42 A SPRAY OF PINE. < 



branches ; they appeared almost evenly matched ; but 

 on the third year, one of them clearly took the lead, 

 and at the end of the season was a foot or more in 

 advance of the other. The next year the distance 

 between them became still greater, and the defeated 

 leader appeared to give up the contest, so that a sea- 

 son or two afterward it began to lose its upright 

 attitude and to fall more and more toward a hori- 

 zontal position ; it was willing to go back into the 

 ranks of the lateral branches. Its humiliation was 

 so great that it even for a time dropped below 

 them, but toward midsummer it lifted up its head a 

 little, and was soon fairly in the position of a side 

 branch, simulating defeat and willing subordination 

 as completely as if it had been a conscious sentient 

 being. 



The evergreens can keep a secret the year round, 

 some one has said. How well they keep the secret of 

 the shedding of their leaves ! so well that in the case 

 of the spruces we hardly know when it does occur. In 

 fact, the spruces do not properly shed their leaves at 

 all, but simply outgrow them, after carrying them an 

 indefinite time. Some of the species carry their 

 leaves five or six years. The hemlock drops its 

 leaves very irregularly : the winds and the storms 

 whip them off ; in winter the snow beneath them is 

 often covered with them. 



But the pine sheds its leaves periodically, though 

 always as it were stealthily and under cover of the 

 newer foliage. The white pine usually sheds its leaves 



