DENDROLOGY. 241 



not open to release the seeds before the second year. The 

 Canadians find a speedy cure for obstinate colds in a diet drink 

 made by boiling these cones in water. The wood of this tree is 

 not used in any respect in the arts. 



Pond Pine. Pinus serotina. 



The Pond Pine frequently recurs in the maritime parts of the 

 Southern States, but it is lost as it were among the long-leaved 

 pines which cover these regions. It receives its specific name 

 on account of its growing principally on the borders of ponds, 

 and in swamps where the soil is black and miry. It sometimes 

 grows in abandoned fields on the borders of swamps in dry, 

 sandy soils. 



The ordinary size of this tree is 35 or 40 feet with a diameter 

 of 15 or 18 inches. The leaves, united to the number of three, 

 are five or six inches in length and a little more upon young 

 stocks. The aments are straight, and six or eight lines long ; 

 the cones are commonly opposite and in pairs two inches and a 

 half in length, five inches and a half in circumference, and in 

 form like an egg ; their scales are rounded at the extremity, and 

 armed with fine, short spines which are easily broken off, so that 

 in some instances no vestige is left of their existence. The cones 

 arrive at maturity the second year, but do not release their seeds 

 before the third or fourth. 



This tree is remarkable for the remoteness of its branches, 

 which begin to spring upon the lower half of the stock ; and 

 more than half of the largest trunk consists of sap ; for these 

 reasons the species is useless in the arts. 



..I 



