2o6 THE TREE BOOK 



building and house decoration that now it is 

 growing rare indeed. We may know the tree by 

 the number of "needles." There are five in 

 each sheath. In the winter the white pine has a 

 fashion of folding its needles restfnlly together 

 for its long sleep. The cones of this pine are 

 long and slender, with thin scales, and fall in the 

 winter of their second year. 



The Georgia, or long-leaved pine, is the most 

 valuable of the "pitch" pines. It grows in 

 large forests along our southeastern coast, and 

 has found its way all over the land. Its 

 branches are widely used for Christmas greens, 

 and beautiful indeed they are with their closely 

 tufted twigs of glossy needles, often sixteen 

 inches in length. Its pitch supplies the greater 

 part of our turpentine, resin, and tar ; its wood 

 is made into railroad ties, trestles, viaducts, 

 and bridges ; even its stumps are cut up and sold 

 in bundles for kindling wood. The color of the 

 wood is a deep, rich orange yellow, or light red, 

 and it is more ornamental than that furnished 

 by any other of the pines. Indeed, the very use- 

 fulness of the tree threatens to be its doom. 



In barren, stony ground we find the junipers, 

 yews, and cedars. The juniper has awl-shaped 

 leaves, arranged in whorls of three. The fruit 

 is a large, dark-^blue berry, much used in flavor- 



