A NATURALIST. 99 



its bark, and as the decay advances, all the smaller 

 branches are broken off; and it stands with its naked 

 trunk and a few ragged limbs, as if bidding defiance to 

 the tempest which howls around its head. Under favour- 

 able circumstances, a large trunk will stand in this con- 

 dition for nearly a century, so extensive and powerful 

 are its roots, so firm and stubborn the original knitting 

 of its giant frame. At length some storm, more furious 

 than all its predecessors, wrenches those ponderous roots 

 from the soil, and hurls the helpless carcass to the earth, 

 crushing all before it in its fall. Without the aid of fire, 

 or some peculiarity of situation favourable to rapid de- 

 composition, full another hundred years will be requisite 

 to reduce it to its elements, and obliterate the traces of 

 its existence. Indeed, long after the lapse of more than 

 that period, we find the heart of the pitch pine still pre- 

 serving its original form, and from being thoroughly im- 

 bued with turpentine, become utterly indestructible ex- 

 cept by fire. 



If fiie proprietor attend to the warnings afforded by 

 the woodpecker, he may always cut his pines in time to 

 prevent them from being injured by insects. The wood- 

 peckers run up and around the trunks, tapping from time 

 to time with their powerful bills. The bird knows at once 

 by the sound whether there be insects below or not. If 

 the tree is sound, the woodpecker soon forsakes it for 

 another ; should he begin to break into the bark, it is to 

 catch the worm, and such trees are at once to be marked 



