82 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
a mere evergreen bush. The branches are short and spreading, 
those on the lower portions of the trunk dying early, so that the 
tree soon gets that gaunt weather-beaten look that is so character- 
istic of it. Then, after the growth of the leading shoot has 
become feeble, the upper branches continue to lengthen, and so 
bring about that flat-topped condition. Its growth is rapid, 
and in twenty years it will attain a height of forty or fifty feet. 
The leaves, which are in bundles of two, are from two to three 
inches long, very slender, grooved above and convex beneath. 
They remain on the tree for over two years, and in their 
first season are of a glaucous hue, but in the second year this 
changes to dark deep-green. Both male and female flowers are 
borne by the same tree. The male catkins are individually 
small Q inch), but are combined in spikes ; this and the 
abundant pale yellow pollen makes them conspicuous. The 
female cones are somewhat egg-shaped, tapering to a point, 
which is often curved. They are usually in clusters of three, 
and grow to a length of two or three inches. The scales are 
comparatively few, and their ends are thickened into an irregular 
four-sided boss, at first ending in a little point. The seeds are 
winged, and contained beneath the scales. They take about 
eighteen months to ripen, when the scales separate in drj' windy 
weather, and allow the breeze to pick out the seeds and send 
them flying through the air to a great distance. The pollen, 
too, it should be noted, is of a form specially fitted for aerial 
transport, each particle of pollen forming two connected spheres. 
It is quite a common experience in May to find little heaps of 
this pollen collected in hollows and at the margins of ponds in 
the neighbourhood of Pine-woods ; but, so difficult is it to get 
people to understand the common facts of nature, that it is 
generally regarded as evidence of a shower of brimstone having 
fallen. It is not only the ignorant rustic who falls into this 
error ; judging from letters sent to the press by country parsons, 
even the universities fail to prepare their alumni to deal with 
