PINE WOODS. 



I HAVE often thought of the pleasure I should feel on 

 entering a forest of tree-ferns, and observing their ele- 

 gant fronds spread out above my head, displaying a 

 form of vegetation never witnessed except in a tropical 

 country. Yet I doubt whether an assemblage of tree- 

 ferns, a grove of magnolias, or an island of palms could 

 equal a forest of pines in the expression of grandeur and 

 solemnity. A pine wood possesses characters entirely 

 unique, and affects us with sensations which nothing 

 else in nature seems capable of inspiring. Whether 

 this arises from the contrast between the light outside 

 and the darkness within, a certain harmonious blending 

 of cheerfulness and gloom, or from the novelty of the 

 whole scene, there comes up from every deep recess and 

 shadowy arbor, every dripping dell, every mossy fountain, 

 and every open glen throughout the wood, an indescribable 

 charm. Notwithstanding the darkness of its interior, and 

 the sombre character of its dense masses of evergreen foli- 

 age, as seen from without, whence the name of Hack 

 timber, which has been applied to it, yet the shade and 

 shelter it affords, and the sentiment of grandeur it in- 

 spires, cause it to be allied with the most profound and 

 agreeable sensations. 



In a pine wood Nature presents one of her most re- 

 markable features ; and there is so much that is healthful 

 and delightful in its emanations, and in the atmosphere 

 that is diffused around it, that she has not denied its bene- 

 fits to any clime. Pines are found in every latitude 



