72 SYLVAN WINTER. 



detailed description of them in these pages, but 

 two must be mentioned as in some sort repre- 

 sentatives of the others. Let us take the Scotch 

 Fir or Pine, as it really is, as typical of many 

 others in so far as its general characters are 

 concerned. There is a peculiar beauty and 

 symmetry in this tree in its early form. The 

 somewhat rough, reddish-brown bark already 

 foreshadows the richness of colour of the mature 

 tree. The branches are produced in whorls, 

 usually of five in each whorl, upon the upright 

 stem. Upon these grow the needle-shaped leaves, 

 each pair of leaves sheathed at their bases. The 

 leaves are produced all round the branches which 

 bear them, and are from two to three inches long, 

 narrow, bluish-green, striated. By this method 

 of arrangement on the branches the latter have 

 a cylindrical appearance, so regularly are the 

 leaves disposed. From the base to the apex the 

 stem is gradually and elegantly tapered, and this 

 circumstance, taken in conjunction with the 

 regular and systematic arrangement of the 

 branches, gives a strikingly symmetrical appear- 

 ance to the young tree. Later in its life it loses 



