I. 1. THE RED OR NORWAY PINE. 75 



the foot of the scales from which issue the bundles of leaves, 

 running down along the stem. 



The leaves are in twos, of a semi-cylindrical shape, six or 

 eight inches long, enclosed at base in very long membranous 

 sheaths, arranged in close spiral lines, and forming large con- 

 spicuous tufts or brushes at the end of the branchlets. These 

 showy tufts, which are of a dark green, upon a stem of a hand- 

 some shape and of vigorous growth, render the young tree a 

 beautiful object. 



The sterile or male catkins are at the base, rarely near the 

 end, of the recent shoots, usually on the lower limbs, occupying 

 the place of the leaves for one or two inches, and, like them, 

 rising from the axil of a membranaceous scale. Each cone is 

 three-fourths of an inch long and one-fifth broad. 



The fertile cones are single or two to four together, around 

 the new bud, at the extremity of the smaller branches on' all 

 parts of the tree. At the end of a year, the cones are two 

 inches or more long, egg-shaped, tapering, set with green scales 

 with a brown tip. They become mature in the course of the 

 second season, and may be gathered for seed in the succeeding 

 fall or winter. 



The Norway pine grows as rapidly as the pitch pine, and 

 usually to a greater height, and with a clearer stem, so as to 

 form somewhat longer timber. A few years ago, it was not 

 uncommon to find pine trees of this kind in the southern part 

 of Maine exceeding one hundred feet in height and four feet in 

 diameter. The wood is strong and somewhat durable, and 

 much like that of pitch pine; but it is freer from resin, and 

 softer, having qualities intermediate between it and that of 

 white pine. It was formerly employed, like that of the pitch 

 pine, for the decks of vessels, and sometimes for pumps and for 

 masts ; but it is found to be so much inferior in durability, that 

 its use is almost entirely discontinued. ^rX 



W,'* *** Vgfc 

 uj LIBRARY Uo 



