A LABRADOR SPRING 
case of the spruces, I am endeavouring to hasten 
the process of familiarity by planting one of 
each species within a few yards of my country 
house, so that I can watch them grow and be- 
come intimate with every stage in their prog- 
ress. With the same idea I have planted what 
I have fondly called my forest where I have 
devoted an acre of land to New England trees 
only, — no foreign intruders are allowed. Here 
some fifty different species and many individuals 
are growing up. Only a few years ago one had 
to take care not to step on the forest in the 
grass, and my forest was the joke of my friends, 
but now the trees are rapidly extending above 
my head, and the birds of the air delight to 
lodge in their branches, for after all the birds 
are at the bottom of this scheme, but inci- 
dentally I am learning much of trees. Until 
one is perfectly familiar with the general 
habit, the intangible family air of the different 
species, it is a good plan to learn some special 
field marks. The long cones of the white 
spruce are of course distinctive. In the red 
and black spruces the cones look much alike, but 
in one species the cones generally fall off every 
year, in the other they persist for years. I have 
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