CHAPTER XXI. 



V. Evergreen Leaves. 



1. With long needles. 



THE PINE. 



The evergreens are pre-eminently trees of winter. 

 At no other season of the year is the greenness of 

 f ohage quite so restful and grateful to the eyes. But 

 this demulcent effect on one's eyesight, at the time 

 of dazzhng snows, is nothing in comparison with the 

 marvelous ameliorating iafluence which these winter 

 trees exert on our rigorous ISTorthern cold. They rob 

 the winter winds of their severity, and produce for 

 the iavaUd an equable and temperate climate possess- 

 ing remarkable health-giving qualities. There is no 

 exaggeration of truth in saying that the temperature 

 in a pine belt differs radically from that in the open 

 country fifteen miles away, although it would be dif- 

 ficult to demonstrate the fact by means of the ther- 

 mometer. The mercury might record but a slight 



variation in the temperature of the two places, but 



256 



