PINE FAMILY 



together when cold weather comes as if it were preparing for 

 a long winter's sleep. 



The cones are long, slender, loose, and terminal, without 

 spine or prickle, and fall in the winter of their second year. 

 The seeds should be sown in the spring and covered lightly, 

 if at all. The seedlings are delicate and should always be 

 protected from both wind and sun. 



The expression, " Bearded with moss," is more than a poet's 

 fancy. Tufts of gray moss are found abundantly on the 

 trunks of all pines that grow in damp, close, northern woods, 

 the thread is round and fine like a hair, and a bunch of 

 the moss constantly suggests the gray beard of an old man. 

 This moss plays an important part in the domestic life of the 

 northern Indians, it is in this warm, soft substance that the 

 Indian babies are packed for transportation on their cradle 

 boards. A good Indian mother gathers it by the bushel, it is 

 like linen for the tender flesh, it is soft, resinous, aseptic, 

 porous, healthful ; and the small brown baby swathed in moss 

 may be quite as well off physically as his civilized neighbor 

 clothed in flannel and linen. 



The economic value of the White Pine gives to its life 

 history an interest which under other circumstances it might 

 not have. It is clear that the commercial supply will soon 

 be exhausted. The best pines of the northern states have 

 already been cut, a few forest tracts still remain but they are 

 in process of extinction. 



The White Pine has considerable vitality and has shown 

 itself capable of taking possession of the abandoned lands of 

 New England, where vigorous young forests are springing 

 up on land worthless for any other crop. But it cannot 

 come again on a tract that has been de^stated by fire. 



448 



