TREES OF AMERICA. 221 



The cones are five inches long, and composed 

 of thin smooth scales, that stick out fro/n 

 each other ; these cones always hang down 

 in the white pine, but in some kinds they 

 stand up : hke the cones of all the other pines, 

 they are full of turpentine, and burn very 

 brightly." 



" Oh, I know that right well, Uncle Philip ; 

 I have picked them up very often to kindle 

 fires with. They catch as quick as paper or 

 straw." 



" So they do ; and a very pleasant cheerful 

 blaze they make, too. This pine, and another 

 kind called the yellow pine, furnish the boards, 

 and planks, and joists, and beams, and shin 

 gles that are used in building houses, and 

 for an infinite variety of other purposes; 

 you have made little ships and boats, I dare 

 say, out of pine wood, and you know how 

 soft and easy it is to cut, and how light it is ; 

 it is on this account, and from their being so 

 free from knots, that the white and yellow 

 pines are so useful : I suppose that two-thirds 

 at least, of all the houses in the United States 

 are built altogether of white pine ; and even 

 in brick and stone-houses, all the beams and 

 rafters are made of it ; so you may judge 



