North America produces many species of pine, some of them very beautiful and very valuable.. Besides those long known, and which are found in the states and colonies near the Atlantic, a number of the noblest species of this genus have, since the com mencement of the present century, been discovered in California and the n.w. parts of America.—The BED CANADIAN PINE (P. resinosa) is found from Canada to the Pacific, but does not reach far south in the United States. It is the YELLOW PINE of Canada and Nova Scotia. It delights in dry and sandy soils, and attains a height of 70 to 80 ft., with a diameter of 2 ft. at the base, the trunk continuing of uniform diameter two-thirds of its length. The leaves are in pairs, and are congregated towards the extremities of the branches. The timber is highly esteemed for strength and durability, and furnishes excellent planks for ship-building. It is also used for masts.—Somewhat resembling this in botanical characters is the SCRUB PINE, or GRAY PINE (P. Banksiana), generally only 3 to 10 ft. high, which begins to appear in the northern.parts of the United upon high mountains, and is interesting as an arctic species, extending further north than any other.—The YELLOW PINE (P. variabilis, or P. snitis) abounds in the Atlantic states from New Jersey to Virginia. It is a tree of 50 to 60 ft. high, 15 to 18 in. in diameter at the base, with leaves 4 to 5 in. long, usually in pairs, but sometimes in threes upon the younger shoots. The timber is very extensively used for ship-build ing, and is largely exported to Great Britain. At Liverpool it is known as NEW YORE PINE.—The JERSEY PINE, or SCRUB PINE (P. niops), abounds in the lower parts of New Jersey, and thence to the s.w. The leaves are in pairs, 1 to 2 in. long, the cones armed with strong spines. The tree is rarely 30 or 40 ft. high. Great quantities of tar arc made from it in Kentucky.—The PITCH PINE (P. rigida) is a native of the northern and middle parts of the United States, often growing in great miry swamps, and attaining a height of 70 to 80 ft.., and a diameter of 2 ft. at the base. The leaves are in threes, varying much in length, as the cones do in size. Immense quantities of it are used for fuel. Tar and lamp-black are sometimes made from it.—The LOBLOLLY or OLD FIELD PINE (P. Tata) grows in dry and sandy soils in the lower. parts of the Southern states, often occupying lands exhausted by cultivation. Vast tracts never cultivated, in the Southern states, are pine barrens, in great part covered with this species of pine. It attains a height of 80 ft. and upwards, and has a wide-spreading crown. The leaves are 6 in. long, in threes, sometimes in fours on young branches; the cones 4 in. high, with strong spines. The timber is not of much value.—The LONG-LEAVED PINE, or SOUTHERN PINE (P. palustris, or P. Australis), is perhaps the most important of North American forest trees. It furnishes the greater part of the tar, resin, pitch, and turpentine used in the United States. The timber is also very valuable, and is much used for ship-building. In England and the West Indies it is known as GEORGIA PITCII PINE. The tree attains a height of 06 to 70 ft., and a diameter of about 10 to 18 in.; the leaves are in threes,'and about a foot long; the cones 7 to 8 in. long, and 4'in. in diameter, with small spines. The seeds are sometimes eaten.—The WEYMOUTH PINE, or WHITE PINE (P. Straus), attains a height of 150 ft., and a diameter of 5 ft. and. upwards. It has lax sub-triangu lar leaves in groups of five; and pendulous cones 4 to 5 in. long, with thin smooth scab's. It is frequently planted in Britain and on the continent of Europe for its beauty. In its native country it abounds chiefly from lat. 47° to lat. 43°, and southward on the Alle ghanies. The timber is not strong, but easily wrought and durable.—Of the species belonging to the n.w. parts of America, one of th" most magnificent is P. Lam bertiana, which is limn(' on the Rocky mountains, between lat. 40° and lat. 48°, chiefly in sandy soils. It attains a height of 1'30 to 200 ft.. and a diameter of 7 ft. and upwards, almost to 20 feet. The trunk is remarkably straight, and destitute of branches for two thirds of its height; the leaves in fives, the cones upwards of a foot long. The timber is white, soft, and light; and the tree produces great quantities of a pure amber-colored resin, which, when the wood is partly burned, is changed into a somewhat saccharine substance, used by the natives as a substitute for sugar. The seeds are eaten either roasted or pounded into coarse cakes.—P. flexilis is found on the Rocky mountains, near the head-waters of the Arkansas, and occurs almost to the limit of perpetual snow. It has a dense crown, formed of numerous and remarkably flexile branches. The leaves are in fives. The seeds are used as food by hunters and ponderosa, another native of the Rocky mountains, is a magnificent tree, remarkable for the heaviness of its timber, which almost sinks in water. The leaves are in threes, and 9 to 14 in. long.— P.
Subiniana. P. Coulteri, and P. insignis are also noble species from the w. of North America. The Himalaya mountains abound in pines, some of which rival in magnifi cence those of n.w. America. The BnoTA..ti PINE (P. excelsa), much resembling the Wey
mouth pine in its botanical characters, and attaining a height of 90 to 120 ft., abounds in Ilhotan, although it is not found in the neighboring countries of Sikkim and Nepaul. The wood is highly valuable, being durable, close-grained, and so resinous as to ho used for flambeaux and candles.—The CHEER PINE (P. lougifolia) of India is a tree of remark able and most graceful appearance; with leaves in threes, very long, very slender, and generally pendulous. It is abundant on the crests of hills in the lower Himalaya, grow_ mg at a lower elevation than the other pines. It is cultivated in some parts of India as an ornamental tree. It is much valued for its resin. The wood is used in India as a Substitute for European deal.—The KIIASTA PINE (P. Kleasiana) is peculiar to the Khasia mountains, and has very much the general appearance of the Scotch pine.—P. Gerard. Tuna, a species with leaves in threes, is a large tree, a native of Nepali!. The seeds arc eatable.—The mountains of India and the n.w. parts of America produce numerous other species; Mexico has a number of very fine ones peculiar to itself; the mountains of St. Domingo have one; the Canary islands have one: China and Japan also have some. Most of those which have been named, and a number of others, are readily to be procured in nurseries in Britain, although some of them only at prices which prevent any attempt at extensive plantation. Some wealthy noblemen and gentlemen devote a por. lion of their grounds to a collection of different kinds of pine, called a Pifietum. A few foreign species have become pretty common in plantations. Most of the pines are quite hardy in Britain, but this is not the case with the cheer pine and some of the Mexican species. The name pine is often popularly extended, and even in scientific works, to other coniferre.
PINE-TIMEER.—This term is in genera] use for the timber of the pine-tribe (see CONI FER/E), and is not confined to that of the genus pines, but embraces the wood of species of itbies, la•ix, Arauea•ia, dammara, etc. From the Baltic ports we receive red and white pine, or deal-timber. The former is yielded by the Scotch fir (pines sylvestris), and the latter by the spruce fir (abies excelsa). These two, with the larch (la?* Europaul), yield the greatest part of the pine-timber of Europe. Next in importance to the is the pine-timber of the British North American colonies, which is chiefly Yielded by the Weymouth or white pine (pines strobes), although, doubtless, the wood of other conifer ous trees is often substituted for it. It makes excellent masts; but is not so serviceable for r timbers, as it is subject to dry-rot. Of white pine, the dominion of Canada exported in 1876, 289,441 tons, valued at £613,179; and 37,040 tons red pine, worth £62,532, besides large quantities of pine in the fo•m-of battens or staves and deal. The wood has a peculiar odor. The celebrated pitch-pine of Savannah, in the southern states is the produce of pines rigida. It is much used for ships' masts and yards, and for all purposes requiring great strength and durability, in both of which qualities it excels most others of its kind. The kinds above mentioned are those which constitute thy greater part of the pine-timber used in ship and house building, carpentry, etc., iu Great Britain. In France the timber of the Corsican pine (pine fLariek) and the sea side pine (pines pinaster) are greatly used. In Italy the pine-timber is chiefly yielded by the stone pine (P. pines) and the Calabrian pine (P. Britian); that of Spain is front the Pyrenean pine (P. Pyrenaica). In Germany, and especially in Austria, the black pine (P. Austria ea) furnishes the greater portion; but the fine•grained, soft white pine, or deal, so much used for sounding-boa•ds of musical instruments, is the wood of the silver fir. See Fan. The trade in this timber is very great, for not only do the Ger mans use it almost exclusively in their vast toy-manufacto•ies and for lucifermatches, but considerable quantities are exported. The finest is cut -in the forests of Bohemia, where large establishments are formed for dressing and preparing the wood for purposes.
The timber of the Norfolk island pine (Aratrearia excelsa) is sometimes imported for making skips' masts, as several other kinds of pine-timber are imported from time to time, but those mentioned form the great staples of the timber-trade. The chief value of this clasp of timber-woods in the combination of lightness and strength, with uoftness of texture and ease in working with ordinary tools; they constitute, in fact, the principal materials of our builders, and are more used than all other kinds of wood together. Much confusion prevails as to their common designations, for in this country alone fir, pine, and deal are terms applied to all and each of them, according to the caprice of the individual. The two first names are used because the material is derived from one or other of those genera; but the last is a misnomer altogether, as the term deal belongs only to pieces of fir or pine timber cut to particular sizes: they are 3 in. in thickness, 0 in. broad, and of variable length; if of less width they are called battens.