THE SCOTS FIR 45 



seed away from the parent tree by the agency of the 

 wind being the object in either case. The nutty 

 flavour of these seeds, their slowness in ripening, and 

 the difficulty of extracting them, did not escajDe the 

 notice of the emblem-writers of the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries. With them the seed was a 

 type of the results of persevering labour. Camerarius, 

 for instance, gives a plate of a man holding a Pine- 

 cone, or " Fir-apple," with a motto to the effect that 

 " thus it is not possible to arrive at virtue, worth, or 

 praiseworthy deeds, save through many toils and 

 difficulties, but the after-fruits thereof are most 

 sweet." The internal structure of the ripe seed and 

 its germination are of interest, as the " cotyledons," or 

 first leaves, develop their green colouring-matter while 

 still within the seed and thus excluded from lisfht ; 

 and they are so deeply divided as to appear like a 

 whorl of many leaves rather than a single pair, from 

 which fact the name " Polycotyledons " was formerly 

 applied to the group. 



Few plants yield a greater variety of useful sub- 

 stances than the Scots Fir. Tar, pitch, turpentine, 

 resin, and deal are the chief, its timber being imported 

 under various names, such as Dantzic and Riga Pine, 

 according to the port of shipment. Though the 

 timber varies considerably, that of the best varieties 

 is of a deep brownish red colour. The quality varies 

 considerably according to the situation, that grown 

 on well-drained slopes being better than that 

 produced in wet land, where in fact the tree never 

 flourishes. 



Pines are commonly raised from seed in nurseries, 



