I. THE PINES. 49 



of other products, several species of pines may be planted or 

 are found growing naturally with an approach to luxuriance. 

 They will even take root and flourish among the moving sands 

 exposed to the sea-breezes, thereby fixing these sands, and re- 

 deeming to the use of man, tracts otherwise destined to perpet- 

 ual sterility. 



The root, of the pines is generally woody and irregularly ram- 

 ified, and remarkable for its toughness and durability.* It never 

 descends to a great depth, but spreads horizontally, to no great 

 distance, near the surface. It is short and small, in comparison 

 to the size of the tree, in this respect resembling that of the 

 palms. In consequence of this peculiarity, most of the pines 

 are uprooted by high winds, while the deciduous trees are bro- 

 ken oft" near the ground. In the winter of 1839 — '40, I had an 

 opportunity of examining the roots of a very large number of 

 various species of pine which had been uprooted by the vio- 

 lent gale of the previous November, and I found that, in every 

 case, they spread to a very inconsiderable distance, just below 

 the surface of the ground. In old trees, of several species, par- 

 ticularly the white pine, the swollen roots appear above the 

 ground to some distance from the trunk. In no instance, except 

 in the anomalous case of the Southern cypress,f are suckers 

 thrown up from the root; and only in the pitch pine have 

 shoots been observed to spring from the stump. 



Most of the plants of this family are trees of an erect, straight, 

 cylindrical trunk, often of great size and height. In some, as 

 the hemlock, the yew and the ginkgo tree, the branches have no 

 regular order, but in most, and especially in the firs and pines, 

 they are disposed circularly, in imperfect whorls, around the 



* L. C. Richard, Commentatio Botanica de Coniferis et Cycadeis, p. 89, et seq. 



f There is a striking peculiarity in the roots of the Cupressus disticha (Taxo- 

 dium) of our southern states. This tree grows naturally in low grounds subject 

 to annual inundations, in which situation it rises sometimes to the height of 120 

 feet, with a diameter at base of 25, 30, or even 40 feet. The roots, which run 

 horizontally at a short depth below the surface, throw up conical, rounded protu- 

 berances, sometimes 4 or 5 feet high, but usually much smaller, smooth without 

 and hollow, looking not unlike mile-posts, and remaining always naked. These 

 may be observed, on a small scale, about the base of the magnificent cypress in 

 Bartram's garden near Philadelphia. 



8 



