146 TSUGA, OR. HEMLOCK SPRUCE FIRS 
apex. -All these points, we humbly submit, are too 
much in the form of minute points of microscopic 
mystery for any, outside the select few, to contend 
with. And the same may be.said of the stomata, 
how many lines or whether conspicuous or non- 
conspicuous ; points, all of them, a little too close 
up to the profession for the generality of tree friends. 
Then there are the buds, which grow from three 
points of the branchlet—at the end of the long 
shoots, at the end of the short shoots, and in the axils 
of the leaves.. This, again, is a little too ultra- 
botanical’ for the ambition of most, and a very un- 
recallable item of differentiation for even the more 
attentive of students. : 
Next are the branchlets. The colour of some 
(and we instance that of the red-twigged Japanese 
Larch) we are willing to admit as of helpful signifi- 
cance at times. But their pubescence or non-pubes- 
cence, which in so many cases tells its story clarion 
clear, we contend is rather a broken reed to depend 
upon in the case of some Larch. The Japanese is 
generally accredited with pubescence, yet you may 
pluck shoot after shoot, from tree after tree, time 
after time, and find their twigs as innocent of down 
as any chitty-faced babe girl’s complexion in earliest 
nursery days. ; : 
So far we have made but little advance in our 
quest, the aim of which is how to distinguish the 
species of the Larch tribe. At this stage of the 
proceedings we feel almost inclined to abandon the 
chase, to hobble our hobby in the stable for good 
and all, and lock the door. In our despair we must 
look to the cones and their attendant sprites, the 
bracts they bear, whence will come help. It would 
perhaps be of benefit if, in this effort at arrangement, 
.we were allowed to borrow metaphors from the 
prize-ring confraternity; and adopt some of their 
