216 CONVERSATIONS ON I HE 



try to make you understand the general dis 

 tinctions between them, and then go on to 

 describe the principal varieties of each. 



"In the first place, then, the pines differ 

 from the others chiefly in the leaves, which 

 are long and slender, like large hairs, or 

 pieces of wire, and mostly grow in bunches, 

 from the ends of the branches, just as though 

 a number of them were tied together ; you 

 have seen what is called the white, pine very 

 often, I am sure, for it is one of the Christmas 

 greens ; and you have noticed the leaves, 

 sometimes five or six inches long, dark green, 

 and about as thick as a knitting-needle : well, 

 all the pines have the same kind of leaves, 

 only some of them are not quite as long. And 

 whenever you see a tree with such leaves on 

 it, you may be sure that it is a pine of some 

 sort or other. 



" The leaves of the spruces, on the contrary, 

 are very short, not more than half an inch, or 

 at most two-thirds of an inch long ; and 

 instead of growing in bunches like the pines, 

 they stand out all along the sides of the small 

 branches, like the feathers on a quill, only not 

 as close together : there is some difference 

 in the cones or seeds, too, but we will not 



