TREES OF AMERICA. 221 



The cones are five inches long, and composed 

 of thin smooth scales, that stick out from 

 each other ; these cones always hang down 

 in the white pine, but in some kinds they 

 stand up : like the cones of all the other pines, 

 they are full of, turpentine, and burn very 

 brightly." 



" Oh, I know that right well, Uncle Philip ; 

 I have picked them up very often to kindle 

 fires with. They catch as quick as paper or 

 straw." 



" So they do ; and a very pleasant cheerful 

 blaze they make, too. This pine, and another 

 kind called the yellow pine, furnish the boards, 

 and planks, and joists, and beams, and shin- 

 gles that are used in building houses, and 

 for an infinite variety of other purposes; 

 you have made little ships and boats, I dare 

 say, out of pine wood, and you know how 

 soft and easy it is to cut, and how light it is ; 

 it is on this account, and from their being so 

 free from knots, that the white and yellow 

 pines are so useful : I suppose that two-thirds 

 at least, of all the houses in the United States 

 are built altogether of white pine ; and even 

 in brick and stone-houses, all the beams and 

 rafters are made of it; so you may judge 



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