Evening star., 1924-09-21
THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE.

| The deposit of grayels and sand was
| largely effected by waves and cur
| rents. At the maximum stage of
| submergence the water extended en-
| tirely over the Washington region to
| the mountains westward, but this
wide extent was only for short time
and the shore line was for some time
not far west of Washington" Dur
| ing that time long wide shoals and
bars We're laid down in the sea, and
| the pebbles or the gravel which the
| Rambler has been telling you of, and
now on the highest land above the
Eastern Branch. were part of one of
those shoals or bars.
K x x *
WHILE looking al these pebbles
w and sand and seeing much
| more than the unaided eye sees, the
Rambler sat in the shade Of a plain
pine tree. To some of his readers
most Interested in the accumulation
of ancestors pine tree is only Il
pine tree and amounts to little. Yet
one can feel a kind sentiment for a
pine tree. 1t is common, and there
fore beneath the notice of our
naughty friends. If it were not COM
mon, people would gather about it
and praise it's beauty and fragrance.
sonian Institution in the Flora of the
District of Columbia as Pinus vir-
giniana, ard it is the characteristic
pine of the region in which We live.
We familiarly call it scrub pine.
There is another pine tree which
lives neighbor 10 the scrub pine in
the same soil. The botanists call it
Pinus regida, or stiff, rough, unbend-
ing pine, but 1t is called by people
who are Just folks" pitch pire. If
you do not know the difference be-
tween them will show you.
The Virginia or scrub pine has two
I leaves or needles" in each fascicle,
and the pitch pine has three. If you
will take a cone from a scrub pine
tree you will see at the top of each
scale of the cone pointed. upright
object or ''prickle." Look at it through
a strong glass and it becomes a wood
en- dagger. On the cone Of pitch pine
tree you will see near the apex of
each scale a bristle, and it appears
TO me sharper and Slenderer than the
prickle on the cone of the scrub pine.
We have another pine tree, rare
near Washington. but still found near
Marlboro and a few years ago COM
mon along the Patuxent near the
bay. which has been called by our
people time out of mind the Loblolly
pine. l can only guess as to why we
have called it Loblolly. Some of our
ancestors called it the "old field
pine" and the Rosemary pine" The
scientific men have given it the name
"Pinus taeda-" Now, of course, you
know that the Iatins called a pine
torch used at weddings and some
other festivities "taeda." and 1 sup
pose because of the high content of
rosin in the Loblouy pine tree stu
dents gave it the name torch pine
and put it in Latin SO that it would
mean the same to a Chinese, German.
French or English hotanist. The
Loblolly, like the pitch pine, has three
leaves in a fasciciA but it's leaves are
nearly twice as long as those of the
pitch pine.
We have two pines which have two
leaves in each bundle. One is the
Virginia or scrub pine, under which
am sitting, and the other is the
yellow pine; but the yellow pine
needles are about a third longer than
those of the scrub pine, and you will
not often come upon yellow pine
tree in the country around Washing
ton. / remember, when / could walk
farther than now, I saw many OF
these trees in the lower part of
Prince Georges and in Charles and
st. Mary's Counties. but there has