14 OUR NATIVE PINES. 



supply many householders have found it a difficult matter to dispose 

 of the greatly increased amount of sewage. As a consequence cess- 

 pools have been taxed beyond their capacity, and in several places 

 abandoned wells have been utilized for this purpose. Considerable satis- 

 faction is usually expressed with this arrangement, as the wells never 

 fill up like ordinary cesspools and the neighboring wells experience 

 a gratifying increase in their flow of water ! 



OUR NATIVE PINES. 



BY N. L. ERITTON. 



THE PINE is a tree so widely and commonly known that any de- 

 scription of its general characters and appearance is unnecessaiy 

 to the purpose of this article. Indeed it is almost the only tree 

 that is recognized by everybody "on sight" and not liable to be con- 

 fused with any other. While Staten Island is not very abundantly 

 supplied with these trees in a wild state, it is unusually favored by the 

 conditions of geographical distribution in having represented no less 

 than four diistinct kinds — a preference shared by but few counties 

 in the State — and two of these find with us nearly their extreme 

 northeastern habitat. 



The Pitch Pine (Pinmpgtj'ida) is our commonest species, growing 

 as isolated trees, or in groves of few individuals in all parts of the / 

 Island, though by far most abundant in the Tottenville district 

 where there are several hundred acres in great part occupied by 

 its timber. Among the most noteworthy of the small groves of this j 

 pine are those at the northern end of Todt hill at the prominent 

 point above the school house at Garretson's Station, and another to! 

 the west of the railroad between New Dorp and Court Houre. It is 

 the characterstic tree of the New Jersey and Long Island "P-ne Bar-i 

 rens," and extends northward to Maine. It may be distinguished! 

 from the native species by its leaves being uniformly three in eachj 

 sheath and the scales forming the hemispherical cone being tipped) 

 on their backs by stout spines. 



