The Rescue of an Old Place 



with a second load of Pines, there came 

 down quite a respectable rain, so that we 

 greatly plumed ourselves upon our fore- 

 sight in having got our trees in the nick 

 of time, just as the drought " broke." 



But, alas, for the prescience of man, and 

 for our corner in Pines ! We mulched 

 them all well with sea-weed, to keep in 

 what moisture we might, and waited confi- 

 dently for more rain but no rain came ! 

 Two weeks more of dry weather ensued ; 

 many of the green tassels hung sadly 

 down, a cold, dry wind blew, twisting and 

 turning them in every direction, and mer- 

 cilessly whipped the branches about, 

 giving the poor things a cruel foretaste of 

 what they are likely to encounter as time 

 goes on. If the new trees look about upon 

 their well-rooted neighbors, they must be 

 struck with the havoc made upon them 

 by the northwest wind. It is always the 

 northwest side of a tree that is brownest 

 and thinnest, and which shows the most 

 broken branches, and the greatest number 

 of withered, copper-colored spines. 



Not until the last of May did the rain 

 come down in earnest, too late for any 

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