We have nothing in the Northeastern states that compares in importance
with the pitch pine of Southern forests, but we have pitch pines which
everybody knows. The first is the gnarled and picturesque pitch pine that
grows on worthless land, and thrives in patches along the sea coast,
where other evergreens are unsuccessful. The rough, rigid branches which
spring from the short trunks of these trees carry a burden of blackening
cones which give them a very untidy look when the trees are small. When
they reach fifty or seventy-five feet in height, a certain nobility and
picturesqueness of expression challenge our admiration, and the clusters
of cones are not at all objectionable; indeed they heighten the tree’s
beauty.
The needle-like leaves of pitch pines are always in threes, rigid, stout,
and three to five inches long, dark yellow-green, the bundles in black
sheaths that are never shed. The cones require two years to ripen. They
are from one to three inches long, pointed, with sharp backward-pointed
beaks. The wood of this tree is used for fuel, and locally for lumber,
but it does not interest the lumbermen. The wood is not good enough, and
the trees are too small and scattered. The tree does a good work by
growing on worthless land, and near the sea coast. Its picturesqueness is
becoming to be more appreciated by landscape gardeners who are bringing
it into cultivation.
The handsomest of our pitch pines is the red pine, whose dark green
leaves are six inches long, and cluster in twos upon the twigs. The bark,
the wood, and the bud scales are all red. The cones are from one to three
inches long, with thickened scales which have no spines. The tree grows
into a broad pyramid, branched to the ground, with stout twigs, and
luxuriant foliage. The symmetry and vigour of growth makes this red pine
a handsomer tree than the ragged, discouraged-looking pitch pines. It is
well for the landscape that its wood is very disappointing. So many
beautiful groves are allowed to reach great age, and size, where white
pines would have fallen to a lumberman’s axe.
The home that has a beautiful red pine within sight of its windows, or a
double row of these trees serving as a wind-break to ward off the storms
of winter, is truly well planted. Without one or more of these trees,
there is a decided lack. Any nurseryman can furnish handsome young red
pines, so no one need hesitate to plant this native tree.
[Illustration: The spiny-leaved, red-berried holly is a handsome
evergreen tree for the lawn]
[Illustration: What would Christmas be without holly branches and wreaths
for decoration!]
The Jersey pine is a twisted, low tree, with dark, discouraged-looking
branches, covered with grey-green leaves that have a sickly yellowish
tinge when the new shoots appear in spring. The leaves are always in
twos, and they range from one to three inches long. The small cones are
dark red, oval, with thickened scales spiny-tipped. These trees cover
waste land where there is a meagre living for any tree. What wonder that
they look stunted? Their chief merit is that they clothe the desert
places, and furnish wood for fuel and fences, and thus save the great
lumber pines for higher uses.