Fig. 122. A View showing how Evergreens help to enrich the Landscape. Arbor Vitæ Hedges
The wood of the evergreens is usually classed among the soft timbers, although the yellow pine is far from soft.
59. White Pine. The king among evergreens is usually admitted to be the white pine. Its soft, bluish-green foliage, the widespreading branches, and the value of its fine, even-grained wood give it the first rank.
Fig. 123. Needles and Cone of White Pine
Pines have needle-shaped leaves which grow in groups of two, three, or five. White pine needles grow in groups of five and are from three to four inches long. The cones which contain the seeds are about five inches long. The tree grows tall and straight, and formerly grew in great forests covering thousands of square miles; the wood is so free from pitch and is so easily worked with tools that these great forests have been almost annihilated by the lumberman’s ax, and white-pine timber has become quite expensive. It takes many years for a tree to grow large enough for timber, and unless we are more economical in the future white pine will be only a memory.
60. Georgia Pine. The southern yellow pine, or Georgia pine, is a very different tree from its northern cousin, the white pine, furnishing us with a resinous yellow wood, much harder than white pine, and a beautiful and valuable material for the interiors of buildings. It is also very durable and is frequently used for exposed places, such as the decks of ships.
The needles are very long, measuring a foot and sometimes fifteen inches in length.