[ 58 2 

 ORIENTATION OF YOUNG PINE SHOOTS 



June 23, 1852. There are interesting groves of 

 young soft white pines eighteen feet high, whose 

 vigorous yellowish-green shoots of this season, from 

 three to eighteen inches long, at the extremities of 

 all the branches, contrast remarkably with the dark 

 green of the old leaves. I observe that these shoots 

 are bent, and, what is more remarkable, all one way, 

 i.e., to the east, almost at a right angle the topmost 

 ones, and I am reminded of the observation in 

 Henry's Adventures, that the Indians guided them- 

 selves in cloudy weather by this mark. All these 

 shoots, excepting those low down on the east side, 

 are bent toward the east. I am very much pleased 

 with this observation, confirming that of the Indians. 

 I was singularly impressed when I first observed 

 that all the young pines in this pasture obeyed this 

 law, without regard to the direction of the wind or 

 the shelter of other trees. To make myself more 

 sure of the direction, as it was not easy to determine 

 it exactly, standing on one side, where so many 

 shoots were bent in the air, I went behind the trees 

 on the west till the bent shoot appeared as a straight 

 line, and then, by observing my shadow and guess- 

 ing at the time of day, I decided that their direction 

 was due east. This gives me more satisfaction than 

 any observation which I have made for a long time. 

 This is true of the rapidly growing shoots. How long 



