THE PINE. 



397 



abundance. The embryo cones or female flowers appear 

 on the summits of the shoots of the year, in number 



from two to as many as six, and of a green or purplish 

 green colour. When impregnated, they become lateral 

 and reflexed, and cease to increase in size till the follow- 

 ing spring, when they again begin to swell, and by July 

 attain their full size, ripening by degrees into ovate, 

 pointed, and tesselated, hard woody cones, from one inch 

 and a half to two inches long. These remain on the tree 

 for a considerable time afterwards, though the seeds are 

 discharged the following spring, and it is then that trees 

 are frequently seen with cones in four different stages : 

 viz., in the youngest or embryo state ; in an unripe or 

 green condition, but of full size ; in a matured state, or 

 when they have become brown ; and lastly with the scales 

 expanded after the seed has been shed. The scales of 

 the cones are oblong and terminate externally in a kind of 

 depressed pyramid, which varies considerably in shape and 

 height ; in some this part of the scale is considerably 

 raised and pointed, in others the summit of the pyramid 

 is bent to one side, or turns downwards in the shape of 



