4 WINTER AND ITS FLORA (CONTINUED)

冬天和冬季植物群（续篇）

1. Wait but a day, and the sun has carried off the jewels from our pines, and we can take another walk to visit them. But which are the pines? Are all the evergreens pines,—our Christmas-tree, these cone-shaped trees in our grounds, and the leafless larch ? They are all of the pine family—the coniferae,—the cone-bearing family of which I have spoken. The Germans have a pretty way of describing this family. They call them the needle-

trees,—those that have narrow, pointed leaves, like needles.

2. It was one of this family, in the German story, you know, that wanted to change its needles into “truly” leaves, like those of the oak and the elm. But glad enough was the dissatisﬁ ed tree to come back to its needles again, and very much should we miss them if all the pines and ﬁ rs and spruces should choose to lay aside their needles, and dress themselves like the other trees. We should lose their green, that lasts us all the winter long. The larch is the only one of this family that mimics the other families of trees, and sheds its leaves in the winter.

3. We can tell the different kinds of this family by the different effect the position of their branches gives them at a distance. The white pine has its regular horizontal stages. We have seen how it spreads them to hold the snow. The pitchpine bears round, tufted masses. The spruce begins from the very ground to conceal its gradually sloping trunk. The ﬁ r rises with a tall, sloping shaft, “clean” from the ground for some distance. Its lower branches are horizontal, while the upper ones bend slightly upwards. The hemlock has a soft, delicate outline, and the cedars and junipers are more ragged and very picturesque.

4. Of these, our White Pine stands ﬁ rst,—for it is the most stately tree of our forests, varying in its outward appearance, and receiving different names according to the place it grows in. We see it frequently, left standing near our towns, its dark green in the summer forming a contrast to the other trees around,—a picture of powerful growth; or, farther away in the country, its dark color is prominent against the soft green of the wild cherry-tree, or its trunk serves as a support for the bitter-sweet and other trailing vines.

5. No wonder that Emerson says:

“W ho leaves the pine tree

Leaves his friend,

Un nerves his strength,

Invites his end.”

For now in the winter this tree seems like a trusty friend, stretching out his sheltering arms, a type of a strong constancy.

6. It is easily distinguished by its leaves, being in ﬁ ves; that is, each one of its slender little needles does not rise separately from the branch, but, with four needle-like companions, comes out of a little gray sheath. These sheaths, each bearing its ﬁ ve needles, are set closely round the twig. A single large bud, encircled by ﬁ ve smaller ones, is at the end of each branch.

7. The branches, as we have said, grow in regular stages or whorls, of about ﬁ ve at each stage, tending upwards when the tree is young, but in old trees horizontal. It is not the season to examine its ﬂ owers, which, indeed, at any time are indistinct. Has it any ﬂ owers? Who ever saw the ﬂ owers of such great old trees? you ask. Every plant must have its ﬂ ower, its blossom, because from them comes the fruit or seed. And the essential parts of a flower are not its showy, its pretty part. The important parts, those which must never fail in a ﬂ ower, because they produce the seed, are the stamens and pistils. These we shall have a chance to study when the ﬂ ower season comes.

8. In all the pine family the ﬂ ower is very incomplete; even the important

pistil has not all its parts, but appears like a mere scale. Besides, the pistils are in one part of the tree, and the stamens in another. So there are two sets of ﬂ owers, one to hold the pistils, called the pistillate ﬂ owers, and another to hold the stamens, called the staminate ﬂ owers. In the white pine the pistillate ﬂ owers are in erect cones on the ends of the uppermost branches, and appear in June. These do not ripen into fruit till the autumn of the second year. It is the ripe cones that give the name to this family and distinguish it.

9. Here are more pines. Are they white pines? Take hold of a branch and count its needles. You will see that there are only three in a sheath, where the white pine had ﬁ ve, and they are ﬂ atter in shape. Each tree, too, is more

irregular in form, and this tree never re ach es the height of the white pine. It is the Pitch Pine. It makes up many of the woods that we call the “pine woods,” and that invite us with their healthy smell.

10. Come in and listen to the pleasant sighing of the wind through the leaves. There is a warm, comfortable feeling here, even in these winter days, for the thick branches have kept the snow from the brown tasseled ground, and we are sheltered from the cold winds. Here and there a stream of sunlight comes in, and lights up a red tinge in the brown, soft carpet, and we can venture to linger awhile and listen to the story the wind is whispering to the pines. The brown empty cones lie scattered about.

11. “O, we have picked thousands of them,” you say. But did you ever consult them about the weather? In damp seasons the scales of the cones drink in the moisture . This makes them swell and close up. When it is dry again, they open gradually. So you see they are little weather-pro phets . A part of the scale of the pistil of which I have spoken makes a wing that ﬂ ies away with the seed when it is ripe. The cones of some of the pines require two or three years to come to perfection .

12. A cart-path leads us among trees that are leafy in summer, by snowcovered bushes, to a favorite summer resting-place under a tall hemlock. It is the hemlock-spruce, or hemlock of the spruce genus. It may fairly be called the most beautiful tree of the family, and we ﬁ nd a cool shelter in the summer beneath it, in a soft corner of the rocks at its feet.

13. Far up in the branches sound the gay voices of the birds, not far off the note of the thrush ,—Wilson’s thrush. But there are dreams of the summer as we look up its tall, ﬁ rm trunk. Its foliage, even now, is soft and delicate, and it is distinguished from the spruce by its slender, tapering little branches and smooth limbs. Here in the forest its lower limbs are stiff and broken.

14. The names of spruce and ﬁ r are used with a bewildering uncertainty, and in the shrubs in our gardens which stand in either genus there is resemblance enough to create much doubt. The leaves of both differ much from the pines we have just described. They are solitary; that is, we no longer find them collected in fives, threes, or twos, and a sheath, but they rise directly from the twig, closely, side by side. The leaves too are shorter than those of the pines, and more ﬂ at. They are more like a little sword than a needle, and some have three sides and some four.

15. The spruce in the beginning of summer puts on a fresh tuft of yellowish-green leaves at the end of each twig, and its branches are so numerous, that its young delicate green gives a great beauty. In the very ornamental shrub in our grounds the lower branches spread close to the ground, and from these a regular pyramid of whorls of leaves rises to the tapering summit. It was from among them that we took our Christmas-tree. Its shelf-like branches offered cozy places for playthings enough to last till next Christmas.

16. On these branches, in the summer, the robins and other birds find pleasant shelter of a rainy day. These are their piazzas and balconies, where they can take exercise when it is too stormy outside. Its leaves, as I have said, are small and flat, and sow themselves along the sides of the stalk, forming a flatter branch than that of the fir, and more like a hand spread out. Its staminate ﬂ owers are near the end of the smaller branches. In the hemlockspruce the cones that have borne the fertile ﬂ owers are long and pointed, of a light-brown color, and hang from the extremities of the branches.

中文阅读

1. 只需等一天，太阳就会把珠宝从我们的松树上捋下去，那时候，我们可以再去看看它们。但是，都有哪些树是松树呢？是不是所有的常青松树和落了叶子的无叶松都是松树？包括我们的圣诞树，我们大地上那些锥形的树木？是的，它们都是松树，都属于我前面说过的球果科。德国人给这个家族的树木取了个好听的名字，叫做“针叶木”——这些树长着尖尖的叶子，就像一把把钢针。

2. 在德国有个故事，说这个家族里有一棵树想把自己的针叶变成“真正的”树叶，就像橡树叶和榆树叶那样。让人庆幸的是，这棵不满的树又把自己的针叶变了回来。如果所有的松树、冷杉和云杉都选择放弃针叶，披上跟别的树同样的衣装，那会让我们十分怀念那些针叶。我们将会失去陪伴我们一冬的苍翠。幸好在这个家族中只有落叶松模仿其他的树种，在寒冬时节褪去所有的叶子。

3. 从这些树枝杈的位置所造成的不同效果，我们远远地就能分辨出这个科不同的种属。白松的枝杈分布形成有规则的水平梯度。我们看过它是如何伸展枝杈，举起落雪的。脂松长着成簇的圆形枝丫。云杉从地面开始，掩饰着它越来越陡的树干。冷杉又高又陡，从地面往上的一段距离都很“干净”，生得矮的枝干水平伸展，而生在上面的枝干微微上弯。铁杉轮廓优美柔和，香柏和杜松生得参差不齐，别致如画。

4. 在这些松树中，首先我要介绍的是我们的白松，因为它是我们森林中最威严的树。因外观不同，不同的生长地常给它冠以不同的名字。白松在我们这里很常见：它们有的长在我们城镇附近，炎炎夏日，那层层叠叠的深绿跟周围的树木形成了鲜明的对比——一副生命力极其旺盛的景象；有的生在更远的乡村，苍翠的深绿映衬着野樱桃树柔和的浅绿；也有的长在藤蔓间，树干成了美洲南蛇藤和那些逶迤的藤蔓攀爬的依附。

5. 难怪爱默生说：

“谁离开了松树，

就离开了朋友，

丧失了勇气，

走到了末日。”

就在这隆冬时节，松树就像忠实的朋友，以一种恒久不变之姿，坚定地伸出臂膀替我们遮风避雨。

6. 从松针很容易辨认出白松，因为它的叶子是五枚一丛的；也就是说，它纤细的松针不是一根一根独自从树枝上冒出来的，而是五根针一样的同伴，一起从灰色的小叶鞘里冒出来。这些叶鞘长在离小树枝不远的地方，每个里面都长出五枚松针。每个枝干的尽头，都有一个独生的萌芽，周围环生着五个小萌芽。

7. 正如我们所说，白松的枝干以有规则的梯度或呈有规则的漩涡状生长，每一阶都有五根树枝。白松年轻的时候往上长；老了以后，就会水平伸展。其实，它开花与否跟季节没多大关系，不管在任何时候，它的花朵都不易为人发觉。那它到底开不开花？谁见过这么古老的参天大树开花？也许你会问。其实，每株植物都会开花，都有花期，因为果实和种子就来自花朵。更重要的是，植物必须开花，因为种子是花朵产出的，花朵就是植物的雄蕊和雌蕊。我们会有机会研究花季何时到来的。

8. 在所有的松树家族中，花朵的构造都是非常不完整的；就连非常重要的雌蕊也不是一应俱全，也不过看上去颇具规模而已。此外，雌蕊在树的一方，而雄蕊在树的另一方。所以，花儿其实分为两种，一种里面是雌蕊，叫做雌花；一种里面是雄蕊，叫做雄花。就白松而言，雌花长在树冠末端竖立的球果里，六月开花。但是，直到第二年秋天，这些花儿才会长成果实。成熟的球果赋予了这个家族“球果科”的名号，并让它不同于别的树种。

9. 这边还有很多松树，它们都是白松吗？抓过一根树枝，数一数它的松针，你会看到这根树枝一个叶鞘里只有三枚松针，而白松有五枚。而且，这棵树松针的形状也略显扁平。每棵树在形态上也都不怎么规则，任它们怎么样也长不到白松那么高。这是脂松。我们所说的“松树林”就是很多脂松长在一块儿形成的，它们散发出健康的气息，邀请我们赏光。

10. 进来吧，来听听风儿穿过树叶时愉快的叹息。即便是在这清冷的冬日，这里也感觉温暖而舒适。浓密的枝丫为我们挡住了落雪寒风。不时有一线阳光射进来，在棕色软地毯上燃起点点浅红色的光芒，我们可以大胆逗留片刻，倾听风儿轻声给松树讲着故事。棕色的空球果散落一地。

11. 你说：“噢，我们捡过成千上万个脂松果。”可是，你曾向它们询问过天气如何？在潮湿的季节，球果的鳞片会吸足水汽，慢慢膨胀并闭合起来。待到天气干燥时，它们便会徐徐打开。瞧，它们还是小小天气预报器呢。我前面说过雌蕊，雌蕊鳞片的某个地方会在种子成熟时长出翅膀，带着种子一起飞翔。有些松树的球果需要两到三年才会成熟。

12. 马车小道将我们带入丛林，若在夏日，这里的树木会遮荫蔽日。沿着积雪覆盖的灌木丛，我们来到一株高高的铁杉下，若在夏日，这里便是最佳的纳凉之地。这就是铁杉，或者说云杉属中的铁杉。很公平地说，这种树堪称该家族最美的树种，夏日，它的华盖遮出一片浓荫，就在树下那些岩石的角落里。

13. 远远的树枝上头传来鸟儿欢快的歌声，跟画眉——威尔逊的画眉婉转的啼鸣不相上下。但是，我们抬头仰视它那高耸而坚固的树干时，就仿若进了夏日的梦境。就算现在，它的松针依然柔软而纤细，它细长、尖锥般的小树枝和平滑的枝干让它有别于云杉。在这里的森林中，它下端的枝干坚硬而粗糙。

14. 提起云杉和冷杉，人们总是心存疑虑，不那么确定。我们花园中的灌木丛里就有这两种树木，它们确实长得非常相像，让人分辨不清。两种树的松针跟我们刚才描述的松树都不相同。它们的叶子都是独生的，也就是说，它们不是一个叶鞘里长五枚、三枚或者两枚树叶了，而是直接从小枝杈上冒出来，一片挨着一片。叶子也比那些松叶更短、更扁。它们不像针叶，更像是一把小剑，有的有三个棱，有的有四个。

15. 初夏，云杉每根小枝杈的末端都生出一簇鲜嫩的黄绿色树叶和无数根树枝。它一身雅致的绿色新装，风姿绰约。作为生在地面上的观赏树木，它下端的枝叶一直伸到地面上。那些枝叶像漩涡一样，从地面一路往上，漩出一个正椎体，越来越尖，直到顶端。我们的圣诞树就选自这些云杉。它的枝丫长得像架子，为那些玩具提供了十分惬意的去处，让它们安心等待又一年圣诞的来临。

16. 夏日，这些树枝上的地方便是知更鸟儿们避雨的乐土，就是它们的露天广场和阳台。外面风雨大作时，它们可以在这里活动锻炼。我刚才说过，它的叶子又小又扁，密布于茎干上，形成比冷杉更扁更平的枝叶，就像一只手往外平伸着。它的雄花就长在小枝干末端的附近。铁杉的球果又尖又长，呈浅棕色，吊在树枝的末端，结出繁茂的花朵。

5 WINTER AND ITS FLORA (CONCLUDED)

冬天和冬季植物群（终篇）

1. Here is another tall tree with tapering trunk. Can this be a spruce or a pine? It is a tree that commands our attention at a distance, and gives character to the whole landscape. It is the tree that forms a great feature in the German forests, and it reigns especially in the famous Black Forest, where all the dwarfs and the elves of the German stories are to be found. I can almost fancy I see one of the little elves now sitting astride one of its cones high in the air. This tree is the Balsam Fir.

2. Reach down some of its leaves, and you will see how they differ from the spruce. They are broader, and look as if they might be formed of two grown together. They are more crowded, too, than those of the spruce. Starting on every side of the stem, they bend upwards where the branch is horizontal, so as to seem to form but two rows, but are pressed together on the upper side. In the bark lies concealed some of the peculiar balsam of the ﬁ r, that spreads a pleasant fragrance. Their beauty arises from the regularity of their symmetrical heads. The trunk, too, is perfectly even and straight, and tapers rapidly to the top.

8. It cuts in upon the landscape with its nearly horizontal branches, giving a picturesque character wherever it appears, Even if some bird or insect has greedily eaten up its leading shoot, which constitutes the pride of all the members of this family, the two buds on either side of the leading bud vie with each other in growing, till they form a double header, and the tree, though not so symmetrical, is equally picturesque. The cones are erect near the ends of the upper branches, tapering a little, with the ends rounded. They stand in great numbers, and with their purple scales look like a cluster of candles on a majestic chandelier.

4. Do not tell me that you have picked its cones, for I shall be forced, though reluctantly, to contradict you. The cones of the pine and the spruce set free the seeds they conceal, which have little wings to carry them out into the world, and then, with all their scales perfect, they drop to the ground. But

in the cones of the ﬁ r the scales and the seeds fall away together, and leave

on the tree only the tapering little spike round which they were formed. Therefore, to find a perfect fir cone you must be adventurous enough to climb the tree, or else cut it down.

5. Which of these trees could we spare from the landscape? If we call the white pine the king of our woods, the hemlock should stand for the queen, and a group of balsam ﬁ r would answer for the princes. The pines and the ﬁ rs stand as sentinels along the lines of the hills, guarding the valleys,—the pines solitary watchmen, the ﬁ rst clambering up in bands, while the hemlock lingers in the woods, or sends its foreign cousins into our gardens and grounds, or the squares and parks of our cities. The Norway spruce, which is very ornamental, and is cultivated in this way, is a cousin of the balsam ﬁ r. Its cones are large and light brown, and pendent. Its leaves differ from those of the cultivated spruces, as they are not arranged so ﬂ atly on the stem, but the leaves are crowded on the twigs, and the twigs on the branches.

6. I must not forget one peculiarity of this pine family: it is, that they have no hesitation about telling their age! The oaks and the maples, the trees of the “truly leaf” sort, are not so outspoken. After they are dead, by their works you can tell their age; after cutting across their trunks, you can count the rings that year after year they have formed round the center. But the pines tell their history as they grow. They form each year a fresh whorl of leaves.

7. Thus each year’s growth is marked between each whorl of branches; so, by counting the stages of branches, you can reckon the life of the tree. And its history is further told by the varying length of the trunk between the branches, or of the branches themselves. If this space is smaller, if the branches are shorter than they should be, or the needles shorter, then you know there was a year of famine, there was a want of rain, or a late frost checked the young buds.

8. To this family, too, belonged the trees of the old coal period. For all the black mines of coal were once stately trees; but ages have passed away, burying them up in earth, far under the ground, changing them from growing trees into stone. What a change indeed! It took such a long, long time, too. Do you think that the pine-wood kindlings that we bring in and lay in the grate to light up the ﬁ re with, reco gni ze their very great-great-grandfathers in the shining black stones of coal that they are to kindle into a ﬂ ame?

9. It is very hard to leave this family. I have told you a very little about three of its principal members. There are, besides, the Arbor Vitae the Cedars, the Juniper, the Cypresses, and the Yew. I shall have to leave them for you to study yourselves. You must go to the sea-shore and look at the Red Cedar, (it belongs to the junipers,) and the Juniper itself, and see how the branches contort themselves against the salt breeze. They are stout fellows. I think they must learn a little of their ﬁ rmness from the great rocks that they clasp with their roots. The needles of the cedar spread themselves out to look like a fan-like leaf, and the juniper puts on purplish berries. Beaten by the winds, they look as if they had lived forever, with their torn trunks and ragged limbs, but they keep ever green still.

10. The juniper-tree is dear to children, from the old German story of the step-mother and the juniper-tree. And they can smell the red cedar, in the wood of the pencils they use. Such a useful family as this is! I must leave you to recall to yourselves how the pines furnish the tall masts for our ships. Far away in the harbors of foreign cities these tall masts stand like another forest. The hemlock and larch furnish bark for tanning. The Indian cuts his canoe from the white spruce. The firs give healing balsams. Pitch, resins, balsams,—these are the spices that ﬂ avor our Northern woods.

11. You see how little I have been able to tell, and how much there is to tell, how much for you to look at and find out for yourselves. You do not know these trees yet; you have only made their acquaintance, and can bow to them when you meet them in the street. If you shake hands with a pine, you can look and see whether he has two, three, or ﬁ ve needles in his sheath, and will know accordingly whether he is red, black, or white pine. But don’t fancy you know a great deal, and “set up” upon it, else you will show you have not got so far as to understand the meaning of the saying, “Very few know how much they must know in order to know how little they know.”

中文阅读

1. 还有一株参天大树，树干尖削。这是云杉或松树吗？这株树大老远就引起了我们的注意，它给这幅美景增添了不少色彩。德国森林以这种树为主要特色，它们统治着德国的森林，尤其是著名的黑森林——德国故事中的小矮人和侏儒都出自黑森林。我觉得自己仿佛看到半空中一个小侏儒现在正高高地骑在球果上。这株树就是香脂冷杉。

2. 伸手从高处摘几片叶子下来，你会发现它们跟云杉的叶子差别有多大。香脂冷杉的叶子更宽，看上去像两片生在一起的。而且，香脂冷杉的叶子比云杉的叶子生得更密集。香脂冷杉枝干的每一侧都生着叶子，叶子朝上弯着，而树枝是水平生长的，看上去就像是两排，但是到了上端，它们又被挤到一起。香脂冷杉的树皮里藏着冷杉特有的香脂，散发出沁人心脾的芳香。它们的美来自它们匀称的树冠那种对称。此外，它们的树干光滑平直，极速尖削着冲向顶端。

3. 香脂冷杉几近水平的树枝在这幅美景中显得尤为突出，只要有冷杉出现的地方，就有美丽如画的风景。这个家族的所有成员都以自己的树冠为傲，就算鸟儿或昆虫贪婪地吃掉它树冠新发的幼芽，树冠两旁的萌芽也会比赛着生长，看谁长得更高，最后形成双冠。而那株冷杉虽然不那么对称了，还是一样的美丽别致。球果竖立着生在上端树枝的末端附近，稍稍有些尖削，末端浑圆。香脂冷杉结出的球果不计其数，它们披着紫色的鳞片，就像一株巨型枝形吊灯上那一簇簇的蜡烛。

4. 别跟我说你捡到过香脂冷杉的球果，因为就算我不情愿，也得反驳你。松树和云杉的球果将里面藏着的种子释放出来，种子长着小小的翅膀，可以随风飞向世界各地。等种子都飞走了，球果才落到地上，鳞片完好无损。但是，冷杉的球果生在尖削的小刺突旁，它落下时带着鳞片和种子一同坠下，枝头只剩那个小刺突。因此，要想找一个完整的冷杉球果，你得冒着风险爬到树上去摘，或者干脆把它砍倒。

5. 从这幅美景中，我们还能选出哪株树？如果我们把白松称为丛林的国王，那铁杉就是丛林的王后，而香脂冷杉就是王子。松树和冷杉就像沿着山边站岗的哨兵，守卫着山谷——松树是孤独的守望者，最先爬上山峦；而铁杉或在丛林中徘徊，或将国外的表亲送进我们的花园和庭院，送进我们城市的广场和公园。十分具有观赏价值的挪威云杉是香脂冷杉的表亲，就是以这样的方式栽培的。它的球果硕大，呈浅棕色，往下垂着。它的叶子不同于栽培云杉的叶子，不是扁平地生在枝干上，而是簇生在小枝上，小枝簇生在树枝上。

6. 松树家族还有一个特性，我可不能忘：它们会毫不迟疑地说出自己的年龄！那些长着“真叶子”的橡树和枫树可不那么坦率直言。你只能在它们死后通过木材的构造说出它们的年龄：把它们的树干锯开，数一数它们的年轮。因为年复一年，它们会从中心长出一圈又一圈年轮。但是，松树活着的时候就会坦率地说出自己的历史年代。它们每年都长出一圈新的枝叶。

7. 就这样，每年的生长情况就标注在每圈树枝中间的那段树干上，你只要数一数有几圈树枝，就可以算出树木的年龄。此外，从每圈树枝中间不同的树干长度或树枝本身的不同长度还可以看出它的生长历史。如果哪圈树枝之间的树干长度较短，或者这圈树枝比正常情况下更短，或者树枝上的松针比较短，那你就可以得出结论：这一年要么闹了饥荒，要么雨水不足，要么嫩芽遭了晚霜。

8. 这个家族也属于古老的聚煤期树种。所有黑色的煤矿都曾经是威严的参天大树，然而，时代变迁，将它们深深埋入地下，将它们从活生生的大树变成石头。世事真是无常！当然，沧海桑田的过程也十分漫长。你觉得，我们抱进屋子、放入火炉、点燃火焰的松木引火物，能认出它们将要点燃的那些闪闪发亮的黑色煤石中它们的曾曾曾祖父吗？

9. 离开这个家族真的很难。我只跟你讲了它最主要的三个成员，也只讲了一丁点儿。除了这三名成员，这个家族还有侧柏、雪松、杜松、柏树和紫杉。我要把这些树种留给你自己去研究。你应该到海滨去看看红雪松（属于杜松的一种），去看看香柏，看看那些树枝是怎样扭弯了自己对抗海风的。它们都是矮胖结实的家伙。它们根部紧紧抱着巨大的岩石，我想，它们肯定从脚下岩石那里学到了一点儿坚固的品性。雪松的松针伸展开来，就像一把扇叶，而杜松长出略带紫色的浆果。海风肆虐，而它们似乎一直都活着，尽管它们树干撕裂，枝干参差，却一直都保持着苍翠的身姿。

10. 对孩子们来说，杜松十分亲切，他们听过关于继母和杜松的德国老故事。孩子们还能嗅出红雪松的味道，他们用的铅笔杆就取材于红雪松。这个家族用处真是太多了，我应该让你自己去回忆一下我们船舶上那些用松木打造的高耸的桅杆。在遥远的异乡都市，那些高耸的桅杆俨然就是一片森林。铁杉和落叶松可以提供鞣革用的树皮。印第安人用白云杉制造独木舟。冷杉会生长出用于治病的香脂。沥青、树脂、香脂的气息充溢着我们北部的丛林。

11. 我能说的太少太少，要说的还有很多很多，留待你自己观察研究的也还有很多很多。你还不了解这些树；你只认得个大概，走在大街上的时候，你可以弯下腰对它们鞠躬。如果你跟松树握握手，就能看到它一个叶鞘里有几枚松针，两枚、三枚还是五枚，从而知道它是红松、黑松还是白松。但是，可别以为自己懂得很多，去“卖弄”自己的所知，否则你就会露拙，显示自己不懂那个俗语的意思：“很少有人知道，为了了解自己的所知多么微不足道，他们必须要知道多少东西。”