FOREST TREES. 203 
has an agreeable odor which it retains for many years. 
The tree is handsome, the growth and foliage are very 
dense; and it has the merit of thriving in almost all 
soils and situations. It is perfectly hardy, but its 
growth is very slow even in rich soils; and this is 
doubtless the principal reason why it has been so 
much less known and propagated than other Pines, 
inferior both in beauty and in the quality of their tim- 
ber. Where it abounds, the seeds are used for food 
and oil is extracted from them. 
3. Pinus excelsa—Bhotan Pine. 
Leaves, five to seven inches long, slender, pointed, 
crowded, glaucous; sheaths, short; cones, six to nine 
inches long, cylindrical, smooth, pendulous, clustered ; 
scales, broad, thick, wedge-shaped, imbricated; seeds 
small. 
This species greatly resembles the White Pine, and 
when healthy and vigorous, is even more beautiful. 
Its leaves are longer, of a brilliant glaucous green 
color, and its growth is more compact. I have never 
been able to cultivate it satisfactorily, nor do I know 
that any one in the State of Illinois has succeeded 
better. In Northern Illinois the buds are occasionally 
killed by the winter, but the worst trouble is « blight 
which sometimes destroys trees six or eight feet high. 
It is a highly desirable tree, wherever it can be kept 
in a healthy condition. In its native countries 
(Nepaul and Bhotan,) it grows to a large size. Its 
timber is highly esteemed, and is said to resemble that 
of the White Pine. 
