2 PINES 
We have explained the salient differences of these 
two types of Pine trees in our definition of botanical 
terms for our readers, and will leave it at their dis- 
posal, that those who run may read, or those who 
are not that way inclined may skip. The easily 
acquired mastery of the number of leaves or needles 
in a bundle or cluster obtained is the first rung on 
the ladder of knowledge on which to secure a footing. 
That humble position reached, the first awakening 
into the mysteries of a differentiation of Pines has 
begun. These groups of leaves, it will be noticed, 
are held together:at their base by a wrapper-looking 
arrangement, varying in length and habit, and 
which in form and general appearance bears certain 
resemblance to those strips of cloth that encase the 
‘legs of khaki-clad warriors, and are known as puttees. 
An accurate observance of this little binding, 
which is termed, in the phraseology of the cult, a 
leaf sheath, or leaf scale, comes in on occasions 
opportunely, and helps to dispel doubts of identity. 
Sometimes it is persistent, at other times deciduous; 
occasionally, in the case of the so-called Fox-tail 
Pines, P. Balfouriana and P. Aristata, and the 
members of the Cembroides group, it splits into 
shreds and forms itself, with its reflexed remnants, 
torn (so to speak) into ribands, into a rosette-shaped 
appearance. One inestimable boon has been con- 
‘ferred by Nature upon those (with whom we should 
always be in sympathy) who move slowly along the 
more stony path of hard work in their start upon. 
any quest, and it is this, that no mathematical 
brain-worrying is incurred in the task of counting 
these leaves in a bundle. Indeed, should there be 
among us that unbrightened star of an age that 
seems to have passed, who has only learned to cipher 
upon his fingers, the task is rendered of easy mani- 
pulation even to him, and for this reason, that the 
