EVERGREEN ORNAMENTAL TREES. 217 



ny, Poland, and Russia, as well as millions of acres in our own 

 country, abound with immense and interminable forests of 

 Pine. Capable of enduring extreme cold, and flourishing in 

 an atmosphere the mean temperature of which is not greater 

 than 37° or 38° Fahrenheit^ they are found as far north as 

 latitude 68° in Lapland ; while on mountains they grow at 

 a greater elevation than any other aborescent plant. On 

 Mount Blanc, the Pines grow within 2,800 feet of the line of 

 perpetual snow.* In Mexico, also, Humboldt found them 

 higher than any other tree ; and Lieut. Glennie describes 

 them as growing in thick forests on the mountain of Popo- 

 cotapetl, as high as 12,693 feet, beyond which altitude vege- 

 tation ceases entirely.-]- 



The Pines are, most of them, trees of considerable magni- 

 tude and lofty growth, varying from 40 to 150 or even 200 

 feet in height in favourable situations, rising with a perpen- 

 dicular trunk, which is rarely divided into branches, bearing 

 much proportionate size to the main stem, as in most decid- 

 uous trees. The branches are much more horizontal than 

 those of the latter class, (excepting the Larch.) The leaves 

 are linear or needle-shaped, and are always found arranged 

 in little parcels of from two to six, the number varying in 

 the different species. The blossoms are produced in spring, 

 and the seeds, borne in cones, are not ripened, in many sorts, 

 until the following autumn. Every part of the stem abounds 

 in a resinous juice, which is extracted, and f6rms in the va- 

 rious shapes of tar, pitch, rosin, turpentine, balsam, etc., a 

 considerable article of trade and export. 



As ornamental trees, the Pines are peculiarly valuable for 

 the deep verdure of their foliage, which, unchanged by the 



* Edinburgh Phil. Journ. 



t Proc. Geological Soc. Lend. Arb. Brit. 



28 



