P I N

PIN

former says, “ It is to be observed, that where the flightof pigeons falls, there they fill themselves and away, andreturn again where they first rose, and" so proceed over awhole piece of ground,, if they like it. . Although youcannot, perceive any grain above the ground, they knowbow to find it. I have seen them lie so much upon a pieceof about two or three acres sown with peas, that they de-voured at least three parts in four of the feed, which, I amsure, could not be all above the surface of the ground.That their smelling is their principal director, I have ob-served ; having sown a small plat of peas in my garden,jiear a pigeon-house, and covered them so well that not a.pea appeared above ground. In a sew days, a parcel ofpigeons were hard at work in discovering this hidden trea-sure ; and in a few days more I had not above two or threepeas left out of about two quarts that were planted ; forwhat they could not find before, they found when the budsappeared, notwithstanding they were hoed in, and wellcovered. Their smelling alone directed them, as I sup-posed, because they followed the ranges exactly. The in-jury they do at harvest on the peas, vetches, &c. is suchthat we may rank them among the greatest enemies thepoor husbandman meets withal; and the greater, becausehe may not erect a pigeon-house, whereby to have a sharecf his own spoils ; none but the rich being allowed thisprivilege, and so severe a law being also made to protectthese winged thieves, that a man cannot encounter them,even in defence of his own property. You have thereforeno remedy against them, but to affright them away bynoises, or such like. You may, indeed, shoot at them ;but )ou must not kill them ; or you may, if you can,take them in a net, cut off their tails, and let them go ;■ by which means you will impound them : for when theyare in their houses, they cannot bolt or fly out of the topsof them, but by the strength of their tails, after they arethus weakened they remain prisoners at home.”

Mr. Y/crlidgc’s impounding the pigeons reminds me ofa humorous story of a gentleman who, upon a neigh-bouring farmer’s complaining to him, that his pigeonswere a great nuisance to his land, and did fad mischief tohis corn, replied jokingly, Pound them, if you catch themtrespassing. The farmer, improving the hint, steeped aparcel of peas in an infusion of cocolus indices* or someother intoxicating drug, and strewed them upon hisgrounds. The pigeons swallowed them, and soon re-mainded motionless on the field : upon which the farmerthrew a net over them, inclosed them in it, and carriedthem to an empty barn, from whence he sent the gentle-man word that he had followed his directions with regardto the pounding of his pigeons, and desired him to comeand release them.

PIGG1N, a little pall or tub, with an erect handle.

PIKE, a name given in some counties to what is ge-nerally called a fork, used for carrying straw, &c. fromthe barn, cocking of barley, &c.

PINE, the name of a forest tree, of which there arevarious species, but two only that deserve cultivating;namely, the Scotch-pine, and the white pine, commonlycalled in England lord Weymouth’s, or New Englandpine.

The Scotch-pine, so called from its growing naturallyon the mountains of Scotland, is the tree that affords thered or yellow deal, which is the most durable of any ofthe kind yet known. I he leaves of this tree are prettybroad and: short, of a greyish colour, growing twp out of

each sheath ; the cones are small, pyramidal, and end innarrows points ; they are of a light colour, and the feedsare small.

This fort grows well upon almost every soil ; I haveplanted numbers of the trees upon peat bogs, where theyhave made great progress. I have also planted them inclay, where they have succeeded far beyond expectation ;and upon sand, gravel, and chalk, they likewise thrive aswell; but as they do not grow near so fast upon graveland sand, as upon moist ground, so the wood is muchpreferable ; for those trees which have been cut downupon moist soils, where they have made the greatest pro-gress, when they have been fawn out into hoards, havenot been valuable, the wood has been white, and of aloose texture ; whereas those which have grown upondry gravelly ground, have proved nearly equal to the bestforeign deals ; and I doubt not but those plantations,which of late years have been made of these trees,will, in the next age, not only turn greatly to the advantageof their possessors, but also become a national benefit.

The white pine is one of the tallest trees of all thespecies, often growing a hundred feet high, as I have beencredibly informed. The bark of this tree is very smoothand delicate, especially when young ; the leaves are longand slender, five growing out of each sheath; thebranches are pretty closely garnished with them, so makea fine appearance ; the cones are long, slender, and veryloose, opening with the first warmth of the spring: sothat if they are not gathered in winter, the scales openand let out the feeds. The wood of this sort is esteemedfor making of masts for ships ; it is in England calledlord Weymouth’s, or New England pine, as hath beenalready observed. As the wood of this tree was generallythought of great service to the navy, there was a law madein the ninth year of queen Anne, for the preservation ofthe trees, and to encourage their growth in America :and it is within forty years past these trees began to bepropagated in England in any plenty, though there weresome large trees of this fort growing in two or threeplaces long before, particularly at lord Weymouth’s, atLongleet, Sir Wyndham Knatchbull’s in Kent; and ithath been chiefly from the feeds of the latter that the muchgreater number of these trees now in England have beenraised ; for although there has annually been some of thefeeds brought from America, yet those have been few incomparison to the produce of the trees in Kent: many ofthe trees, which have been raised from the feeds of thosetrees, now produce plenty of the feeds, particularly thosein the gardens of the late duke of Argle at Whitton,which annually produce large quantities of cones, whichhis grace, when living, most generously distributed to allthe curious.

All the forts of pines are propagated by feeds, whichare produced in hard woody cones; the way to get thefeeds out of these cones, which are close, is to lay thembefore a gentle fire, which will cause the cells to open,and then the feeds may be easily taken out. If the conesare kept entire, the feeds will remain good some years, J 0that the surest way to preserve them, is to let them remamin the cones, until the time for sowing the feeds : if th ,cones are kept in a warm place in summer, they will open,and emit the seeds; but if they are not exposed too muchto heat, many of the sorts will remain entire some years,especially those which are close and compact; and thefeeds, which have been taken out of cones of-seven years

X old,