VOI,. X*. KO. 44. 



AND G A R D E N E E ' S JOURNAL 



310 



tirely clear is the green i)rairie <rrass from iinder- 

 growtli, that the spectator can hardly avoid imag- 

 ining, that he is looking not at a new country, but 

 at one wliich was once peopled by a highly-cnhi- 

 vated community, who have been long since swept 

 away \yitli every vestige of their wealtli and re- 

 finement, except their stiitely groves and verdant 

 lawns. 



We have thus far spol<cn of our forests merely 

 as a predominant and magnificent feature of Amer- 

 ican scenery. But it is scarcely necessary to say, 

 that th :y have other claim* to our attention, of a 

 far more solid character. It is to onr forests that 

 we have been iridehted for two hundred years for 

 our fuel and our shelter. How much of the pro- 

 gress of New England at least, since its first set- 

 tlement by onr forefathers, has been owing to the 

 liberality of Nature in this particular I Whatever 

 were tlie calamities, in other respects, ef those 

 luuch-enduring men, they were at least exempted 

 from the extreme and probably fatal suffering, to 

 which they would have been subjected in a thin- 

 ly-wooded region. Had the aborigines possessed 

 that determined and unsjiaring hostility to large 

 trees, which seems to have actuated many of their 

 successors, it is probable that these northern set- 

 tlements would never have had a being. 



One of the most remarkable of the forest trees 

 of the United States, is the White Pine, called in 

 Kngland the Weymouth I'ine, and known by bot- 

 anists as the Piniis Strobus. 'Ibis tree must be 

 familiar to many of our readers in various ways, 

 as it abounds in our neighborhood, and a-s its 

 blanches are more frequently employed than those 

 of any other tree, for the decoration of our Cath- 

 olic and Episcopal cburches. It nnay be distin- 

 guished at first sight from every other evergreen 

 growing in this State, by the lightness anil delica- 

 cv of its folia.:e, as well as by its less formal mode 

 of growth. On a closer view, it is founii to dif- 

 fer from all other pines or spruces here or else- 

 where, in being what is called five-leaved, that is, 

 in putting forth its leaves in sheaths each contain- I 

 in" five. The leaves of all evergrei'n trees of the 

 pine family, are without a sheath, and those of 

 other ])ines grow in sheaths containing two or 

 three. This tree is certainly the most majestic 

 ill the country, when it reaches its full growth in 

 our for(!Sts. 'I'hough it does not spread in a 

 graceful sheaf like the elm, nor rise up in a regu- 

 lar spire like the fir, it more than cohipeusates for 

 the want of these beauties, by its loftiness. None 

 of the productions of this country approach it iii 

 this i)articnlar. It is sometimes s-iid to reach the 

 height of more than two hundred feet, and Mi- 

 chaux actually measured one which had been fel- 

 led, and which exceeded one hundred and fifty ; 

 anil the trunk is singularly smooth and straight. 

 A magnificent appearance is far from its chief 

 recommendation. We know not that we in New 

 Englaiul are equally indebted to any other pro- 

 duction of our forests; not even to the oak. M'l- 

 chaux remarks, that throughout the North rn 

 States, except iu the larger capitals, seven tenths 

 of the houses are of wood, of which seven tenths 

 three quarters, estimated at half a million, (this 

 estimate was made nearly thirty years ago,) are ol 

 white pine. In the first part of this statement, 

 there is a mistake quite remarkable, in a writer 

 of such .singular research and accuracy. If we 

 except the larger capitals, we ought to say not that 

 seveti tentlig, but nine tenths at least, of houses 

 iff the Northeni .State?, are woodeti ; indeed the 



number of those of a different description may be 

 considered as too small to deserve notice ; and 

 of tliese nine tenths the great mass are of white 

 pine. 



This tree owes it selection for this most impor- 

 tant purpose to one quality in particular, the small 

 expense of labor at which it can be fashioned and 

 put together. While it is more durable and bet- 

 ter able to bear exposure to the fierce temperature 

 and sudden changes of our climate, than any oth- 

 er piue which abounds in New England, it is al- 

 so lighter, softer, and more free from kliots. In 

 favorable situations the diameter of the trunk va- 

 ries from three to seven feet ; add thus it furnish- 

 es planks for building of ample dimensions. This 

 tree has also one important quality iu common 

 with the locust, which is denied to many other 

 of our best timber trees. We mean tlie great 

 proportion \Viiich the lieart,or perfect wood, bears 

 even in young trees to the albuiiium or saji wood, 

 being not less tbar. eleven to one in tiees of a foot 

 in diameter. In all timber after felling, it is the 

 sa[) wood which is the first t<i decay, and which 

 is as unfit for any useful puriiose, as the iinripen- 

 ed products of nattire generally. Hence it is an 

 important element in the value of the white pine, 

 that it ripens its wood at so early a period. It is 

 true after all, that in point of durability, when 

 freely exposed to the elements, or when set in the 

 ground, its timber cannot conqjete with many of 

 the harder woods; but if well seasoned and kopt 

 carefully painted, it will endure for centuries, 

 without any symptoms of decay, as we find atles- 

 te<l by many wooden houses, more especially in 

 onr laige towns. Where entirely covered, it 

 seems to incorriqitible. But, were its durability 

 less, the other qualiiies to which we have adver- 

 ted, namely, its lightness and softness, would form 

 a most liberal equivalent. 



It is not easy to estiinate how much the rapid 

 advancement of New England may have been 

 owing to the abundance of this valuable tree. The 

 importance of shelter is a jioint which it requires 

 ffw lessons from our winter climate to set forth ; 

 and by no tree with which we are acquainted, 

 could this want be supplied so rapiilly and easily, 

 as by the white |)ine. At the value which hu- 

 man labor has always maintained among us, the 

 difl'erence of expense to New Englaiul, which 

 would have resulted from the general employ- 

 ment of the oak, for instance, instead of the pine, 

 for our houses, would be enormous. In many 

 parts of the Valiev of the Mississijqti, this pine, as 

 well as ahnost every other species of pine, is ex- 

 ceedingly rare. Tht; settlers are in consequence 

 obliged to sidjstitute the oak, both for their hou- 

 ses and their furniture. Their dwellings (we 

 speak of the new settlers,) are generally of oak 

 filled iu with earth, and are quite inferior, both in 

 appearance and comfort, to those which we find 

 in the newly-cleared lands of Maine. 



We are scarcely less indebted to tlie white pine, 

 for our commercial and naviil, than for onr civil 

 architecture. It is this tree which gives us, not 

 indeed the frames, but the ma.''ts of onr vessels, 

 (or which it is admiraldy fitteil, by the degree in 

 which it combines the qualities of durability and 

 lightness, as well as by the straightness of its 

 trunk. Its place for this purpose in the Northern 

 and Middle states, could hardly be supplied. Dur- 

 ing our colonial existence, its value was fully aji- 

 preciated by the mother country ; and, more than 

 c*ne hundrtd years ago, some statutes were |ias- 



sed, restricting the cutting of trees proper for 

 masts. We have found no evidence, however, 

 that these statutes were ever enforced ; 'and, how- 

 ever useful in their design, they would interfere 

 quite too mu(!h with private liberty, to render 

 their renewal desirable, so far as respects the land 

 of individuals. But it is certainly well worthy 

 the consideration of the legislature of Maine, 

 whether effectual measures should not be taken, 

 for the preservation, and perhaps the propagation 

 of valuable timber on the public lands, within her 

 jurisdiction ; and the deep interest which onr own 

 commonwealth has in those lands, might render 

 a respectful interposition on her patt advisable. 



The fame of the white pine his liaig since ex- 

 tended to Europe, priiicii)ally by means of tho 

 stocks which have been exported to Englaiul, to 

 supply in part her immense demand for masts and 

 spars. The living tree has also been iiitioduccd 

 into that country, but is not highly ajijireciated, 

 and we have found no English writer who does 

 it full justice. The truth is, however, that the 

 climate of England is not fitted to its develo])- 

 ment. The liiiiitH within 'which it flourishes iu 

 this country, are the 43d and 47th degrees of lati- 

 tude. Now no part of the Island of Great Brit- 

 aiii has a climate which answers to that of this 

 region. Ihe northern extremity of Scotland, 

 which lies in about the 58th or 59th degree of 

 latitude, is visited with winters far less rigorous 

 than the great majority of our own. Besides, 

 there are few .situations in Ureat I'ritain, which 

 furnish the soil in which this tree chiefly delights. 

 The most magnificentspecimens of the white p'ine 

 in this country are found in the depths of our 

 forests, iu a virgin soil covered with the accumu- 

 lated mould of centuries, and above all, on the 

 banks of rivers, or in the beds of laige cedar 

 swamps. In pleasure grounds, it seldom rises 

 to its greatest height, or at least requires a longer 

 time to do so, than has yet been allowed in any 

 instance within out knowledge. It grows, hov*-- 

 ever, with considerable rapidity, and soon acquires 

 a loftiness and bulk eipial to that of most cultiva- 

 ted trees; and its highly polished bark and light 

 silveivy foliage, render it, from Ihe time it springs 

 from (he soil, a desirable accession to every shrub- 

 bery. 



(To be continued ) 



The New York Journal of Commerce, in an 

 article of a column and more, on the "troubles 

 in the money market," assigns, among other cau- 

 ses, the failure in the crojis of last year, as a rea- 

 son for the jierilous times upon which we have 

 fallen. It states, that instead of ex|iorting 6,000,- 

 000 dollars worth of bread stuff's, which would 

 have paid so much of our indebtedness abroad, 

 we had to import several million dollars worth of 

 the same articles. It asserts, upon what data we 

 are not informed, that the failure of the crops 

 caused a difrerence in the state of debts abroad, 

 of at least 10,000,000 — a heavy item in the sin- 

 die ai tide of commerce. — U. S. Gaz. 



Q3==By mingrmg powdered cliarco:,! with ma- 

 nure, the infections gtises and putrid odor, so fer- 

 tilizing to vegetation, but so deleterious to health, 

 are neutralized and rendered inodorous, and the 

 coirpound reduced to a state in wliich it may 

 be transported from place to place, without pro- 

 ducing any ofl'ensive smell. — JVorihamplon Cou- 

 rier. 



