CHAPTER XIX 



THE MURMURING PINES AND THEIR KINDRED 



XTT'HEN the new-born pine tree casts off its 

 ' " seed-coats and lifts its head into the sun- 

 shine, we see at once that its ways are not the ways 

 of the oaks and maples. 



All the broad-leaved trees except the palms 

 begin life with two cotyledons. 



Sometimes these are so heavy that the stalk is 

 unable to lift them up, and they remain lying in 

 the mold. But there are two cotyledons always, 

 whether the sprouting tree is coming from an 

 acorn, apple pip, hickory nut, or maple seed. 



The sprouting yew, like the baby maple, 

 appears above ground with two seed-leaves, and 

 so do the seedling juniper, cedar, and arbor vitje. 

 But most of the pine tree's kindred have their 

 own way of doing things from start to finish. 



A pine begins life with a circle of cotyledons, 

 all springing from the top of a slender stalk, and 

 standing out like the spokes of a wheel (Fig. 52). 



Thus at the outset it shows that it is not related 

 to the oaks and maples. It belongs to a family 

 which must be mentioned with due ceremony. 



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