76 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



There are several pines, natives of Europe, which might be 

 introduced with advantage into this country. The most valu- 

 able of these is the Scotch pine, (Pinus sylvestris,) or Scotch 

 fir, as it is usually called, the only one of the genus which 

 grows naturally in the British Islands. It also grows through- 

 out the north of Europe, and it is from this pine, that the masts 

 and other most valuable timber of Norway and the shores of 

 the Baltic are obtained. The English ship-builders esteem the 

 wood as superior to that of any of the American pines. This 

 tree grows with as great freedom and luxuriance here as any 

 of our native trees. Several stocks are to be seen at the Botanic 

 Garden in Cambridge, where they have kept pace with the white 

 pine, the pitch pine, and the hemlock. The Scotch fir has a 

 striking resemblance to the pitch pine. It is a more beautiful 

 tree, and differs in having its leaves, like those of the Norway 

 pine, in twos. 



Another is the cluster pine, (P. pinaster,} a native of the 

 south of Europe, much cultivated in England as an ornamental 

 tree. It is a variety of this tree which has been employed so 

 successfully in France to cover and fix and turn to advantage 

 the tracts of moving and barren sands on the coast. 



Several pines, natives of the western coast of this continent, 

 would probably be propagated without difficulty and be found 

 of value for their wood. Such are the heavy pine (P. ponde- 

 rosd), from the Northwest Coast, remarkable for the great 

 weight of its wood ; Sabine's pine (P. Sabiniana), from the 

 mountains of California; and particularly the gigantic pine 

 (P. Lambertiana), from the northwest country, in latitude 43°. 

 This is nearly allied to the white pine. 



