COKIFEE^, OR CONE-BEARIKG TREES. 



263 



clusters of two, three, or five, enclosed in a thin sheath at the 

 base. The number of leaves in a sheath not only aid in separat- 

 ing and determining the different species, but the practical for- 

 ester knows that there is a great difference in the character of 

 the wood of the species belonging to the different groups or di- 

 visions. Those with five leaves in a sheath, like our common 

 White Pine, have much finer grained and softer wood than 

 those with two leaves, and so far as my personal observations 

 have extended, this holds good with the Pines of all countries. 



Plans Arizouica, Engelm. — Yellow Pine. — A new species of 

 which little is known, probably Mexican, but collected in 

 Southern Arizona in 1874, by Dr. Rothrock, and described in 

 Wheeler's Reports. Said to be a small tree, growing forty feet 

 high, and yielding the best lumber of that region of country, 

 which is certainly not very high praise, as there are very few 

 valuable lumber trees in Southern Arizona. 



P. Anstralis, Michx. — Long-Leaved Pine, Southern Yellow 

 Pine, Georgia Pine. — Leaves three in a sheath, ten to fifteen 

 inches long, bright green, and somewhat crowded at the ends 

 of the branches. Cones six to ten inches long, cylindrical, with 

 thick scales and very small recurved spines. A large and com- 

 mon tree throughout the Southern States, growing sixty to 

 eighty feet high, with stem three to four feet in diameter. 

 Wood hard, fine grained and durable, extensively employed in 

 ship building, floors, fencing, and inside finishing of buildings. 

 Sometimes containing so much resin as to be of little value, 

 except for burning and making lamp-black. From this species 

 the greater part of the turpentine, tar, pitch, and resin pro- 

 duced in this country is obtained. This tree thrives in the poor, 

 light soils of the South, but is not hardy in the North, although 

 I have known specimens to live for several years in the suburbs 

 of New York. 



P. Balfonriaiiaj Jeffrey.— Fox-Tail Pine, Cat-Tail Pine, Hickory 

 Pine. — Leaves in fives, an inch to an inch and a quarter long, 

 rigid, and usually curved or twisted, crowded and appressed to 

 the stem, and remaining on the branches ten or more years. 

 Cones three to four inches long, dark purple or brown when 

 ripe, and usually attached to long,' slender branchlets. Scales 

 thick, with short, very brittle prickles. Seeds small, whitish, 

 with wings three-fourths of an inch long. Wood reddish, hard, 

 tough, and close-grained, very durable, and that from slow- 

 growing old trees almost equal to Red Cedar. Quite a variable 



