swamps, with representatives ranging almost to the Arctic and to near the 

 equator. Some of the pines are tall, like the Norwegian pines which Milton 

 refers to as mere wands compared to the spear which Satan used "to support 

 uneasy steps over the burning marl," and some are mere shrubs at timber 

 line. 



The pines are closely associated with the development of this country. 

 When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth they beheld the white pine "on a stern 

 and rock-bound coast," and adopted it as their emblem on the historic pine 

 tree shilling. Later, Maine became a great producer of white pine and is 

 still called the Pine Tree State. In 1635 a cargo of white pine masts was 

 shipped to England, and cargoes of lumber were sent from New England to 

 Africa to be paid for in slaves that were sold in Virginia and the West Indies. 



The pine forests of the southern United States have long furnished more 

 pine lumber than any other closely related group of timber trees in this 

 country, but these once extensive forests are now disappearing even as did the 

 white pine of New England and the Lake States. The pines of the Western 

 States, which include the sugar pine, the largest of the pines, and the western 

 yellow pine, are now being cut and shipped to the East where pine was for- 

 merly so abundant. 



Although the pines are known chiefly for their value for timber, yet there 

 are a number of species which are highly ornamental. By the use of large 

 masses and proper variety as a background, a characteristic sky-line can be 

 secured which cannot be excelled by the use of any other group of trees. The 

 pines have a less formal habit than the spruces, and not as dense a foliage. 

 The needles are long, in bundles of from one to five, and on old trees are 

 crowded in tufts to the end of the branches. The conical form of young trees 

 changes at maturity to a broad, flattened crown of picturesque appearance. 

 Pines have a touch of mistiness due to their form and coloration which led 

 Tennyson to connect their thick boughs with "many a cloudy hollow." All 

 the pines are light-needing, but are easily handled and under favorable con- 

 ditions make rapid growth. 



STONE PINE 



The stone pine (Pinus pinea) is the first pine mentioned in ancient writ- 

 ings. There is a myth of ancient Greece that Pan, the god who presided over 

 country regions, attempted to win the love of a nymph of Mount Taygetus, 



( 35 ) 



