THE STRUGGLES OF A SCOTCH PINE — 233 
oaks. The pines have risen above the other trees of 
the forest and hold almost undisputed sway. It now 


Fic. 285. Oaks felled to clear the forest. 
becomes a struggle of pine with pine to see which 1s 
the stronger. 
Enemies of old pines. As the conquered trees have 
fallen they have crushed down others, or they have 
broken large limbs and bruised the trunks. The wood 
and timber enemies, in the shape of the mushroom and 
bracket fungi, enter the wound by tiny threads and rot 
the “heart” of the tree, so that it is weakened and 
hollow. The pine is not free from enemies in the shape 
of insects which bore their way into the young twigs 
and lay their eggs in the tender shoots and cause what 
are called “galls,’ which wound and weaken the 
branches. 
