PIN US. 
the joiners, &o. is the wood of this tree ; and 
it may perhaps satisfy the curious reader to 
know, that from this hr pitch is drawn. The 
leaves are of a dark-green colour; they stand 
singly on the branches. They are very nar- 
row, their ends are pointed, and they are 
possessed of such beauties as to excite admi- 
ration. The cones are eight or ten inches 
long, and hang downwards. 
6. The pinus Canadensis, American or 
Newfoundland spruce hr, a native of Canada, 
Pennsylvania, and other parts of North 
America, includes three varieties ; the white 
Newfoundland spruce, the red Newfoundland 
spruce, and the black Newfoundland spruce. 
These, however, differ so little, that one de- 
scription is common to them all. They are 
of a genteel upright growth, though they do 
not shoot so freely, nor grow so fast, with us, 
as the Norway spruce. 
7. The pinus balsamea, or hemlock hr, a 
native of Virginia and Canada, possesses as 
little beauty as any of the hr tribe ; though, 
being rather scarce in proportion, it is deem- 
ed valuable. It is called by some the yew- 
leaved hr, from the resemblance of the leaves 
to those of the yew-tree. It is a tree of low 
growth, with but few branches ; and these are 
long and slender, apd spread abroad without 
order. The cones are very small and round- 
ed ; they are about half an inch long, and 
the scales are loosely arranged. We receive 
these cones from America, by which we raise 
the plants ; though this caution should be 
given to the planter, that this tree is fond of 
moist rich ground, and in such a kind of soil 
will make the greatest progress. 
8. The pinus Orientalis, or Oriental fir, a 
native of the East, is a low but elegant tree. 
The leaves are very short, and nearly square. 
The fruit is exceedingly small, and hangs 
downward; and the whole tree makes an 
agreeable variety with the other kinds. 
9. The strobus, lord Weymouth’s pine, or 
North American white pine, grows some- 
times to the height of 100 feet, and upwards, 
and' is highly valued on account of its beauty. 
The bark of the tree is very smooth and deli- 
cate, especially when young ; the leaves are 
long and slender, five growing out of one 
sheath, and thus make a fine appearance. 
The cones arc long, slender, and very loose, 
opening with the first warmth of the spring; 
<-so that, if they are not gathered in winter, 
the scales open, and iet out the seeds. The 
wood of this sort is esteemed for making masts 
for ships. In queen Anne’s time there was a 
law made for the preservation of these trees, 
and for the encouragement of their growth in 
America. Within these last 50 years tiiey 
have been propagated in Britain in consider-, 
able plenty. 
The soil the Weymouth pine delights in 
most is a sandy loam ; but it likes other soils- 
of an inferior nature, although it is not gene- 
rally to be planted on all lands like the 
Scotch, fir. On stony and slaty ground, like- 
wise, there are some very fine trees ; so that 
whoever is desirous of having plantations of 
this pine,, need not be too curious in the 
choice of his ground. 
10. The pinus txda, or swamp-pine, is a 
tall evergreen. tree, a native ot the swamps ot 
Virginia and Canada. There are several va- 
rieties of this conus which Hanbury enume- 
rates and describes, such as, 1st,. I he three- 
leaved American swamp-pine. 2d, The two- 
leaved American pine. 3d, The yellow 
American pine, the yellow tough pine, and 
the tough pine of the plains ; among which 
there is but little variety. 4th, The bastard 
pine. 5tb, The frankincense pine. 6th, 
The dwarf pine. 
11. The pinus cedrus is that popularly 
called by us the cedar of Lebanon ; by the 
antients cedrus magna, or the great cedar. 
It is a coniferous evergreen, of the bigger 
sort, bearing large roundish cones of smooth 
scales, standing erect, the leaves being small, 
narrow, and thick-set. They sometimes 
counterfeit cedar, by dying wood of a reddish 
hue: but tiie smell discovers the cheat, that 
of true cedar being very aromatic. In some 
places, the wood of the cajou tree passes un- 
der the name of cedar, on account of its red- 
dish colour and its aromatic smell, which 
somewhat resemble that of santal. Cedar 
wood is reputed almost immortal and incor- 
ruptible ;.a prerogative which it owes chiefly 
to its bitter taste, which the worms cannot 
endure. For this reason it was that the an- 
cients used cedar tablets to write upon, espe- 
cially for things of importance, as appears 
from that expression of Persius, “ Et cedra 
digna locutus.” A juice was also drawn from 
cedar, with which they smeared their books 
and writing-, or other matters, to preserve 
them from rotting. 
Solomon’s temple, as well as his palace, 
were both of this wood. “ The statue (says 
Hanbury) of the great goddess at Ephesus 
was made of this material ; and if this tree 
abounded with us in great plenty, it might 
have a principal share in our most superb 
edifices.” It is remarkable that this tree is 
not to be found as a native in any other part 
of the world than mount Libanus, as far as 
has yet been discovered. What we find 
mentioned in Scripture of the lofty cedars, 
can be nowise applicable to the common 
growth ot this tree ; since, from (he experi- 
ence we have of those now growing in Eng- 
land, as also from the testimony of several 
travellers who have visited those few remain- 
ing trees on mount Libanus, they are not in- 
clined to grow very lofty, but on the con- 
trary extend their branches very far. 
Maundrel, in his Travels, says there were 
but 16 large trees remaining when he visited 
mount Libanus, some of which were of a 
prodigious bulk, but that there were many 
more young ones of a smaller size: he mea- 
sured one of tire largest, and found it to be 
12 yards six inches in girth, and yet sound, 
and 37 yards in the spread of its boughs. At 
about five or six yards from the ground it 
was divided into five limbs, each of which 
was equal to a great tree. What Maundrel 
has related was confirmed by a gentleman 
who was there in the year 1720, with this dif- 
ference only, viz. in the dimensions of the 
branches of tire largest tree ; which he mea- 
sured, and found to be 22 yards diameter. 
Now whether Mr, Maundrel meant 37 yards 
in circumference of the spreading branches, 
or the diameter of them, cannot be determin- 
ed by his words; yet either of them well 
agrees with this last account. 
12. The larix, or larch-free, with decidu- 
ous leaves, and oval obuise cones. It grows 
naturally upon, the Alps and Apennines, and 
of late has been very much propagated in 
8 
437 
Britain. It is of quick growth, and the trunk 
rises to 50 feet or more ; the branches are 
slender, their ends generally hanging down- 
ward. In the month of April the male flow- 
ers appear, wl:ich are disposed in form of 
small cones ; the female flowers are collected 
into oval obtuse cones, which in some species 
have bright purple tops, and in others they 
are white : these differences are accidental ; 
the cones are about an inch long, obtuse at 
their points; the scales are smooth, and lie 
over each other: under each scale there are 
generally lodged two seeds, which have 
wings. There are two other varieties of this 
tree, one of which is a native of America, and 
the other of Siberia. The cones oi the 
American kind which have been brought to 
Britain, seem in general to be larger than 
those of the common sort. 
From the larch-tree fis extracted what we 
erroneously call Venice turpentine. T Lis sub- 
stance, or natural balsam, flows at first with- 
out incision ; and when it lias done dropping, 
the poor people who wait in the fir woods 
make incisions at about two or three feet 
from the ground into the trunks of the trees, 
into which they fix narrow troughs about 20 
inches long. The end of these troughs is 
hollowed like a ladle; and in the middle is a 
small hole bored for the turpentine to run 
into the receiver which is placed below it. 
As the gummy substance runs from the trees, 
it passes along the sloping gutter or trough 
to the ladle, 'and from thence runs through 
the holes into the receiver. The people who 
gather it visit the trees morning and evening 
from the end of May to September, to col- 
lect the turpentine out of the receivers. 
When it flows out of the tree, Venice turpen- 
tine is clear like water, and of a yellowish- 
white ; but, as it grows older, it thickens and 
becomes of a citron-colour. It is procured 
in the greatest abundance in the neighbour- 
hood of Lyons ; and in tire valley of St. Mar- 
tin, near St. Lucero, in Switzerland. 
All the sorts of pines are propagated by 
seeds produced in hard woody cones. The- 
.way to get the seeds out of these cones is, to 
lay them before a gentle fire, which will 
cause the cells to open, and then the seeds 
may be easily taken out. If the cones are 
kept entire, the seeds will remain good for 
some years; so that the surest way of pre- 
serving them is to let them remain in the 
cones till the time for sowing the seeds. If 
the cones are kept in a warm place in sum- 
mer, they will open and emit the seeds ; but 
if they are not exposed to the heat, they will 
remain close for a long time. The best sea- 
son for sowing the pines is about the end of 
March. When the seeds are sown, the 
place should be covered with nets to keep off 
the birds ; otherwise, when the plants begin 
to appear with the husk of the seed on the 
top of them, the birds will peck off the tops,., 
and thus destroy them. 
From the first species is extracted the 
common turpentine, much used by farriers, 
and from which is drawn the oil of that name. 
The process of making pitch, tar, resin, and 
turpentine, from these trees, is this : In the 
spring time, when the sap is most free in 
running, they pare off the bark of the pine- 
tree, to make the sap run down into a hole 
which they cut at the bottom, to receive it. 
In the way, as it runs down, it leaves a white 
