PINES, HEMLOCKS AND SPRUCES. 



The White Pine. — "Torn and broken by 

 storms and disfigured by age." 



A SUGGESTION FOR WINTER STUDY. 



HE PINES and their allies are always interesting because they are 

 always wholly unlike other plants. They form a distinct group 

 in the vegetable kingdom. In fact, they are the remnants of an 

 early vegetation, the greater part of which has long since disap- 

 peared. They are widely distributed, and yet they are mostly con- 

 fined to particular geographical or geological regions, where they grow in 

 abundance and usually to the exclusion of most other trees. There are only 

 about 70 species of pines known, and half of these grow in the United 

 States. Comparatively few of them are in general cultivation. 

 The commonest are the Austrian, Scotch and white pines, all of 

 which are excellent for screens and for planting in large grounds. 

 Of these three, the Austrian is the coarsest and least comely, but 



it grows rapidly and makes a valuable wind-break. 

 t» The Scotch pine, known also as the Scotch fir, is a luxuriant 

 grower in every soil and situation. Its leaves are short and of 

 a bluish green tinge. This species has given us several interesting 

 varieties, one of which is of dwarf, wide-spreading habit, being known 

 in some nurseries as the dwarf mountain pine. 



A pine which deserves to become better known in cultivation is the 

 Norway pine, a fruiting spray of which is shown about half size in the 

 frontispiece. It is rarely seen in cultivation. It makes 

 a compact, very dark green tree, usually growing sym- 

 metrically and shapely without shearing. In general ap- 

 pearance upon the lawn, it recalls both the white and 

 Austrian pines, but has a warmer aspect, and it is much more 

 comely than the Austrian. It appears to submit readily to cul- 

 tivation, but it is not often sold and is little known. The Norway 

 pine is a native American, and does not occur in Europe. Its 

 common name is, therefore, a misnomer, but it is so generally 

 used, especially among lumbermen, that it would be useless to 

 attempt to change it. It is often called red pine, be- 

 cause of the dark color of its wood. To botanists it is 

 known as Finns resinosa . 



The Norway pine affords much of the pine lumber of 

 Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In parts of these 

 states it is very abundant, occurring in dense forests. 

 In these forests and groves, the trees rise on slender 

 Sb' and nearly smooth ligtit brown trunks to a height 

 often of a hundred feet, their supple boles reminding 

 one of palms. There are no handsomer forests in 

 the north than those composed of Norway pines. 

 The species ranges in less frequency as far south as 

 northern Pennsylvania, and it is known in Massa- 

 chusetts. 



The Table Mountain pine is a species which pre- 

 vails in the Alleghany mountains, and from thence 

 southward to North Carolina. It is a small tree, 

 with short, stout, crowded leaves of bluish hue. 



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