THE STRUGGLES OF A SCOTCH PINE 229 
much of it that it shrmks away and becomes thin and 
soft, and dead at the ground level. The little pine 
cannot hold itself up. It topples over to the ground 
and dies. We say it “damps off,’ because it appears 
to rot and die on account of the wet ground. But it 

Fic. 280. Young pines well established. 
was the little plant mould that killed it. Though the — 
mould was very much smaller than the pine, it made a 
successful attack. Many of the seedlings may fall from 
the attacks of this insidious foe. 
The pines get larger. Each year those that remain 
get higher. They seem to make up in size what they 
