CHAP. CXIII.

CONI FERAS. PI NUS.

2283

throughout the island. Miller says that the seeds were first brought toLondon for sale from Mersham Hatch, Sir Wyndham Knatchbull’s seat,near Ashford, in Kent , in 1726. There were also cones, he says, producedat Longleat; “but it has been chiefly from the seeds of Sir Wyndham Knatch-bull that the much greater number of these trees now in England have beenraised; for, although there has annually been some of the seed brought fromAmerica , yet those have been few in comparison to the produce of the treesin Kent ; and many of the trees which have been raised from the seeds ofthose trees now produce plenty of good seed, particularly those in the gardenof His Grace the Duke of Argyll, at Whitton, which annually produce largequantities of cones, which His Grace most generously distributes to all thecurious.” (Diet. , ed. 7., 1759.) Many of the trees in these places are still inexistence, and are from 70 ft. to 80 ft. high. There are also some remarkablyfine specimens at Strathfieldsaye: some of them, according to Mitchell, had, in1827, trunks 100 ft. high, and 10ft. in circumference. The largest tree atWhitton was, in 1835, 81 ft. 6 in. high, with a trunk 11 ft. 3 in. in circumfe-rence at 2 ft. from the ground. This tree stands singly, and divides intoa great many large woody limbs, so as to form a very irregular head.In Scotland , the Weymouth pine is considered rather tender; and, as itrequires a better soil than most other species, it is not much planted for itstimber. Sang observes that it is a plant of too delicate a habit ever tobecome a large or valuable tree in Scotland , in exposed situations; but that,where it is sheltered and properly treated, it forms a fine-looking single tree.In Ireland , according to Hayes, it was not introduced till about 1770; butthere are trees of it in various places above 50 ft. high. The Weymouth pineis not very common in France ; but there are trees at the Trianon, which, in1834, were between 40 ft. and 50 ft. high, after being about the same numberof years planted.

Properties and Uses. The wood of this species is more employed inAmerica than that of any other pine. Throughout the northern states, atthe time the younger Miehaux published his North American Sylva (1819),seven tenths of the houses, except in the larger capitals, were of wood ; andabout three quarters of these were built almost entirely of white pine; and,even in the cities, the beams and principal woodwork of the houses were ofthis wood. “ The ornamental work of the outer doors, the cornices and friezesof apartments, and the mouldings of fireplaces, all of which, in America , areelegantly wrought, are of this wood. It receives gilding well, and is, there-fore, selected for looking-glass and picture frames. Sculptors emplov itexclusively for the images that adorn the bows of vessels, for which theyprefer the kind called the pumpkin pine. At Boston , and in other townsof the northern states, the inside of mahogany furniture and of trunks, thebottoms of Windsor chairs of an inferior quality, water pails, a great partof the boxes used for packing goods, the shelves of shops, and an endlessvariety of other objects, are made of white pine. In the district of Maine , itis employed for barrels to contain salted fish, especially the kind called thesapling pine, which is of a stronger consistence. For the magnificent woodenbridges over the Schuylkill at Philadelphia, and the Delaware at Trenton; andfor those which unite Cambridge and Charleston with Boston , of which thefirst is 1500 ft., and the second 3000 ft., in length ; the white pine has beenchosen for its durability. It serves exclusively for the masts of the numerousvessels constructed in the northern and middle states; and for this purpose itwould be difficult to replace it in North America . The principal superiorityof white pine masts over those brought from Riga is their lightness; but theyhave less strength, and are said to decay more rapidly between decks, and atthe point of intersection of the yards. This renders the long-leaved pine(P. australis) superior to the white pine, in the opinion of the greater part ofthe American shipbuilders; but some of them assert that the white pine wouldfie equally durable, if the top were carefully protected from the weather.With this view, an experiment has been suggested, of a hole, several feet deep,