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ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.
PART 111.
Geography. The yellow pine is found inmost pine forests, from New England toGeorgia. Towards the north, it does not ex-tend beyond some districts of Connecticut andMassachusetts . It is abundant in the lowerpart of New Jersey , and still more so on theeastern shore of Maryland , and in the lowerparts of Virginia, where it is seen only on themost arid soils. Michaux “ also met with iton the right bank of the river Hudson, at alittle distance from Albany; at Chambersburg ,in Pennsylvania; near Mudlick, in Kentucky ;on the Cumberland Mountains, and in thevicinity of Knox-ville , in East Ten-nessee ; at Edge-field Court House,in the upper partof South Caro-lina ; and on theriver Oconee, inthe upper part ofGeorgia. In allthese places, itis found growingalong with othertrees ; and it enters, in a greater or less proportion,into the composition of the indigenous forests,
according to the nature of the soil. It abounds .
on the poorest lands; but on those of a certain degree of fertility, which isindicated by the flourishing appearance of the oaks and walnuts, it is moierare, though it still surpasses the surrounding trees in bulk and elevation.The yellow pine is also occasionally seen in the lower part of the Carohnas,in the Floridas, and probably in Louisiana ; but in these regions it grows onlyon spots consisting of beds of red clay mingled with gravel, which here anthere pierce the light covering of sand which forms the surface of the countryto the distance of 120 miles from the sea.”
History. When P. mitis was introduced into England is uncertain; unless we conclude that it was the P. echi-nata of Mill. Dictionary, in which case it was in cultiva-tion in 1739. The P. variabilis of Lambert’s Pinus isunquestionably a totally different plant from the P.mitis of Michaux; being without the violet-colouredglaucous bloom on the young shoots; having rigidleaves, generally in threes; and a cone with very strongprickles, like that of P. Tafda, to which species wehave referred it. The only plants that we know whichanswer to Michaux’s description of P. mitis are atDropmore, where they are readily known by theviolet-coloured glaucous bloom on the young shoots,and by the leaves being almost all in twos ; at the sametime, it is proper to mention, that the leaves there,though soft and slender, are much shorter than thosein Michaux’s figure. The name applied to this species atDropmore is P. variabilis. There is also a plant atDropmore named P. mitis; but it is wholly withthree leaves ; and, as far as we can ascertain (the treenot having yet borne cones ), it belongs either to P. serotina , or to somevariety of it. The description given by Miller of P. eehinata, as having n nf velongated leaves, and a cone with very slight slender prickles, agrees perfectly