120 



White Spruce, Arbor-vitre, European Larch, Southern 

 Cypress and English Yew. 



A few other species of the Couiferae are occasionally 

 met with in cultivation. 



The Ginkgo tree, a native of Japan, is often seen in 

 gardens, but owing to its peculiar fan-shaped leaves 

 would not, until the fruit and wood were examined, be 

 supposed to belong to the Conifers. 



The products of the pines are among the most valuable 

 gifts to man ; they even produce food. The seed of the 

 "stone pine" (P. pinea), and of a pine growing in Cali- 

 fornia, are so large that they may be eaten very much as 

 peanuts are, the meat being about the same size as that 

 of a single meat of the peanut. It is in the wood, how- 

 ever, that the chief value of our pines is to be found. It 

 is needless to mention the innumerable uses to which the 

 White and Red pine wood is adapted. Its durability, 

 lightness, and strength, to say nothing of its sweetness, 

 a quality not possessed by every wood, render it of value 

 to every trade, and to every man. 



The wood of Conifers is not like that of the deciduous 

 forest trees, it possesses but one sort of cell in its con- 

 struction, while the Oak or Maple have in their wood 

 various sorts of cell structures. The wood structure of a 

 Pine is made up of long cells tapering to each end, and 

 having upon the outside certain dots, or marks. These 

 cells are about of an inch long, and may be seen by 

 examining with a microscope very thin shavings of the 

 wood. 



The strength of the wood of our pines is given by 

 Laslett as follows : 



Pieces of Red, White, and Pitch pines were taken, 

 of the same dimensions, and tested in three ways, as 

 follows : 



