No. 149.] 341 



hands are busy mowing down (as it were) our white pine forests, 

 no one hardly ever plants a new pine tree ! 



This noble tree is of the order of Pinacese. All the species are 

 Conifers. They are natives of various parts of the world, from 

 perpetual snow to the hottest parts of the Indian Archipelago. 

 The order includes the juniper, larch, cedar, deal, fir, spruce, 

 cypress, &c. The stone pine, and the pinus halepensis, are much 

 used by the Greeks in ship building. The gates of the city of 

 Constantinople, celebrated for having lasted from the time of 

 Constantine to that of Pope Eugene IV, i. e. 1100 years, were 

 made of cypress. Of the Juniperus oxycedrus the Greeks some- 

 times carved the images of the gods. Another of the Pinacese, 

 the Deodar of India, the wood is nearly imperishable. The Nor- 

 folk Island pine is an immense tree; botanists call it Eutassa 

 {Araucaria) excelsa. The Huron pine of Tasmania is called 

 Microcachrys tetragona. The species in New Zealand, Dammara- 

 Australis, called by the natives Kawrie, attains the height of two 

 hundred feet ; it is an invaluable, light, compact wood, free from 

 knots, and the finest masts in the British navy are now being 

 made from it. The pines of Northwestern America exceed these. 

 The stupendous Pinus Lamhertiana attains two hundred and 

 thirty feet, and so does Abies Douglassi. The Abies is the best 

 timber. 



The White pine of our State is found in large forests in some 

 places. 



1st. On the head waters of the Hudson, and on the rivers 

 emptying into the river St. Lawrence. 



2d. On the Salmon and Black rivers which empty into Lake 

 Ontario. 



3d. On the head waters of the Delaware and Susquehannah. 



4th. On those of the Allegany and Genesee. All these forests 

 are rapidly disappearing before the axe, and it is believed will 

 disappear in about twenty years from this time, (1850). The 

 timber of 130,000 acres is consumed now in one year. 



