68 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



Photo ly] 



FIG. 97. WHITE W T ILLOW (Salix alba). 



[E. Step. 



The upright spikes are the female catkins. At the extremity of the shoot the new leaves are just emerged from the 

 leaf-buds. EUROPE, N'. AFRICA, ASIA.. 



of the Pine family are, indeed, phenomenal, one and a half or even two 

 pounds being frequently obtained from a single tree at each tapping 

 (fig. 87). The Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster) is perhaps the most prolific 

 of all. It begins to yield abundantly when twenty-five or thirty years 

 old, and when the process is well managed will continue to yield for 

 a very long time. There are Pines at La Teste, in France, with as many as 

 sixty scars of places where they have been tapped, evidence that the 

 working of these trees goes back at least three centuries. 



The production of resin by the Pines appears to be a protection from the 

 attacks of Fungi. It is most abundant in their trunks just above the roots, 

 from which many of the most deadly of the tree-fungi obtain access. To 

 the fact that roots of trees are often injured by the gnawing of rodent 

 animals many a noble tree falls a victim to fungus, the entire bark being 

 impervious to the attack of the fungus. This broken, a germinating spore 

 probably brought in the fur of the mouse that gnawed the root obtains 

 access to the layers of bast-tissue up which its mycelium can extend without 

 limit. Torn limbs offer a similar opening. In the case of the Scots Pine, 

 broken limbs rapidly have the wound closed by an outpouring of resin, 

 which coagulates and closes all the pores. Pine-trees in plantations often 

 have their roots torn by the spades of careless woodmen when cutting 

 drains. The fungus thus gains entrance, for the roots are deficient in resin, 



