CHAPTER XXXV. 
PINES—(Continwed). 
THE AMERICAN PITCH PINE TREE (Pinus rigida). 
THIS tree is found spread over a wide tract of country 
lying between the Penobscot and the Mississippi rivers 
in North America. It is of erect and almost perfectly 
straight growth, and may be readily distinguished from 
others by its leaves being in threes, by the rigidity and 
sharp edges of the scales of the cones, by the extreme 
roughness of its bark, and by the density of the brushes 
of its stiff and crowded leaves. It requires a good 
supply of moisture to bring it to the greatest perfection, 
and flourishes well on a sandy soil if mixed with loam. 
The Southern States produce the best spars for 
masts, square timber, and plank, and these afe shipped 
to this country chiefly from the ports of Savannah, Darien, 
and Pensacola, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, 
and Alabama. The mast-pieces are generally of 
moderate dimensions, and take the place of Riga or 
Dantzic spars of 18 to 16 hands, whenever there is any 
difficulty in procuring either of those descriptions, and 
except that the Pitch Pine has a greater specific gravity, 
there is little to prevent it from being used more exten- 
sively than hitherto, in lieu of the Baltic Firs. 
The timber is usually imported in well-hewn logs of 
11 to 18 inches square by from 20 to 45 feet in length, 
