264 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



elusions I have arrived at regarding them, it is some- 

 what disturbing to find, in the half dozen botanical 

 books before me, the leaf color given, 

 but no further hint of the general 

 color effect of the trees.* So, 

 when I say that the foliage of 

 the Scotch pine is "sage- 

 green," I find myself with- 

 out support from the bot- 

 anists. However, botan- 

 ical writers rarely assist 

 us in the recognition of 

 those broad effects of 

 color and form in Nature 

 which are sometimes pro- 

 foundly impressive, f and 

 their indifference to truths, 

 which are not categorically bo- 

 tanical is therefore excusable; 

 but for me it would be inexcusa- 

 bly negligent not to say that the 

 Scotch fir possesses a most pe- 



Scotch Pine. 



* The color of the leaf by no means decides the color of the 

 tree. The latter is generally complex, through a variety of causes 

 chief among which is atmospheric influence. 



f I must not omit to say, however, that Prof. Sargent, in his 

 Silva of North America, has given most graphic and truthful 



