THE PEAR HARVEST. 203 



pear-like bushes began once more to split up under press- 

 ure of special selection into two divergent branches. 

 One branch, clinging rather to the mountainous dis- 

 tricts, and accommodating itself to the peculiar circum- 

 stances of its own chosen habitat, developed gradually 

 into the rowan or mountain ash ; a moderate-sized tree 

 in sheltered uplands, a stunted shrub on wind-swept 

 summits or at very high latitudes beside the Arctic 

 Circle. Like most other trees of windy regions, it has 

 its leaves divided into small opposite leaflets, to prevent 

 them from being tattered by the storms ; so that here 

 the vandyked lobes of the wild service-tree have separated 

 into a number of totally distinct pieces, arranged in reg- 

 ular rows along a central leaf -stalk. Indeed, it is a gen- 

 eral principle of foliage that wherever means of growth 

 fail, the leaves become first indented between the main 

 ribs and finally separated into distinct segments ; which 

 produces the immense variety in the outer shape of 

 closely related leaves, whose ribs and veins nevertheless 

 remain essentially identical. At the same time, the 

 berries of the mountain ash have grown very numerous 

 and bright red in hue, so as to attract the arctic or north- 

 ern birds, which have a keen eye for anything like a 

 patch of brilliant color. If you cut them across the mid- 

 dle, however, you will see that they remain generically 

 apples in structure and architecture ; while their culti- 

 vated form, the service fruit of the Continent, still bears 

 witness to their common origin by actually assuming the 

 shape of a little brownish pear. From the same central 

 junction, on the other hand, the time pears and apples 

 diverged in another direction, spreading rather southward 

 and eastward, and attaining a tree-like stature, with 

 foliage and fruits better adapted to a lowland existence. 

 Their leaves gradually lost the deep lobes of the wild 



