is of heart-wood. Though the tree is but moderately supplied with resin, it makes good fuel, and much better than the other pines of Virginia, of new growth and but moderate sizes, such as are mostly used for fuel, for market, and especially for the furnaces of steam engines. The leaves of this pine grow in twos, (from each sheath,) are generally shorter than any other kind, usually from one and a-half to two inches, and about one-twentieth, to one-sixteenth broad. The cones usually are from one and threefourths to two and one-fourth inches long, and three-fourths to one inch thick, when closed. The separate seed-covers on the cones have each a small and sharp prickle, curved backward. The cones are set drooping backward on the branches; and they remain so long before falling, that the old and the new together sometimes stand on a tree as thick as the fruit on an apple tree. The branches are much more slender, tapering, and flexible than of other pines, and the general figures and outlines of the well-grown trees are more graceful and beautiful. When making the entire growth of a thick wood, and on the slope of a hill-side, where the tops of the higher trees are seen above the trees next below, and all thus best exposed to view, the foliage and the whole growth so disposed, are singularly beautiful. I have not observed this tree anywhere in North Carolina. It is but sparsely set and mostly of young growth in the south-eastern parts of Virginia. But the growth is there increasing and spreading. In Prince George, on and near James River, the young trees are far more numerous, and more widely scattered now than was the case forty years ago, when I knew them there only on some small spots near the river banks. On the lower Appomattox, in that county, this is now the principal pine growth, and of its large sizes. In Westmoreland, and the other parts of the peninsula, between the lower Potomac and Rappahannock, this is now the main growth, and the great supply for market fuel, which is so great a product and labor of that region. Yet I have heard, from Mr. Willoughby Newton, that it is remembered when not a tree of this species was to be seen in all the extent of that peninsula. It is now there the regular second-growth pine, which first springs on and occupies all abandoned fields, as do the other "old-field" pines, of different species, in other parts of Virginia and North Carolina. The White Pine. (Pinus Strobus.)-This tree, of beautiful foliage and general appearance, and which grows to a magnificent height, is not known in eastern North Carolina, and is so rarely seen anywhere in Virginia east of the mountains, that it scarcely comes within the limits of my designed subject for remark. However, it is named for the contrast it presents, and thereby setting off more strongly the opposite qualities of other species. But its description need not occupy more than a small space. This is the great timber pine of the northern States. In travelling westward from the sea coast through the middle of Virginia, this tree is first seen in the narrow valleys of the North Mountains in Augusta county. It is there called the silver pine. The small trees are beautiful and the large ones magnificent. The bark of the young trees is very smooth, (in this differing from all other pines,) and the branches spring from and surround the young stems in regular succession, and three or four from the same height, on opposite sides, as do the young side shoots of dogwood. The leaves grow in fives, (from each sheath,) about four inches long, and very slender and delicate, and of a bluish green color, and silken gloss. This pine, different from all of the other species growing in our region, prefers such fine soils as are found on the alluvial but dry margins of rivers, and in mountain glens.-[Darlington's Agricultural Botany. Short Leaf or Yellow Pine. Pinus variabilis. (P. mitis of Michaux.) Cones, length 1 to 2 inches. Breadth, (as closed,) to . Nearly smooth, the prickles being very short, slender, and weak. Leaves, length, on different trees, 1 to 3 inches; breadth, 4to. The leaves grow mostly in twos (from each sheath,) and many trees, if but slightly examined, might seem to show that this was the universal law of this pine. But on most trees there are also leaves, in much smaller numbers, growing in threes, intermixed with the others. This variation is especially apt to occur, partially, on very young trees, of rapid growth. On one tree, of eight inches diameter, cut down to furnish specimens of cones, I found so many of the leaves in threes, that those in twos did not amount to one in twenty. The leaves in threes being in greater number, I have not observed elsewhere. Generally, the leaves in twos on any one tree, are very far the most numerous. All the specimens, from which the measurements were made, I gathered in the old forest-land of Maulbaume farm, Hanover, Va.The lengths of leaves on different trees vary much, and, in some cases, even on the same tree and twig, and also the sizes of cones on different trees, as well as the proportions of leaves in twos and in threes. From these marked variations, I am disposed to believe that some trees are of hybrid generation, or crosses between the pure shortleaved tree of the species, and the P. tæda. But whether this surmise is correct or not, and however great and many may be the variations, this species, notwithstanding its variations, is easily distinguished by its stout leaves in twos, from any of the three-leaved species-and it cannot be mistaken for the cedar pine, (p. inops,) the only other short and two-leaved species, because of the great difference of general appearance. The short-leaf yellow pine, (p. variabilis,) in middle and most of lower Virginia, is the great and valuable timber pine of that region, and makes the best timber of all, because of its more resinous heart-wood and very close grain. The most beautiful and highly valued floors of lower Virginia, and which are no where equalled, are made of plank of this tree. Old trees, in original forests, are from two to three feet in diame ter, and usually are mostly of heartwood. This is very durable. But the sap-wood, if exposed to changes of moisture, soon rots, as with all other pines. Formerly, nearly all the pines of the original forests in lower Virginia, and in dry and medium or stiff soils were of this kind. But as these and other trees have been cut out, and the forests thinned, other kinds, (mostly p. tæda, and in fewer cases, p. inops,) have made most of the later growth. And still more, and almost entirely, is this the case on abandoned old fields, whereon, though speedily covered by pines, very few of this species are to be seen. Yet in the upper country, at some distance above the falls, (as in Cumberland, Amelia, &c.,) though the abandoned fields are there also occupied by a second growth exclusively of pines, yet all these are of this kind, and scarcely a tree is seen of the p. tæda, or the "old-field" pine of the lower country generally. The same thing I have seen in Orange, N. C., on abandoned high land fields, near the head affluents of Neuse river. When of recent and rapid growth, and especially when of second growth on land formerly cleared, this pine is mostly of sap-wood, in that respect like the p. tæda; but still the former has more heart, and is of more durability, when exposed to the weather than the latter. The yellow pine grows, (or formerly grew,) in great perfection, but in detached and scattered and limited localities, in sundry of the upper counties east of the moun tains in Virginia. But, generally, in the Piedmont region, at fifty miles and farther above the falls, neither this nor any other pine grew in the original forests. In the range of counties next below the falls, it was formerly almost the only pine, and also the most common of all trees, of the original forest growth. It lessens in quantity, or in proportion to other species, as we descend towards the sea coast, and also as we go southward. After reaching the low, flat lands near the sea coast, and the southern region where the long leaf pine first appears, the yellow pine is seen but rarely. But as far south and east as Pitt county, N. C., at one place, and in Beaufort county, near Washington, I saw that nearly all the forest pines, on some spaces, were of this species, and of large size and fine form. The spots on which they thus show, are of dry soil, and, probably, also more clayey than in general, so as to favor more the growth of this than of the long-leaf pine. Also, between Plymouth and the great swamp in Washington county, N. C., this pine, of large size, and very perfect form, and with long and straight trunks, is the main original forest growth, on level, stiff soil, which, though firm land, and called dry, is so low and moist that I was surprised to find thereon this kind of pine. These facts, and especially the last case, go to show that a close or clayey soil, or sub-soil, has more power to promote the growth of this pine, than it is opposed by the increased approach to southern climate, and low and damp soil, both of which are unfavorable to this pine, and very favorable, respectively, to other species. This pine is also seen, in few cases and of bad growth, in the always wet and miry, and often overflowed, swamps bordering on Blackwater river in Virginia, south of the Seaboard Railway. Loblolly Pine. (Pinus tæda.)This is called "long-leaf" in the Piedmont counties of Virginia, where the "short-leaf" is common, and this is rare-and "old-field" pine in most of the lower counties, where that designation is correctly descriptive. But as both these provincial names are elsewhere applied to other pines, I prefer the vulgar name used in South Carolina, of "loblolly," which, though unmeaning, will not mislead by having more than this one application. The loblolly pine (p. tada) is rarely seen north of Washington, D. C. I saw a few on exhausted land near Bladensburg, Md., within a few miles of Washington. Proceeding southward they become more and more abundant, but do not extend westward many miles above the line of the falls of the rivers. I shall again refer to this supposed western limit of its growth, and the supposed cause of this boundary. On all the exhausted and abandoned naturally poor soils, both dry and moist, certainly, and much, also, of the naturally good, but exhausted, south and east of this upper limit, the loblolly pine old, cleaned lands, which, from some cause, were highly calcareous, on which the loblolly pine refuses to grow, or if growing, shows plainly an unhealthy and unthrifty growth. The cones on different trees are from 3 to 5 inches long, and from 1 to 1 inches thick, (as closed.) The prickles on the seed covers, stout and strong, and not pointed very sharp. The leaves from 5 to 7 inches long, and from th to springs soon and speedily, and thickly covers the surface. With some exceptions already named, where the cedar pine is the common second growth, the loblolly pines make the almost entire, and also abundant, second growth, on these abandoned lands. In the original forests, probably, it was formerly rather a scarce tree, as it is still, where there has been not much cutting out and thinning of the natural forest. It is only as ath broad. They grow in threes, second growth that this pine has become abundant, and only on all the poorest and worst natural soils that it has taken almost entire possession of the ground, and seems to exclude other trees, and to thrive in proportion to the base quality of the soil-and more especially in proportion to the deficiency of lime in the soil. But, also, sandy soil and warm climate are further promotive of this growth; and, therefore, as proceeding southward, through eastern North Carolina, the loblolly pine, as a second growth, thrives more and more in general. I have even seen some few large and flourishing pines of this species, on the Rocky Point land, which seemed to be certainly calcareous. As it is a disputed question, which will be considered hereafter, whether the great Swamp or Slash Pine, a valuable tree for lumber, is of the same species, or different from this, for the present I will speak only of such trees as are undoubtedly of the kind known as "loblolly" pines. These make the general, and in many places the exclusive, second growth from some ten or twenty miles above the lower granite falls, to the sea coast. Within these extreme limits, almost every exhausted and abandoned space is soon covered by this growth, whether naturally poor or rich, of medium texture or sandy, wet or dry. The only known exceptions are spots of and, as I believe, universally so on trees of considerable size. But on trees of but a few years' age, of rapid and luxuriant growth, some few of the sheaths will be found to contain four leaves. But this is the exception, and a rare one. The general rule is that the leaves grow in threes. By this rule, though, these trees may vary from each other in the lengths of leaves, and sizes and shapes of cones, still, all are readily distinguishable from any specimen of the short leaf or yellow pine, (p. variabilis.) however near such specimen may approach to other usual characteristics of the loblolly pine. The grain of this wood is very open, the wide intervals soft, and the wood, as timber, of the most worthless description. There is very little heart-wood in large treesnone, or almost none, in the smalland the heart-wood is but little resinous, solid, or durable, as timber. The sap-wood, (when growing) seems much more resinous than the heart. Trees of two feet in diameter usually have but two to three inches of this poor heart-wood. It is only when of small growth, and but rarely then, that the trunks can be riven by wedges, without more labor than profit. When split before growing too large, and after being seasoned or well dried, this wood makes quick burning fuel, of which immense quantities are sold to the north, as well as at home, for the furnaces of steam engines and other uses. the land, if without this product. It is not only on dry or arable land that this tree grows vigorously and to a large size. Such may be seen on land much too wet for tillage, and too low for drainage-as on some of the abandoned lands near Lake Mattimuskeet, where the surface of the ground is not more than eighteen inches above that of the adjacent waters of Pamlico Sound-and where, also, the salt water is raised by violent winds and strong tides still higher, and sometimes so as to cover the land on which the pines stand. The power of these trees to resist such unnatural visitation and changes of condition, and without apparent injury, is remarkable. (To be Continued.) Worthless and despised as is this tree for timber, and for most other uses, it is one of the greatest blessings to our country. It rapidly covers, and with a thick and heavy forest growth, the most barren lands, which otherwise would remain for many years naked and unimproved by rest. By the fallen leaves, which from this tree are very abundant, the impoverished soil is again supplied with the deficient vegetable matter, and, with other aid, may be restored soon to fertility. And the crop of wood, where near enough to market, may be worth threefold of what would be the value of 1 AUTUMN. The mellow Autumn light streams softly down, A quiet rests on Nature, she would fain Back through the vista of departed years, And see what storm and sunshine marked our days, How can we fail His guiding hand to praise, |