424 THE PITCH PINE. 



or five, or even a larger number, and will remain on the 

 trees, closed, for several years." 



The Pitch Pine abounds all along the coast from Mas- 

 sachusetts to the Carolinas ; but it is rare in the northern 

 parts of Maine and New Hampshire and north of these 

 States. It is said to have been very abundant in the 

 southern part of New England before the eighteenth 

 century, but large forests of it were consumed in making 

 tar for exportation to Great Britain. The Pitch Pine 

 woods of the present day consist of small stunted trees, 

 showing by their inferior thrift that they stand upon 

 an exhausted soil. 



The trees of this species, for the most part too homely 

 and rough to please the sight, are not generally admired as 

 objects in the landscape ; but there is a variety in their 

 shapes that makes amends for their want of comeliness 

 and gives them a marked importance in scenery. We do 

 not in general sufficiently estimate the value of homely 

 objects among the scenes of nature, though they are in- 

 deed the groundwork of all charming scenery, and set off 

 to advantage the beauty of more comely objects. They 

 give rest and relief to the eye, after it has felt the stimu- 

 lus of beautiful forms and colors, that would soon pall 

 upon the sense ; and they leave imagination free to dress 

 the scene according to our own fancy. 



Hence I am led to prize many a homely tree as pos- 

 sessing a high value, by exalting our susceptibility to beau- 

 ty, and by relieving nature of that monotony which is so 

 apparent when all the objects in a scene are beautiful. 

 We see this monotony in all dressed grounds of consider- 

 able extent. We soon become weary of their ever-flowing 

 lines of grace and elegance, and the harmonious blending 

 of forms and colors introduced by art. This principle 

 explains the difficulty of reading a whole volume writ- 

 ten in verse. We soon weary of luxuries; and after 



