EVERGREEN ORNAMENTAL TREES. 283 



says Virgil, speaking of the European Pine. But the 

 nnurmur of the slight breeze among the foliage of the 

 White Pine gives out a remarkably soothing and agreeable 

 sound, which agrees better with the description of Leigh 

 Hunt: 



" And then there fled by me a rush of air 

 That stirr'd up all the other foliage there, 

 Filling the solitude with panting tongues, 

 At which the Pines woke up into their songs. 

 Shaking their choral locks." 



Pickering, one of our own poets, thus characterizes the 

 melody : 



" The overshadowing pines alone, through which I roam. 

 Their verdure keep, although it darker looks ; 

 And hark ! as it comes sighing through the grove. 

 The exhausted gale, a spirit there awakens, 

 That wild and melancholy music malces." 



This species — the White Pine — seldom becomes flattened 

 or rounded on the summit in old age, like many other sorts, 

 but preserves its graceful and tapering form entire. From 

 its pleasing growth and color, we consider it by far the 

 most desirable kind for planting in the proximity of 

 buildings, and its growth for an evergreen is also quite 

 rapid. 



The leaves of the White Pine are thickly disposed on 

 the branches, in little bundles or parcels of five. The 

 cones are about five inches long : they hang, when nearly 

 ripe, in a pendulous manner from the branches, and open. 

 to shed their seeds, about the first of October. The bark 

 on trees less than twenty years old is remarkably smooth, 

 but becomes cracked and rough, like that of the othei 



