Speaker 1: Chapter nine of Ten Common Trees. This is a LibriVox recording.
Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Ten
Speaker 1: Common Trees by Susan Stokes The cone bearers. At one
Speaker 1: time there was a great forest of pine trees. They
Speaker 1: covered the hillsides and the steep slopes of the mountains.
Speaker 1: They stood spear straight in the moss by the streams.
Speaker 1: They looked down from the cliffs, where they grew tall
Speaker 1: and strong, or clung ragged and stunted to the bare rocks.
Speaker 1: On the edge of this forest lived the Indians. Their
Speaker 1: young men grew up in the shade of the pines,
Speaker 1: and somehow they were alike. The trees were dark in somber.
Speaker 1: They cared not for summer nor winter. Neither were the
Speaker 1: Indians merry. They were fearless and hardy. No blast was
Speaker 1: too strong, and no cold too fierce. They trapped the
Speaker 1: beaver and followed the bear under the tree. And they
Speaker 1: listened to the winds when they whistled or moaned through
Speaker 1: the branches. When they danced and sung around their war fires,
Speaker 1: the pines echoed their voices and so they came to
Speaker 1: feel that the trees were alive, that there was in
Speaker 1: the tree a spirit to which they could appeal. They
Speaker 1: also thought that some men had been changed into trees.
Speaker 1: Even now, there is in the Bitter Root Mountains a
Speaker 1: great medicine or peat tree. It is a pine and
Speaker 1: stands on the boundary between two tribes. Under it, they
Speaker 1: settled their disputes, and to it they bring offerings, which
Speaker 1: they hang on its branches. Shall I tell you some
Speaker 1: of the stories they used to tell about the pines.
Speaker 1: A long time ago, there were ten Indian boys living
Speaker 1: in a village. They were great friends. Every evening, at
Speaker 1: dusk they would meet and dance about one of their number,
Speaker 1: who was a sweet singer. Once they wanted to have
Speaker 1: a great feast, but their parents thought it was foolish
Speaker 1: in wind not give them the things for which they asked.
Speaker 1: That night they came out and danced as usual. The
Speaker 1: singers sang more sweetly than ever before. As he sung,
Speaker 1: they danced faster and faster. Then the singer rose into
Speaker 1: the air, and still they whirled round and round him.
Speaker 1: Their mothers came out and called to them to come back,
Speaker 1: and they might have what they wished. Still, they rose
Speaker 1: higher and higher, dancing around the singer. Only one of
Speaker 1: them looked back, and he fell to the earth and
Speaker 1: was changed into a pine tree. And so the pine
Speaker 1: trees still tell the fate of the boys who danced
Speaker 1: away into the clouds. The trunk is a singer, and
Speaker 1: its circles of branches are the boys who danced about
Speaker 1: him away. Up in the top of a pine tree,
Speaker 1: there is a tip like a feather, and this is
Speaker 1: a story they tell about it. Three men once went
Speaker 1: to the great spirit gloose Gup to ask for favors.
Speaker 1: The first was a young Indian who wore bark and
Speaker 1: fur in his moccasins in order to appear tall. He
Speaker 1: also plastered his hair high and stuck in a turkey feather.
Speaker 1: What would you have, asked Glusgob. I wish to be
Speaker 1: taller than any Indian in the land, said he. Glusgob
Speaker 1: was not pleased and turned to the second. What will
Speaker 1: you have? He asked. The second wanted to live upon
Speaker 1: the earth forever that he might see its beauty. Grant
Speaker 1: that I may live to be very old, and that
Speaker 1: I may have good health to enjoy it, said the third.
Speaker 1: Gluscob called his servant and told him to take the
Speaker 1: men to a hill near by and fasten their feet
Speaker 1: in the ground. This done, he changed them into pine trees.
Speaker 1: In this way each had his wish granted. If you
Speaker 1: will listen when you pass under the pines, you can
Speaker 1: hear their voices and see the turkey feather there in
Speaker 1: the top. Some of the pine trees are very very tall.
Speaker 1: Would you like to hear how they became so? The
Speaker 1: great Manabosso had been hunting one day. When he came
Speaker 1: to the edge of the forest. He saw the prince
Speaker 1: of the serpents lying on the sand by the big
Speaker 1: sea water. Manabosso remembered how much harm the serpents had done,
Speaker 1: and so he shot a magic arrow straight to its
Speaker 1: heart and killed it. Then he turned and ran. The
Speaker 1: serpent had given a loud cry, and the others, hearing it,
Speaker 1: came to him. When they saw that mana Bosso had
Speaker 1: killed him, they started after him, crawling and leaping. They
Speaker 1: went so fast that they were soon upon him, and
Speaker 1: he could hear them hissing. He had run to the
Speaker 1: top of a mountain, and now he had just time
Speaker 1: to climb the tree. He found there. The serpents were
Speaker 1: about its space. Waters of Earth, rise and save me,
Speaker 1: he cried. The waters came, roaring and splashing. They rose
Speaker 1: to the top of the mountain. They swallowed the serpents
Speaker 1: and crept higher and higher up the tree. They came
Speaker 1: about his feet. Tree, tree, stretch and save me, he cried.
Speaker 1: The tree was a pine. It stretched and stretched until
Speaker 1: it was several times as tall as before, and still
Speaker 1: the waters rose. They crept to his knees, to his waist,
Speaker 1: but when they reached his neck they stopped. He called
Speaker 1: to a passing loon to dive and bring up some earth.
Speaker 1: It dived but came up dead. Then a muskrat came
Speaker 1: floating by Manabosso called to it, muskrat, bring me some
Speaker 1: dirt from the ground below the water, and you shall
Speaker 1: have your choice of places on the new Earth I
Speaker 1: will build. The muskrat dived and brought up some dirt
Speaker 1: in its paws. It seemed to be dead, but Manabosso
Speaker 1: breathed into its nostrils, and it came to life. So
Speaker 1: Manabo also made a new Earth, and ever since the
Speaker 1: pine trees have been taller than other trees. The pine
Speaker 1: family Almost all cone bearing trees are called pines by
Speaker 1: those who have not studied them. The pine family includes
Speaker 1: not only the true pines, but the firs and spruces,
Speaker 1: the hemlocks, larches, and cedars. They are also called evergreens,
Speaker 1: for they do not drop their leaves as do many
Speaker 1: of the other common trees. This does not mean that
Speaker 1: the leaves never drop at all, but that they do
Speaker 1: not fall at the same time or on the approach
Speaker 1: of winter. If you look under the trees, you can
Speaker 1: always find the dried needles that have fallen. They fall
Speaker 1: from the inner and older parts of the branches. Evergreen
Speaker 1: leaves do not look much like those of other trees.
Speaker 1: They are sometimes long and pointed, like needles. They may
Speaker 1: be narrow and flat, They may look like flattened scales
Speaker 1: on the branches, or they may be short and all
Speaker 1: like such. Leaves are much stiffer than other leaves and
Speaker 1: must have some way of protecting themselves against the cold.
Speaker 1: They are usually resinous. That is, there are in each
Speaker 1: leaf bodies which produce a thick, sticky gum, which we
Speaker 1: call balsam. This is sometimes fragrant, as in the fur balsam.
Speaker 1: The pines are much more like the trees that were
Speaker 1: growing on the earth at the time that the great
Speaker 1: coal beds were forming than are any of the deciduous trees.
Speaker 1: Their leaves are more like the leaves of the old
Speaker 1: club mosses. Their cones are also somewhat like those of
Speaker 1: the ancient mosses. In this way we know that the
Speaker 1: pines are much older in their form than the deciduous trees.
Speaker 1: The fruit of the pines is called a cone. You
Speaker 1: have all seen cones. They are usually round or oval
Speaker 1: in shape, and consist of a central act around which
Speaker 1: grow many hard, stiff, brown scales. Sometimes these scales are
Speaker 1: thin and flat, sometimes they are thick and rough. In
Speaker 1: the pines they overlap, but in the cypresses and in
Speaker 1: the cedars their edges may fit together so that they
Speaker 1: are rather ball like and have hard ridges. If you
Speaker 1: could watch a cone grow, you would find that it
Speaker 1: began as a twig begins. The part that in a
Speaker 1: twig grows into leaves in a cone flatten out and
Speaker 1: become the scales of the cone. The seed are borne
Speaker 1: on these scales, even in their seed. The pine family
Speaker 1: are quite different from the deciduous trees. A pine nut
Speaker 1: is smooth on the outside. Cut away the shell and
Speaker 1: the kernel looks like a small egg with a small
Speaker 1: cap on one end. That cap is always found among
Speaker 1: the cone bearers. Now, if you cut the white kernel
Speaker 1: in two, you will find that the outside is food,
Speaker 1: and in the sund under of the food is a
Speaker 1: tiny little plant which may be green at one end.
Speaker 1: This is a young pine tree. This is a part
Speaker 1: which when you plant the nut, cracks the shell and
Speaker 1: pushes its way out. These young plants are different from
Speaker 1: all other seedlings. You may find instead of one seed
Speaker 1: leaf like the corn, or two seed leaves like the maple,
Speaker 1: there are a circle of narrow leaves, usually about eight
Speaker 1: or ten. When the young tree begins to branch, buds
Speaker 1: form in a circle and become a circle of branches.
Speaker 1: But the middle bud is stronger than any of the others.
Speaker 1: It forms the trunk, which always exceeds the branches. The
Speaker 1: Norway spruce is the easiest to find of this group.
Speaker 1: It is cultivated in almost all the parts of this country.
Speaker 1: It is an evergreen tree with a straight, slender trunk
Speaker 1: and circles of slightly drooping branches. The sprays are flattened
Speaker 1: than the stems covered with short needles of about an
Speaker 1: inching length. The needles are single, four sided, slightly curved,
Speaker 1: and occur on all sides of the stems. Their tips
Speaker 1: are pointed, but not sharp. The stems are marked with
Speaker 1: curious flat ridges or cushions from which the needles spring.
Speaker 1: If the tree is well grown, you may find it
Speaker 1: in flour In April or May. On the underside of
Speaker 1: the sprays will be found some dull yellow catkins of
Speaker 1: about an inchin length. They are not at all wooly
Speaker 1: and consists of overlapping scales. Each scale is supplied with
Speaker 1: two pockets from which the pollen is shed when ripe.
Speaker 1: These are the staminant catkins. The pistolate catkins or young
Speaker 1: cones are always higher up near the top of the tree.
Speaker 1: They are about an inchin length, of a deep red color,
Speaker 1: and hang down. They too, are made of flattened scales
Speaker 1: at the base of each scale are too tight any
Speaker 1: oval bodies, which grow into seeds after they have been
Speaker 1: supplied with pollen. The mature cones are from four to
Speaker 1: six inches long and very regular in their shape. There
Speaker 1: is a central axis upon which the bracts or scales
Speaker 1: are arranged spirally. Figure six shows a cut through a cone,
Speaker 1: the bracts upon either side, and the seeds as they
Speaker 1: lie upon the bracts. Since the seed do not lie
Speaker 1: in a closed cavity, cone bearing trees are known as gymnosperms,
Speaker 1: or trees with naked seed. The seed are winged and
Speaker 1: fall out when the scales loosen in February. The true
Speaker 1: pines have flowers very much like these, but they are
Speaker 1: grouped differently. There is usually a cluster of the staminate
Speaker 1: catkins near the end of the lower branches. The young
Speaker 1: cones are higher up on older trees. They seem to
Speaker 1: take the place of a circle of young twigs on
Speaker 1: the branches. Great groups in the pine family. I am
Speaker 1: sure you will want to be able to distinguish the
Speaker 1: best known members of the pine family. This can be
Speaker 1: easily done if you answer the following questions. Is your
Speaker 1: cone bearer an evergreen? If not, it is probably a
Speaker 1: large or the southern cypress. If evergreen, otherres some thin,
Speaker 1: dry bud scales about the base of the leaves. If so,
Speaker 1: it is a true pine. The leaves usually occur in
Speaker 1: groups from two to five wrapped together, and the cones
Speaker 1: are thick and woody. The scotch pine and yellow pine
Speaker 1: have the needles arranged in clusters of two. The pitch
Speaker 1: pine has the needles in groups of three. The white
Speaker 1: pines have five needles in a cluster. The barky, smooth,
Speaker 1: and of a pale color. Are the leaves of your evergreen,
Speaker 1: single and attached to little ridges on the stem. Do
Speaker 1: the cones group, then it is a spruce or a hemlock.
Speaker 1: The spruce uzes have the needles arranged on all sides
Speaker 1: of the stems. Each needle is a little bit four sided.
Speaker 1: The cones fall as one piece. The black spruce of
Speaker 1: America and the white spruce have shorter cones than the
Speaker 1: one described. The first has dark bark and small cones.
Speaker 1: The second has light green foliage and a cone about
Speaker 1: two inches long. They both grow in the northern United
Speaker 1: States and in Canada, where there are large forests. The
Speaker 1: Colorado spruce has sharp, pointed, pungent leaves and the branches
Speaker 1: incline upward. The hemlocks differ from the spruces in that
Speaker 1: the leaves are flattened and arranged in two rows on
Speaker 1: the stems, like a feather. This gives the tree a dainty,
Speaker 1: feathery spray, which droops decidedly. The staminate catkins are nearly round.
Speaker 1: Are the leaves of your evergreen single flattened and inclined
Speaker 1: to turn upward so that the under side of the
Speaker 1: stem is nearly bare. Then you have a fur. Observe
Speaker 1: that each leaf springs from a circular disc. The balsam
Speaker 1: firs are Native Americans and have served as Christmas trees
Speaker 1: for several centuries. The blisters upon their bark yield Canada balsam,
Speaker 1: and their leaves are very fragrant. Figure nine represents a
Speaker 1: twig of the northern balsam fir. The cones of the
Speaker 1: fir trees stand erect on the stems. When they open
Speaker 1: to shed the seed, the scales fall at the same time.
Speaker 1: This leaves the central axis standing. There are often conspicuous
Speaker 1: bracts between the scales. When the lower side of the
Speaker 1: leaves is marked with white, they are called silver firs.
Speaker 1: These are very handsome trees. The cedars may puzzle you
Speaker 1: at first, but if you look at them closely or
Speaker 1: get the cones, it will not be for long. The
Speaker 1: Lebanon cedars have needle like leaves arranged in tufts. The
Speaker 1: whites have flattened stems covered with four rows of overlapping scales.
Speaker 1: They are of two kinds, those having the flattened branches
Speaker 1: extending up and down the tree from top to bottom,
Speaker 1: and those in which the branches extend round the tree.
Speaker 1: The first are called arbor vita. The scales of the
Speaker 1: cones overlap. The second are called cypresses. The cones are round,
Speaker 1: like marbles. These are very common in California. The junipers
Speaker 1: or red cedars do not have a cone at all,
Speaker 1: but bear purple berries. The leaves are either scale like
Speaker 1: or sharp and pointed, and the branches are horizontal. End
Speaker 1: of Chapter nine