24^ 



TREES GROWING IN SANDY SOIL. 



represented in their broadest form. As they then appear and 

 after they have lost their bristles, which they often do at matur- 

 ity, they have a blunt, and pronounced expression quite at vari- 

 ance with that of their narrower forms. Although generally pu- 

 bescent underneath, the leaves become smoother as they grow 

 old. In gravelly uplands the tree is found, and from Maine 

 southward to Florida and westward. 



Quercitron, a well-known dye, is extracted from the bark of 

 the black oak which is also valuable because of its abundant 

 yield of tannin. A substance is besides taken from it that has 

 considerable efficacy when used for external applications. 



LABRADOR PINE. GREY PINE. NORTHERN SCRUB 



PINE. BANK'S PINE. {Plate CXXXIV.) 



Plnus divaricdta. 



Bark : dark brown ; irregularly ridged and flaky when old. Twigs : red- 

 dish. Leaves: one inch long; greyish green ; simple ; growing closely crowded 

 along the branches in bunches of two with sheaths at their bases and diverging 

 widely ; needle-shaped ; pointed at the apex ; grooved above and curved ; 

 rigid ; evergreen. Cones i about two inches long ; numerous; oblong-conical; 

 growing usually in pairs and curving upward in the direction of the branches ; 

 thick. Scales : blunt ; thickened at the apex and tipped when young with a 

 spine ; glabrous. 



About the great there is simplicity, and somehow we are 

 sensible of this when we stand before these grave inhabitants 

 of the forests, the pines. They have lived long on the globe. 

 In fact, the coniferous trees knew the world in one of its earli- 

 est geological ages, the Age of Reptiles. Flying things were 

 then not developed, but it mattered little to them. The wind 

 was already old and in spite of its extravagance served well 

 to distribute their pollen. From its aid they have never de- 

 parted in favour of the gay, gauzy and prudent insect messen- 

 gers of a later time. This is not true, however, of all trees. 



It is interesting to notice the extreme simplicity of the or- 



