94 
WHITE PINE. 
forests composed of the Sugar Maple, the Beeches or the Oaks, where the 
soil is strong and proper for the culture of corn, as for example on the 
shores of Lake Champlain, it is arrested at a lower height, and diffused 
into a spacious summit ; but it is still taller and more vigorous than the 
neighboring trees. 
In the District of Maine and the province of Nova Scotia, I have con- 
stantly remarked that the White Pine is the foremost tree in taking pos- 
session of barren deserted lands, and the most hardy in resisting the' 
impetuous gales from the ocean. 
On young stocks not exceeding 40 feet in height, the bark of the trunk 
and branches is smooth and even polished ; as the tree advances in age it 
splits and becomes rugged and gray, but does not fall off in scales like that 
of the other Pines. The White Pine is, also, distinguished by the sensible 
diminution of its trunk from the base to thé summit, in consequence of 
which it is more difficult to procure sticks of great length and uniform 
diameter ; this disadvantage, however, js compensated by its hulk and by 
the small proportion of its alburnum ; a trunk of one foot in diameter con- 
tains 11 inches of perfect wood. 
The wood of this species is employed in greater quantities and far more 
diversified uses than that of any other American Pine ; yet it is not with- 
out essential defects ; it has little strength, gives a feeble hold to nails, 
and sometimes swells by the humidity of the atmosphere. These proper- 
ties are compensated however by others which give it a decided superior- 
ity ; it is soft, light, free from knots and easily wrought, is more durable, 
and less liable to split when exposed to the sun, furnishes boards of a great 
width, and timber of large dimensions, in fine, it is still abundant and 
cheap. 
I have constantly observed the influence of soil to he greater upon resi- 
nous than upon leafy trees. The qualities of the White Pine, in particu- 
lar, are strikingly affected by it. In loose, deep, humid soils, it unites in 
the highest degree all the valuable properties by which it is characterized, 
especially lightness and fineness of texture, so that it may be smoothly cut 
in every direction ; and hence, perhaps, is derived the name of Pumpkin 
Pine. On dry, elevated lands, its wood is firmer and more resinous, with 
a coarser grain and more distant concentric circles, and it is then called 
Sapling, Pine. 
Throughout the Northern States, except in the larger capitals, seven- 
tenths of the houses are of wood, of Avhich three quarters, estimated at 
about 500,000, are almost wholly of White Pine : even the suburbs of the 
cities are built of wood. The principal beams of churches and the other 
large edifices are of White Pine. 
The ornamental work of outer doors, the cornices and friezes of apart- 
ments, and the mouldings of fire-places, which in America are elegantly 
