I.UMSDEN] 



THE WHITE PINE 



351 



the charter of Massachusetts Bay read: "That after September 

 "21, 1772, in New England, New York, and New Jersey, in America, 

 no person shall cut or destroy any white pine not growing in any 

 to:wnship or its bounds, without His Majesty's consent." 



As early as 1705 Lord Weymouth sent some 

 white pine trees over to England where they 

 were planted on his estate in Chelsea. Hence the 

 English often speak of the White Pine as the 

 Weymouth Pine. 



The White Pine is an evergreen tree. This is 

 perhaps due to the fact that the pine is a very 

 ancient tree and belongs to the earlier ages when 

 the climate here was different than it is today. 

 Although the White Pine is not a deciduous tree, 

 nevertheless it does shed its needles which drop 

 off and form a soft brown carpet whenever they 

 fall. 



This tree bears the smoothest bark of all the 

 pines. However, on old trunks it does fissure and 

 separate into small plates but they are simply 

 loose at the edges and do not scale off. 



The primary leaves are thin, chaff-like, bud- 

 scales. From their axils proceed the secondary 

 needle-shaped evergreen leaves in small bundles 

 cross section these needle-shaped leaves are 

 triangular. The edges serrate. The massed foliage presents 

 a, pretty appearance; the needles are bright bluish green, soft^ 

 slender, delicate and are disposed in pretty tassels upon the branch. 

 An attractive poem about pine needles is the following * 



White pine cone. 

 of five. In 



If Mother Nature patches 

 The leaves of trees and vines, 



I'm sure she does her darning 

 With needles of the Pine. 



They are so long and slender, 

 And sometimes in full view, 



They have their threads of cobwebs. 

 And thimbles made of dew! 



The cones of the White Pine are long, slender, loose and terminal 

 without spine or prickle. They open and discharge their seeds in 



