40 THE TREES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



This tree has its northern limit in or near the District 

 of Columbia, gradually becoming more abundant to 

 the southward, until, in this State, it is the most 

 common Pine, next to the Long-leaf^ in the Lower 

 District. It is there found wherever the soil is dry 

 and sandy, as well as in some of the smaller swamps ; 

 but is replaced by the Yellow Pine on clayey and 

 gravelly soils. In exhausted fields out of cultivation 

 it almost invariably springs up, which gives the origin 

 of one, and in this State the most common, of its 

 names. Its leaves are from 6 to 10 inches long, 

 clustered by threes (very rarely 2 or 4), in a sheath. 

 The cones are 3 to 5 inches long, the scales armed 

 with rather strong sharp prickles. The trunk rises 

 to the height of 50 and 70 feet, with a diameter of 2 

 and 3 feet, and has a spreading top. The wood is 

 sappy and coarse-grained, liable to warp and shrink, 

 and soon decaj^s on exposure. It is among the least 

 valuable of our Pines, but is sometimes applied to 

 inferior uses. It affords a good deal of Turpentine, 

 which is less fluid than that from the Long-leaf. This 

 tree extends somewhat into the Middle District. 



I am indebted for the knowledge of an important 

 variety of this tree, known as the Swamp or Slash 

 Pine^ and about Wilmington as Rosemary Pine., to 

 some articles in Russell's Magazine, written by Mr. 

 Edmund Ruflin, of Virginia, who has made a careful 

 examination of the characters and habits of our 

 southern Pines. He says : '' This [Slash Pine] tree 

 grows only on low and moist land, and is the better 



