312 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



purposes, of all the well-known Pines," says Mr. Downing, 

 " we give the preference to our native White Pine. The soft, 

 agreeable hue of its pliant foliage, the excellent form of the 

 tree, and its adaptation to a great variety of soils and sites, are 

 all recommendations not easily overlooked. Besides, it bears 

 transplanting well; and is, on this account, also, more gener- 

 ally seen than any other species in our ornamental plantations. 

 But its especial merit, as an ornamental tree, is the perpetually 

 fine, rich, lively green of its foliage. In the Northern States, 

 many evergreens lose their bright color in midwinter, owing to 

 the severity of the cold ; and, though they regain it quickly in 

 the first mild days of spring, yet this temporary dinginess, at 

 the season when verdure is rarest and most prized, is, undenia- 

 bly, a great defect. Both the Hemlock and the White Pine are 

 exceptions. Even in the greatest depression of the thermom- 

 eter known to our neighbors on the * disputed boundary ' 

 line, we believe the verdure of these trees is the same fine, 

 unchanging green. Again, this thin summer growth is of such 

 a soft and lively color, that they are (unlike some of the other 

 Pines, the Red Cedar, &c.,) as pleasant to look upon, even in 

 June, as any fresh and full-foliaged and deciduous tree, rejoic- 

 ing in all its full breadth of new summer robes. We, there- 

 fore, place the White Pine among the first in the regards of 

 the ornamental planter." To this opinion we give our cordial 

 assent. 



P. pinaster " is a native of the South of Europe, much culti- 

 vated in England as an ornamental tree." Of this species we 

 have no acquaintance, any more than we have with P. Lam- 

 bertiana, P. Sabiniaria, P. ponderosa, and others, natives of 

 California and other parts of the North-west Coast, which, no 

 doubt, will prove hardy here, and be a great acquisition to our 

 collection of Pines ; but, as yet, they have not appeared 

 amongst us, with the exception of a few small specimens raised 

 from seed, in possession of curious amateurs in such matters. 



P. Austrica. " The Austrian Pine," Downing says, " for 

 a rapid-growing, bold, picturesque evergreen, is well deserving 



