THE TREES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 45 



Large tracts of this Pine are sometimes suddenly 

 destroyed, as by a blight, to the irreparable injury of 

 the owners, as the forests cannot be reproduced in 

 a lifetime. From the great value of the tree its de- 

 struction has attracted more especial notice ; but our 

 Yellow Pine (P. mitis) is subject to the same casual- 

 ty. In Europe the same kind of fatality happens to 

 the Firs. The mischief is caused by swarms of a 

 small insect penetrating through the bark into va- 

 rious portions of the stock, and against which there 

 is no remedy yet discovered* Other species of insect 

 sometimes attack the Oaks, and effect a similar de- 

 struction. 



8. White Pine. (P. Strobus, Linn.) — This beau- 

 tiful tree, of such immense value to Canada and New 

 England, extends along the Alleghanies to our own 

 mountains, where it is found in considerable quanti- 

 ties, forming peculiar and handsome forests in the 

 rich elevated valleys, especially of Ashe and Yancey. 

 It is found as far south as Georgia. Though at the 

 North this tree is as important, and its timber as ex- 

 tensively used, as our own Long-leaved Pine, yet 

 from its inaccessibility in our mountains it has no 

 marketable value with us, and does not seem to be 

 much used in the region where it grows. 



There are peculiarities about this tree which dis- 

 tinguish it at first sight, and at any distance, from 

 all our Pines, in the pale green color of its foliage, 

 the smooth, light bark of the trunk, and the circular 

 disposition of the limbs, which gradually diminish in 



