The pines of the United States include many species, most of which are valuable for their timber. The White Pine, which attains a great height and favors sandy soil, heads the list. Its bark is smoother than any other pine and its cones are long and slender. Its wood is soft, compact, and valuable. The wood of the Yellow Pine is hard and heavy, darker in tone, and much favored for flooring. It does not grow to such a height as the white pine; it is found throughout the Southern states. The Red Pine, or Norway Pine, favors Canada more than our country. The Pitch Pine grows in sandy and rocky soil or in the cold, swampy lands. The Jersey, or Scrub Pine, grows on sandy soil.
The Spruces have brighter leaves than the pines and the leaves are not grouped like the pine leaves. The leaves are borne on drooping branches; the cones are pendent; the white spruce grows higher than any other spruce. The cones of the red spruce are large; the resin of both the red and black spruces are used as chewing gum.
The Hemlock is one of the most graceful of cone-bearing trees. The hemlocks grow rapidly and become very rugged and picturesque. Hemlock wood warps when exposed; its bark is used in tanning. The leaves of the balsam are a bright green color above and a silver green color below. They are dried and made into pillows because of their fragrance. Arborvitæ, or White Hemlock, is cultivated as an ornamental tree. It is much used for hedges.
THE WILD FLOWERS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The Spring Flowers—White.
Go into the woods some day early in April and you will find, pushing up through the last summer's litter, a curled-up leaf. Open this leaf and nestling within will be a white flower bud. Even when in bloom the leaf surrounds the flower stem as though to protect it. As you pick the flower a red juice oozes out of the stem and stains your hands. This is the blood root and the Indians used its juice to stain their faces. Just beyond it, bending and nodding in the wind, is the dainty little anemone; there is sometimes a hint of pink or lavender in its white flowers.
BLOODROOT.