AMERICAN CEMBRA PINE. 
109 
time they form, according to Gmelin, about the sole winter 
food of the peasantry. From the very resinous immature 
cones is obtained a very fragrant and celebrated oil, known 
under the name of Carpathian Balsam. 
The Cembra grows slowly, the wood is white, somewhat 
resinous, and of a lax texture, similar to that of fir wood 
but less tenacious. Mr. Lambert, however, remarks that it 
“ has a finer grain than common deal.” It yields abun- 
dance of a fragrant, yellowish, hard, pellucid resin. 
The variety P. Cembra helvetica of Switzerland, grows 
with remarkable slowness, according to Kasthofer. A tree 
with a trunk of the diameter of 19 inches, when cut down 
was found to have 353 concentric circles, (indicative of so 
many years growth.) The wood is very fragrant and 
retains its odour for centuries, which perfume, though so 
agreeable to man, is so offensive to bugs and moths as to 
deter them from infesting rooms where it is used, either as 
wainscotting or as furniture. 
The variety js. of P. Lamberliana, Hooker remarks, “ A 
Pine in many respects similar to this was found by Mr. 
Drummond in very elevated situations of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, near the “ height of land ” yet there growing 50 and 
60 feet high. The leaves are, howmver, shorter (2 or 3 
inches) and more rigid, and the specimens have the closest 
affinity with those of the European P. Cembra. No cones 
exist in the collection.” Flor Bor. Am. 2, p. 162. 
Plate CXII. 
A branch of the natural size. a. The cone. b. Front view of the scale 
of the cone. c. Back view of the same, d . A cluster of leaves. 
Vol. hi. — 15 
