CONIFERS. THE PINUS, OR PTNE TREE. 
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belonging to the Pinaster family, but as yet 
undetermined. Raised at the Cape of Good 
Hope from seeds sent from China. No living 
plants yet introduced. 
Another variety, which promises to be dis- 
tinct, is noticed by botanists, having cones 
similar to those of the Pinaster, though much 
smaller. It was found on the mountains of 
India by a collector sent out by the Duke of 
Devonshire, and its general appearance was 
like a stunted Scotch pine. The cones most 
resemble those of P. P. minor. Young plants 
are at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, and probably 
in the Garden of the Horticultural Society. 
Pmus pungens, Michaux (prickly-coned 
Pine). — The leaves are in pairs, thickly set, 
short, and acute. Cones ovate, or rather 
top-shaped, and armed with very sharp in- 
curved spines. The seeds are about the size 
of those of P. sylvestris, rough, and a majority 
of them black. 
Michaux, the American arboriculturist, 
states that this tree is confined to a narrow 
geographical range ; and that as it occupies a 
tract of country where the soil is good and 
the air salubrious, it will in all probability be 
the first to disappear before the inroads of 
cultivation. In form, it resembles the Scotch 
pine, though much more apt to break into a 
branchy head, and consequently it seldom 
attains a great altitude. Its timber is without 
praise, and in all probability it will remain in 
Britain valuable only as contributing to the 
variety of the genus. It has been forty years 
in this country, and the finest specimen, which 
is at Dropmore, is thirty-six feet high. 
Pinusinops, Aiton (Jersey or poor Pine). — 
Leaves two in a sheath, about two inches long. 
The sheaths have three or four distinct rings. 
The colour of the leaves is dark green. Buds 
are small, brown, and resinous, and are gene- 
rally surrounded by three small buds. Cones 
about three inches long, drooping, and covered 
with prominent spines. Young shoots of a 
purplish or violet colour, especially in the 
more vigorous ones. 
In stature this tree is inferior to the Scotch 
pine, attaining only to the height of forty 
feet, full of branches, which proceed irregu- 
larly from the trunk, like those of a broad- 
leaved tree. The habit of this pine prevents 
it from furnishing timber of a useful size, and 
throughout the interior of North America it 
is represented as fit only for fuel, the large 
proportion of sap wood which it contains 
speedily inducing decay. The balsamic odour 
which it emits in hot weather is certainly an 
inducement to have it in every pleasure 
ground. Plants are raised from seeds in the 
usual way ; but it should be grafted on high 
trees of the Scotch pine, when it would assume 
a singular and not inelegant appearance. 
Perhaps the finest young plants in England 
are in the plantations of Sir Edward North 
Buxton, Bart., at Runton, in the county of 
Norfolk. At Rozelle, in Ayrshire, plants of 
this species make growths of from fifteen to 
eighteen inches. They have proved to be 
perfectly hardy, having withstood the severity 
of 1837-8 without the slightest protection ; 
but generally it is a miserable looking tree. 
Cones are occasionally to be had in London at 
about 8d. per quart. 
Pinus mitis, Michaux (soft-leaved, or Yel- 
low Pine). — This valuable species is by many 
called P. variabilis. Leaves four inches in 
length, two and sometimes three in a sheath, 
channelled on the upper surface. Cones 
drooping, solitary, with footstalks, and the 
scales bearing inflexed spines. 
This is one of the most valuable American 
pines, and is well worthy of the attention of 
British planters on account of the timber 
which it produces. According to Michaux, 
it is used throughout the northern and middle 
states, and in Virginia, in the construction of 
doors, sashes for windows, and as flooring, 
being more solid and lasting than any other 
tree indigenous to that country. It abounds 
in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Albany, 
Pennsylvania, in South Carolina, and in the 
upper part of Georgia. It has been in Eng- 
land about a century, yet it is not often found 
even in our finest ornamental plantations. As 
an object of beauty, it is by no means defi- 
cient : its trunk is straight, something like 
that of a spruce fir, and the disposition of its 
branches very much resemble that of the 
latter tree. Its height, under favourable cir- 
cumstances, is from sixty to seventy feet. It 
forms an article of considerable commerce 
with this country ; and at Liverpool it is 
known under the name of the New York Pine. 
The attention of several railway companies 
has been directed to this tree as suitable for 
railway sleepers, and an importation has been 
made for that purpose. It will of course cost 
more than the home-grown pine at first, but 
it is expected to remain sound longer than 
six or seven years, the time which the timber 
grown in England lasts. Plants are 3s. 6d. 
each. 
As mentioned in reference to several of the 
foregoing species, Sir Edward North Bux- 
ton's plantations (which skirt the sea-beach 
in some places), exhibit very thriving young 
plants of many sorts of pines which are 
generally considered as unfit for the climate 
of Britain. This is an important fact. It would, 
however, be premature to conclude that all our 
more tender pines would find an asylum if 
placed in similar situations, because those re- 
ferred to have only been in their present places 
for five, six, and seven years. 
