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The Christmas Spirits and the Trees: December: Pines

I. THE GIFTS OF THE PINE FAMILY In addition to the fact that they are so intimately related to the good times of the Christmas season there are other reasons for giving the first section of this chapter to the Pines. Did you know, for instance, that it was their ancestors who put in all our winter coal?

The Pine family includes the Pines, the Larches, the Spruces, from which, among other things, paper is made, the Hemlocks, the tannin in whose bark helps make leather, the Firs, Cypresses, Sequoias, Cedars, Arbor-Vitae, and Junipers. They are all commonly referred to as Evergreens because, with the exception of the Larch and the Bald Cypress, their leaves do not fall all at once as do those of most trees.

Within the boundaries of the United States there are thirty-nine species of Pines; so, you see, just to know all the members of the family by their "calling-cards," their cones, and needle-like leaves would be quite an undertaking. Our illustrations give some of the most interesting examples. A good little game for Christmas would be to see who could guess the most of them correctly, after having studied the pictures carefully. Cover the names with a slip of paper, then let each one write out a list of the numbers with his guess opposite, and, after all the lists are made, compare with the book. To make it particularly interesting each player should, of course, be supplied with a certain number of English Walnuts or chocolate drops or other Christmas goodies as forfeits for mistakes. Then these forfeits would finally go to the most successful guesser.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMES WHERE THE PINE SPIRITS LIVE The method of growth of the Pines is peculiar and characteristic. Their branches are arranged in regular order, circling in whorls around the trunk, as if the homes, the "frame dwellings," of all the family, although differing so much in size and shape, had, nevertheless, been designed by one architect with that individual manner which distinguishes all artists. Two of the "personal" identification marks among the Pines proper -- that is, excluding the Larches, Spruces, Arbor-Vitae, and so on -- are the number and size of the needles and the shape and size of the cones, as you may suspect from our little collection of "calling-cards" in the illustrations. WHO'S WHO AMONG THE PINE PEOPLES In the following list, to take the Loblolly as an example, L: 3, 6-10, means that the Loblolly's leaves are in clusters of three and are 6 to 10 inches in length; C: 3-5 that its cones are 3 to 5 inches long; 5 x 150 that, in the most favorable soil and conditions, it reaches a height of 150 feet, with a diameter of 5 feet.

Pitch-Pine: L: 3, 6-8; C: 1-3; 3 x 80. N. J. southward. Prefers swamps but can make itself at home almost anywhere. Might be called "The Phoenix of the Pines," for it even sends up shoots after a fire; the only member of the family that does. Will also stand a salt-sea bath -- a thing most trees heartily dislike. Chief value is for fuel, charcoal, ties, and holding down dunes along the sea and elsewhere so that they won't keep spreading over good land; and so that they will stay in the picture for snap-shooters and other artists. In dense woods grows erect, but alone, as when it "clings like a limpet to the rocks"; it is many-angled and picturesque -- just the kind of tree that artists love. Formerly a source of pitch and turpentine but now superseded by more productive species.

THE LITTLE PINONS AND THE "BIG MILLS" The Pinons: From a lumber standpoint nobody would look twice at any of the Pines known as "Pinons," but they are very popular with artists, squirrels, Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls, and other citizens of the wild. While they're nothing to speak of for size, they're very picturesque, clinging bravely to their dry mountain ridges, and they produce the delicious little nut seeds from which they get their name. If you ever do any tramping in the Great Southwest, or go through any of the towns on the train, you'll have plenty of opportunity to eat "pinons"; and, what is fully as interesting, to see them eaten by the Indians and Mexicans, boys and girls, and all. It's simply wonderful how they can keep a steady stream of empty shells coming out of one side of their mouths while constantly feeding handfuls of fresh grist into the other!