THE PINE. 53 



phenomena of the collective, only in a subdued and 

 more attenuated manner, appropriate to the sphere 

 of its own utility. 



Tall, straight, hardy, and long lived, our noble 

 Scotch fir is a native of Europe generally, but not 

 of America. The flowers appear plentifully in May 

 and June, and towards the close of summer the 

 young green cones may be found, presenting how- 

 ever, so different an appearance from the brown, 

 open, and emptied "fir-bobs" which strew the 

 ground below, that seen asunder, the inexperienced 

 could scarcely imagine them the same thing. At 

 this period they are green, tapering, and with an 

 unbroken and tesselated surface. They require 

 about eighteen months to become perfectly ripe. 

 None are produced till the tree is fifteen or twenty 

 years old; after that they are plentiful every season; 

 and on careful scrutiny, will be found to contain 

 from 60 to 100 seeds each. These, when they vege- 

 tate, like those of all other conifers, show the pretty 

 novelty of five or six cotyledons instead of the 

 pair we are accustomed to in our flower-gardens, or 

 the solitary one of lilies and cereals. Hence the 

 conifers are described as " polycotyledonous." 



As a timber-tree for poor soils and in exposed situ- 

 ations, the Scotch fir has no superior, except perhaps, 

 the larch. Different soils, however, greatly affect 

 it. Upon chalk this tree is short-lived, and never 

 attains any considerable dimensions; those soils 



