Vr.y, us SYLVES i KliSi; 
it abounds. It is found to thrive best in a cold climate, and oA 
arid, poor, sandy or stony soil, and hence it is very generally 
planted in this country on ground which would otherwise be barren 
and unproductive ; in black, boggy or chalky ground, or near 
stagnant waters it does not thrive; indeed a dry soil seems essential 
to the growth of these trees. With respect to climate, however, 
it is to be observed, that the summer of these northern regions, 
though short, is intensely hot, from the number of hours the sun is 
above the horizon when it has attained a few degrees of north 
declination ;* and we should be inclined to think that this great 
heat w as favourable to, if not absolutely neco«sary for, those peculiar 
secretions and exudations which distinguish the genus. 
This tree usually grows straight, tapering; and to a great height, 
and is well adapted for the masts of siiips;t the branches are 
numerous, divaricating, and, like the stem, covered with rough bark 
of a reddish brown colour: the leaves, which are persistent, stand 
in pairs, and are united at the base with the sheath ; they are two 
or three inches long, convex on one side, concave on the other; 
very narrow, linear, striated, somewhat pointed; of a deep green 
glaucous colour, and surround the ends of the smaller branches ; 
the flowers are male and female on the same tree ; the former stand 
in branches without any calyx, unless the loose scales at its base be 
considered as such, (it is so called by Linnaeus) ; there is no corolla ; 
the filaments are numerous, united at the base, forming an upright 
pillar, and furnished with erect anthers ; the female flower consists 
of a calyx or common cone, which is small, composed of scales with 
two flowers in each ; the cones are oblong, imbricated, permanent, 
inflexible ; there is no corolla ; the gerraens, two of which are seated 
at the base of each scale, corresponding to the flowers, are very 
small, producing each a tapering style, terminated by a simple 
stigma : there is no capsule, but the scales of the cone, which before 
impregnation stood open, close upon the seed or nut, which is sup- 
plied with a membranous wing; the flowers appear in May; the 
year after impregnation, the young fruit becomes lateral, stalked, 
and of a more oval figure ; .the second year it ripens into an ovate. 
* At Gottenburg, in Sweden, we have seen the mercury in the thermometer, in the 
mouth of July, higher than ever it was kuown to rise in the East or West Indies. — Ed, 
f The red Norway pine, as it is called, from the Pinus Abies we imagine, is con- 
sidered to make the best top -masts, from its great elasticity, bending, but very rai-ely 
breaking ; for the same reason it is well adapted for rafters for flooring. 
