78 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



resin. Under this comfortable mantle, which from its being a 

 bad conductor of heat opposes an effectual resistance to the 

 cutting winds or nipping night-frosts of early spring, the first 

 tender leaflets are developed by the influence of the warming 

 sun, as safely and securely as a brood of chickens under the 

 fostering care of a hen. Slowly they swell within the little 

 dungeon in which they are so providently inclosed ; but as soon 

 as they have burst their fetters, they expand with an astonishing 

 rapidity, and in a few days the tree appears in the full beauty 

 of its youthful verdure. 



