PINES AND PINE FORESTS 257 



Wherever the pines stood very thick, little else but dead, 

 brown needles and a few gray lichens covered the ground. 

 In places less densely shaded the ground was covered with 

 low bushes of blueberry, with a sprinkling of wintergreen, 

 and a few other small shrubs ; while the dense shade in 

 Tamarack and Cedar swamps permitted no undergrowth 

 except mosses and lichens. 



We have, however, by no means exhausted the list of dif- 

 ferences between pineries and broad-leaved forests. Were 

 we to return to these solitudes in autumn, we should look 

 in vain for the golden yellow of the ash or for the glowing 

 tints of oaks, sumachs, and Virginia creeper; the pines 

 still wear their sombre green of summer, but gray clouds, 

 drizzling rains, and cold winds make the scenery still more 

 melancholy and gloomy than it was in summer. 



When, however, fierce snowstorms at last follow the 

 autumn gusts, then the pine forest is suggestive of shelter, 

 home, and life. The broad-leaved trees now look bare and 

 lifeless, but the evergreen needles of the pines remind us 

 that life is only sleeping, and conjure up the scenes of many 

 a merry Christmas ; and, while the blizzards may sweep over 

 their tops, they are hardly felt on the ground. 



The impression which the pine forest makes upon us by the 

 uniformity of its trees, by the absence of bright flowers and 

 luxuriant underbrush, and by its sombre foliage, is very much 

 deepened by the almost solemn silence which prevails in it. 

 The winged musicians, which love the leafy brush and 

 its cool shade, find nothing to attract them here; bees 

 and butterflies find but few flowers, and are, therefore, 

 scarce; and only a few insects feed on the green pine 

 needles. Rabbits, foxes, and wolves also find little to 

 attract them in the deep forest, and are not as common 

 there as most people think. The Virginia deer, however, 

 is now almost restricted to the pine regions, at least in the 



