PINE FAMILY 
The Pinacee as now constituted comprises the Pine, Larch, 
Spruce, Hemlock, Fir, Cypress, Sequoia, Cedar, Arborvite, 
and Juniper. The Yew and the Gingko, a naturalized Chinese 
tree, belong to the Zaxacew or Yew family. 
THE PINE 
Pinus. 
There occur within the limits of the United States thirty- 
nine species of Pine; seven are found in New England and 
middle Atlantic states, seven flourish principally in the low- 
lands of the south and twenty-five are recognized in the 
west. The central basin of the Mississippi has none. They 
are tolerant of many conditions of soil and climate ; they 
flourish on the lowlands at the water’s edge ; they climb the 
mountains to the timber line ; they inhabit the drifting sands 
upon the shore and keep back the waves of the sea, The 
method of growth is peculiar and characteristic. The 
branches are disposed in regular order, circularly in imper- 
fect whorls around the central trunk. One of these whorls 
is formed each year from the row of branch buds which en- 
circle the main stem and these whorls furnish an easy way to 
tell the age of young trees. But in the forest these branches 
die and even the marks of them disappear so that the trunk 
rises a smooth unbroken shaft for sixty or one hundred 
feet. 
The roots of the Pine never descend deep and they are 
practically imperishable by the action of the elements alone. 
When pine lands are cleared, the stumps are often made into 
fences, by placing them in rows, with their roots interlacing. 
Such fences are both picturesque and enduring. 
The wood may be hard or soft but it is usually resinous. 
The other products are turpentine, rosin and tar. Turpen- 
tine is the resinous exudation of the tree, obtained in this 
country by cutting a pocket through the bark into the wood 
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