274 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
where snow seldom falls heavily, and never lies in 
unwieldy masses. 
The little needle-shaped or scale-like leaves of 
northern evergreens make up in number what they 
lack in size. 
But though the trees are evergreen their leaves 
are not. One by one they fade and fall, till, in 
the course of a few years the entire foliage has 
been shed. Thus the spruce drops all its needles 
in the course of six or seven years. The yew- 
leaves fall after they have weathered the gales of 
about eight winters, and the leaves of the silver-fir 
drop to the ground when they have reached the 
ripe old age of twelve years. The discoloration of 
ageing leaves is not noticed amid the general 
greenness of their surroundings, and the void made 
by their fall is soon filled by fresh individuals. 
The larch in the North and the “‘ bald-cypress’’ 
in the South have departed widely from the family 
custom of the cone-bearers. Like the broad-leaved 
trees they drop their foliage each autumn, and 
they appear in spring clothed in complete new 
suits of tender green. 
The true evergreens which retain their needles 
throughout, assume a sombre tint with the coming 
of the first heavy frosts. This is because the 
