Evergreens. (A walk) 61 



If, as is the case with many trees, the branches of 

 pines formed a sharp upward angle with the trunk, snow 

 might slip off the leaves into this fork, gradually 

 collecting there, until there was a danger of its weight 

 tearing the branch away from the trunk. The branches, 

 however, instead of doing this, grow out from the trunk 

 almost horizontally, and even, in the case of the older 

 ones, sweep downwards, so that snow soon slides from 

 the branches straight to the ground. 



When you were learning about planting trees last 

 term I told you that pines, instead of, like the oak, 

 having a single main root growing deep into the ground, 

 have a number of smaller ones which creep along 

 comparatively close to the surface. These enable the 

 tree to grow and prosper where quite a shallow layer of 

 soil covers the rocks, and where a tree with a deep root 

 would be unable to get any hold of the ground. 



The spruce fir, larch, and other less familiar conifers 

 have been imported into Great Britain and now form 

 plantations all over the country. The Scotch pine is, 

 however, our only native representative of the family. 

 In former days forests of this tree covered large tracts 

 of land in Scotland and Ireland, but, although when 

 planted anywhere it often sows itself, it is only in parts 

 of the Highlands that it is now to be found growing 

 wild in any quantity. If you look at a twig of Scotch 

 pine you will see that the leaves are very long and 

 needle shaped, with a single unbranched vein growing 

 down the middle. (This single vein is characteristic of 

 all the conifers. They do not need much liquid food, 

 and if they did they would not be able to get it out of 

 the frozen or sandy ground in which they often grow.) 

 The leaves grow in pairs, each pair being bound together 



