2284

ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM.

PART III.

made in the top of the mast, filled with oil, and hermetically sealed; the oil issaid to be absorbed in a few months. The bowsprits and yards of ships ofwar are of this species. The wood is not resinous enough to furnish turpen-tine for commerce.” ( Michx .) Before the American war, England is saidto have furnished herself with masts from the United States ; and she stillcompletes from America the demand which cannot be supplied from the northof Europe. The finest timber of this species is brought from Maine , andparticularly from the river Kennebeck. Soon after the establishment of theAmerican colonies, England became sensible of the value of this resource, andsolicitous for its preservation. In 1711 and 1721, severe ordinances wereenacted, prohibiting the cutting of any trees proper for masts on the pos-sessions of the crown. The order had reference to the vast countries boundedon the south by New Jersey, and on the north by the upper limit of NovaScotia . “ I am unable to say,” adds Michaux, “ with what degree of rigourit was enforced before the American revolution; but, for a space of 600 miles,from Philadelphia to a distance beyond Boston , I did not observe a singletree of the white pine large enough for the mast of a vessel of 600 tons.”( Michx .) The white pine is also used extensively in America for clap-boardsand shingles. The clap-boards are of an indeterminate length, 6 in wide, J in.thick at one edge, and much thinner at the other; they form the exteriorcovering of the walls of the wooden houses, and are placed horizontally, lappingone over the other, so that the thinner edge is covered. The shingles are com-monly 18 in. long, from 3 in. to 6 in. wide, Jin. thick at one end, and 1 line thickat the other : they should be free from knots, and made only of the perfect wood.These shingles are used instead of tiles to almost all the houses east of theriver Hudson ; but they only last 12 or 15 years. They are exported in greatquantities to the West Indies. The timber of the Weymouth pine continues tobe imported into Britain in immense quantities; but it is considered as veryinferior to some of the other American pines, and to the pine timber of the northof Europe . In M'Culloch’s Dictionary of Commerce, speaking of the whitepine of America , as compared with the Baltic pine, an extract is given fromthe evidence of Mr. Copland, an extensive builder and timber-merchant,when examined before parliament as to the comparative value of European and American Timber. “ The American pine is much inferior in quality, muchsofter in its nature, not so durable, and very liable to dry rot: indeed, it isnot allowed by any professional man under government to be used; nor is itever employed in the best buildings in London : it is only speculators that areinduced to use it, from the price of it being much lower (in consequence ofits exemption from duty) than the Baltic timber. If you were to lay twoplanks of American timber upon each other, in the course of a twelvemonththey would have the dry rot, almost invariably, to a certain extent.” M'Cul-loch adds that “ many passages to the same effect might be produced from theevidence of persons of the greatest experience in ship-building.” ( M'Culloch’sCom, Diet., art. Timber Trade.) The wood of Weymouth pines grown inEngland has been used for floors, and by cabinet-makers; but, as the speciesis generally valued as an ornamental tree, it is seldom cut down for timber.Its picturesque beauty, according to Gilpin, is not great. “ It is admired,”he says, “ for its polished bark, though the painter’s eye pays little attentionto so trivial a circumstance, even when the tree is considered as a singleobject: nay, its polished bark rather depreciates its value, for the picturesqueeye dwells with more pleasure on rough surfaces than on smooth : it seesmore richness in them and more variety. But we object chiefly to the Wey-mouth pine on account of the regularity of its stem and the meagreness of itsfoliage. Its stem rises with perpendicular exactness ; it rarely varies; and itsbranches issue with equal formality from its sides. Its foliage, too, is thin,and wants both richness and effect. If I were speaking, indeed, of this treein composition, I might add that it may often appear to great advantage in aplantation. Contrast, we know, produces beauty, even from deformity itself.Opposed, therefore, to the wildness of other trees, the regularity of the Wey-