RED-WOOD PINE. 



71 



duty obstruct the supply of the better article. This 

 timber is sometimes supplied with a good character 

 by the shipwright, as it is soft, pliant, and easily 

 worked. The Canadian red pine has a greater 

 number of layers of sap-wood than any other red 

 pine we are acquainted with ; we have repeatedly 

 counted 100 sap-wood layers. We have never seen 

 this kind of pine growing in Britain. 



The most common American pine, with yellow 

 timber, Pinus strobus, has been introduced for a 

 long time back into Britain, it is said first by the 

 Earl of Weymouth, thence sometimes named Wey- 

 mouth Pine. This rather elegant tree requires a 

 w^arm sheltered situation, as it is easily torn down 

 by wind, from the weakness of the timber, which is 

 inferior in hardness and strength to any other pine we 

 are acquainted with ; and from its slender needle 

 leaf not having substance to withstand the evapora- 

 tion of much exposure. Altogether, the kind ap- 

 pears rather out of climate in Britain, and, though the 

 monarch of the pines in Canada, holds here but a very 

 subordinate place. Although extremely tender and 

 light, the matured timber does not soon decay when 

 cut out thin and exposed to wind and weather, nor 

 worm when kept dry in houses ; but when employed 

 in shipbuilding,— remaining always between the moist 



