WINTER VERDURE OF THE FARM gi 
archaic type that bear naked seeds in cones and have incon- 
spicuous flowers. The latter are of more recent origin and 
have mostly very showy flowers. So great are these differen- 
ces that we may better consider the two groups separately. 
The larger conifers all have one habit of growth: they 
shoot upward straight asan arrow. Most of them have their 
branches arranged in whorls about the slender tapering trunk, 
and extended horizontally. Thus, under their winter 
burden of ice and snow, they may bend down uninjured until 
they rest on branches below, or on the ground. Given plenty 
of room, the pines grow in ragged outlines; the spruces, 
hemlock and balsam are beautifully tapering and conical; the 
arborvite and the taller cedars approach cylindric form. In 
color the white pine is the darkest green; the pitch pine is 
yellowish green. The balsams and certain spruces and 
cedars have a bluish cast. Arborvite is a chameleon, that 
changes its color with the season, being rather dull and un- 
attractive in midwinter, but making upforit by the liveliness 
of its tints a little later. In texture the pines are loosest, 
their long needles being arranged in bundles. The balsams 
and spruces have a sleek, furry aspect. The hemlock is soft 
and fine: indeed, of all foliage masses, there are none more 
beautiful than those of well-grown hemlock. And the 
closest textures of all are wrought out of the minute, close-laid 
leaves of the cedars and the arborvite. The red cedar is not 
among the largest of the conifers, but it is a valuable one, 
because of the fine aromatic fragrance and the enduring 
quality of its wood. The yews and the junipers are the 
underlings of this group: they are low, sprawling shrubs 
that grow on the forest floor in the shade, or on stony and 
barren slopes. 
This exceedingly important group of trees furnishes us 
with a great variety of products: timber, fuel, tannin, tur- 
pentine, rosin, etc.; but it furnished the red man with many 
