2112 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



ser6tina,palustris, iSlrobus; ^'bies alba, nigra, rubra, canadensis ; Picea balsa- 

 mea, Frase?-? ; jLarix pendula, microcarpa. In Xorth-West America and Cali- 

 fornia, 15 kinds: Pinus LamberuV/na, ponderosa, Sabinw«a, Coulteri (ma- 

 crocarpa), muricata, tuberculata, radiata, monticola, insignis; zl'bies Menzies/i, 

 Douglasii ; Picea nobilis, grandis, amabilis, bracteata. In Mexico, 6 kinds : 

 Pinus patula, Teocote, leiophylla, Montezumcp, Llaveana; Picea religiosa. 

 In Hisjmniola, 1 kind : Pinus occidentalis. 



In South America, 2 kinds : viz. ^ra?/caV/a mibricata, brasiliana. 



In Australia, 1 kind : viz. Araucdria Cunninghams. 



In Polynesia, 2 kinds : viz. Araucdria excelsa ; Ddmmara australis. 



Historj/. We find the pine and fir mentioned by most of the early Greek 

 and Roman writers. Theophrastus speaks of the pines of Mount Ida, w hich 

 possessed such a superabundance of resin, that the wood, bark, and even the 

 roots, were completely saturated with it, and the tree was at length killed. 

 In this state, it was used for making torches for sacred ceremonies; and, 

 hence, the word taeda (a torch), was frequently applied as an epithet to the 

 pine. Herodotus tells us that, when Miltiades, king of the Dolonei, was 

 taken prisoner by the people of Lampsacus, his friend Croesus, king of Lydia, 

 procured his release, by threatening his conquerors, that, if they did not 

 release Miltiades, he (Croesus) would cut them down like pine trees. The 

 people of Lampsacus did not, at first, comprehend the force of this menace; 

 but when they understood that the pine tree, when once cut down, never 

 springs again from the root, they were terrified, and set Miltiades at liberty. 

 The Latins, in allusion to this property of the pine, had a proverb, " Pini 

 in morem extirpare," to indicate total destruction. The victors in the 

 Isthmian games (which were instituted 1326 B. c.) were crowned with 

 garlands of pine branches. The fruit of the pine was called by the Greeks 

 konos, and strobilos; but the Romans called it nux pinea, and sometimes the 

 apple of the pine. When Vatinius gave a show of gladiators to conciliate 

 the people, by whom he was much hated, they pelted him with stones. The 

 ediles made an order forbidding the people to throw anything but apples 

 within the arena; and on this the people pelted Vatinius with the apples of 

 the pine tree. The question was, then, whether this was to be considered as 

 a defiance of the law ; and the celebrated lawyer Cascellius being consulted, 

 replied, " Nux pinea, si in Vatinium raissurus es, pomum est." The wood of 

 the pine tree was employed by the Romans to form the funeral pile for 

 burning the dead. The Romans also used the wood as shingles, to cover 

 the roofs of houses, in the same manner as is done by the peasants of the 

 Jura and the Vosges, and by several others, at the present day. 



Pliny mentions several kinds of pine. The pinaster, he says, is quite 

 different from the wild pine, and it grows, both on plains and mountains, to an 

 astonishing height. The silver fir loves mountainous and cold places; and it 

 throws oufits branches, which are not very large, from the very root upwards, 

 on every side. The spruce fir grows in the same manner, and is much sought 

 after for building vessels ; it is found on the highest mountains. The larch 

 grows in the same situations as the fir, but its wood is better, almost incor- 

 ruptible, red, and with a strong scent. The resin is abundant and glutinous, 

 but it does not harden. " Quinto generi situs idem, cadem facies : larix 

 vocatur. Materies praestantior longe, incorrupta vis, mori contumax ; rubens 

 prgeterea, et odore acrior : plusculum huic erumpit liquoris, melleo colore, 

 atque lentiore, nunquam durescentis." (Plin., lib. xvi.) Pliny alsomentions 

 that the fruit of Pinus sylvestris, which he calls pityida, was considered by 

 the Romans as an excellent remedy for a cough. 



The cones of pines were used by the Romans to flavour their wine, having 

 been thrown by them into the wine vats, where they float on the surface 

 along with the scum that rises up from the bottom, as may be seen in 

 the wine tanks attached to inns and farm-houses, in Tuscany and other parts 

 of Italy, at the present day. Hence, the thyrsus, which is put into the hands 

 of Bacchus, terminates in a pine cone. Pine cones, or pine-apples, were m 



