155 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



and in New England and the Dominion its shortened name of 

 Hemlock is "familiar in the mouths" of the people. The 

 leaves are short, flat, solitary, and endure for two seasons. 

 The cones are but half an inch long, and afford a striking 

 contrast to those of the Sugar-pine (Pinus lambertiana) whose 

 cones are said sometimes to measure two feet long. The 

 peculiar grace of the Hemlock is due to the symmetrically 

 arranged branches, and to their drooping tips ; but in later life 

 it becomes rugged, and loses much of its charm. Its wood is 

 not so highly esteemed as its bark, which is useful for tanning. 



The Larch (Larix europaa). 



So frequently do we come across huge plantations of Larch 

 that we might be pardoned for supposing it to be a native tree ; 

 but though it was introduced to Britain as an ornamental tree 

 about two hundred and fifty years ago its true home is in the 

 South European Alps. It is singular in the fact of being a 

 deciduous conifer, that is it sheds all its leaves in the autumn ; 

 and remains naked until the spring. A larch-wood in winter 

 presents rather a weird and dreary aspect, the grey branches 

 and trunks appearing as if dead and withered, an aspect that 

 is intensified w.hen, as frequently happens, the branches are 

 thickly invested with the lichens Ramalina and Evernia. But 

 in spring the Larch again becomes a thing of beauty, and, as 

 Tennyson sings : 



" Rosy plumelets tuft the Larch, 

 And rarely sings the mounted thrush ; 

 And underneath the barren bush 

 Flits by the sea-blue bird of March." 



These " rosy plumelets " are the future cones, and they are 

 very conspicuous on the bare branches. They become ripe by 

 their first Autumn, when they are but little more than an inch 

 in length, rather oval than conical ; erect on the branch, and 

 the scales with irregular margins. When first the leaves 



