 

 study will open up new ideas of the wonderful na- 

 ture of plant structures, even in their lowest forms. 

 But activity in plant life in winter is not alone 

 confined to the cryptogamia. It is during this in- 

 clement season that many of our forest trees ripen 

 and perfect their seeds. The firs and pines are not 

 like the deciduous trees, which allow the moisture 

 they contain to freeze in winter. The temperature 

 of a pine-tree under the bark never falls below the 

 congealing point, no matter how severe the cold 

 may be outside. These resinous trees keep up a 

 kind of low " tree heat," as do the bears a low 

 animal heat, in freezing weather. Consequently 

 the circulation of sap goes on, and the immature 

 seeds are ripened. In some localities in the north- 

 ern part of our country those evergreens grow 



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