80 
LONG-LEAVED PINE. 
about the 15th of October, and shed their seeds the same month. The 
kernel is of an agreeable taste, and is contained in a thin white shell, sur- 
mounted by a membrane ; in every other species of American Pine the 
shell is black. Sometimes the seeds are very abundant, and are voraci- 
ously eaten by wild turkies, squirrels, and the swine that live almost wholly 
in the woods. But in the unfruitful year, a forest of a hundred miles in 
extent maybe ransacked without finding a single cone; this probably occa- 
sioned the mistake of the French who, in 1567, attempted a settlement in 
Florida, that “ the woods were filled with superb Pines that never yielded 
seed.” 
The Long-leaved Pine contains but little sap ; several trunks 15 inches 
in diameter at the height of 3 feet, which I have myself measured, had 10 
inches of perfect wood. Many stocks of this size are felled for commerce, 
and none are received for exportation of which the heart is not 10 inches in 
diameter when squared. The concentric circles in a trunk fully developed 
are close and at equal distances, and the resinous matter, which is abundant, 
is more uniformly distributed than in the other species ; hence the wood is 
stronger, more compact and more durable : it is, besides, fine-grained, and 
susceptible of a bright polish. These advantages give it a preference over 
every other Pine : but its quality is modified by the nature of the soil in 
which it grows ; in the neighborhood of the sea, where only a thin layer 
of mould reposes on the sand, it is more resinous than where the mould is 
5 or 6 inches thick ; the stocks that grow upon the first mentioned soil are 
called Pitch Pine, and the others Yellow Pine, as if they were distinct 
species. 
This wood subserves a great variety of uses ; in the Carolinas, Georgia, 
and the Floridas, four-fifths of the houses are built of it, except the roof, 
which is covered with shingles of Cypress ; but in the country the roof is 
also of Pine, and is renewed after 15 or 18 years, a considerable interval 
in a climate so warm and humid. A vast consumption takes place for the 
enclosure of cultivated fields. In naval architecture this is the most 
esteemed of the Pines : in the Southern States, the keel, the beams, the 
side-planks, and the pins by which they are attached to the ribs, are of 
this tree. For the deck it is preferred to the true Yellow Pine, and is 
exported for that purpose to Philadelphia, New York, etc., where it is in 
request also for the flooring of houses. 
In certain soils its wood contracts a reddish hue, and it is for that rea- 
son known in the dock yards of the Northern States by the name of Red 
Pine. Wood of this tint is considered the best, and in the opinion of some 
shipwrights it is more durable on the sides of vessels, and less liable to 
injury from worms, than the Oak. 
The Long-leaved Pine is the only species exported from the Southern 
States to the West Indies. A numerous fleet of small vessels is employed 
