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ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

TART III

serotina, palustris, 5trdbus; d'bies alba, nigra, riibra, canadensis ; Picea balsa-mea, Frasen; Larix pendula, microcarpa. In North-West America and Cali-fornia, 15 kinds: Pinus Lambertidna, ponderosa, Sabininna, Coulteri (ma-crocarpa), muricata, tuberculata, radiata, monticola, insignis ; /1'hies Menziesfl,Douglasii ; Picea nobilis, grandis, amabilis, bracteata. In Mexico, 6 kinds :Pinus patula, Teocote, leiophylla, Montezuma?, Llavedna; Picea religiosa.In Hispaniola, 1 kind : Pinus occidentalis.

In South America, 2 kinds : viz. Araucaria imbricata, brasiliana.

In Australia, 1 kind : viz. Araucaria Cunninghamii

In Polynesia, 2 kinds : viz. Araucaria excelsa ; Dammara australis.

History. We find the pine and fir mentioned by most of the early Greekand Roman writers. Theophrastus speaks of the pines of Mount Ida, whichpossessed such a superabundance of resin, that the wood, bark, and even theroots, were completely saturated with it, and the tree was at length killed.In this state, it was used for making torches for sacred ceremonies; and,hence, the word taeda (a torch), was frequently applied as an epithet to thepine. Herodotus tells us that, when Miltiades, king of the Dolonei, wastaken prisoner by the people of Lampsacus, his friend Croesus, king of Lydia,procured his release, by threatening his conquerors, that, if they did notrelease Miltiades, he (Croesus) would cut them down like pine trees. Thepeople of Lampsacus did not, at first, comprehend the force of this menace;but when they understood that the pine tree, when once cut down, neversprings again from the root, they were terrified, and set Miltiades at liberty.The Latins, in allusion to this property of the pine, had a proverb, “ Piniin morem extirpare,” to indicate total destruction. The victors in theIsthmian games (which were instituted 1326 b. c.) were crowned withgarlands of pine branches. The fruit of the pine was called by the Greekskonos, and strobilos; but the Romans called it nux pinea, and sometimes theapple of the pine. When Vatinius gave a show of gladiators to conciliatethe people, by whom he was much hated, they pelted him with stones. Theediles made an order forbidding the people to throw anything but appleswithin the arena; and on this the people pelted Vatinius with the apples ofthe pine tree. The question was, then, whether this was to he considered asa defiance of the law; and the celebrated lawyer Cascellius being consulted,replied, “ Nux pinea, si in Vatinium missurus es, pomum est.” The wood ofthe pine tree was employed by the Romans to form the funeral pile forburning the dead. The Romans also used the wood as shingles, to coverthe roofs of houses, in the same manner as is done by the peasants of theJura and the Vosges, and by several others, at the present day.

Pliny mentions several kinds of pine. The pinaster, he says, is quitedifferent from the wild pine, and it grows, both on plains and mountains, to anastonishing height. The silver fir loves mountainous and cold places; and itthrows out its branches, which are not very large, from the very root upwards,on every side. The spruce fir grows in the same manner, and is much soughtafter for building vessels; it is found on the highest mountains. The larchgrows in the same situations as the fir, but its wood is better, almost incor-ruptible, red, and with a strong scent. The resin is abundant and glutinous,but it does not harden. “ Quinto generi situs idem, eadem facies: larixvocatur. Materies praestantior longe, incorrupta vis, mori contumax; rubenspraeterea, et odore acrior: plusculum huic erumpit liquoris, melleo colore,atque lentiore, nunquam durescentis.” ( Plin ., lib. xvi.) Pliny also mentionsthat the fruit of Pinus sylvestris, which he calls pityida, was considered bythe Romans as an excellent remedy for a cough.

The cones of pines were used by the Romans to flavour their wine, havingbeen thrown by them into the wine vats, where they float on the surfacealong with the scum that rises up from the bottom, as may be seen inthe wine tanks attached to inns and farm-houses, in Tuscany and other partsof Italy, at the present day. Hence, the thyrsus, which is put into the handsof Bacchus, terminates in a pine cone. Pine cones, or pine-apples, were in