PINUS, the Pine-tree, was one well known to the ancients, and has been described and celebrated both by their philosophers and their poets. Pliny enumerates no less than six species of trees of this genus; and it is mentioned by Virgil in his Eclogues, his Georgics, and his Aeneid; by Horace in his Odes, by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, by Statius, and by Catullus.

There are generally reckoned fourteen species of this genus, of which the most remarkable are the following :—

1. The pinea, pineaster, or wild pine, which grows naturally on the mountains in Italy and the south of France. It grows to the size of a large tree; the branches extend to a considerable distance; and whilst the trees are young, they are fully garnished with leaves, especially where they are not so close as to exclude the air from those within; but as they advance in age, the branches appear naked, and [7:17:747]all those which are situated below become unsightly in a few years; for which reason they are now much less esteemed than formerly.

2. The pinus pinea, or stone pine, is a tall evergreen tree, a native of Italy and Spain. It delights in a sandy loam, although, like most others, it will grow well in almost any land. Respecting the uses of this species, Hanbury tells us that the kernels are eatable, and by many preferred to almonds.

• 3. The rubra, commonly called the Scotch fir or pine, is common throughout Scotland, whence its name; though it is also found in most of the other countries of Europe. Μ. Duhamel mentions his having received some seeds of it from St Domingo in the West Indies; and thence concludes, that it grows indifferently in the temperate, frigid, and torrid zones. The wood of this tree is the red or yellow deal, which is the most durable of any of the kinds yet known

4. The pinus picea, or yew-leaved fir, is a tall evergreen, and a native of Scotland, Sweden, and Germany. This species includes the silver fir and the balm of Gilead fir. The first of these is a noble upright tree. The balm of*Gilead fir has of all the sorts been most coveted, on account of the great fragrance of its leaves; though this’ is not its only good property; for it is a very beautiful tree, naturally of an upright growth, and the branches are so ornamented with their baΓmy leaves, as to exceed any of the other sorts in beauty. The silver fir is very hardy, and will grow in any soil or situation; but it always makes the greatest progress in rich loamy earth. The balm of Gilead fir must be planted in deep, rich, good earth; nor will it live long in any other. The soil may be a black mould, or of a sandy nature, if it be deep enough, and if the roots have room enough to strike freely.

5. The pinus abies, or European spruce fir, a native of the northern parts of Europe and of Asia, includes the Norway spruce and long-coned Cornish fir. The former of these is a tree of as much beauty whilst growing, as its timber is valuable when propagated on that account.

6. The pinus Canadensis, or American and Newfoundland spruce fir, a native of Canada, Pennsylvania, and other parts of North America, includes three varieties; the white Newfoundland spruce, the red Newfoundland spruce, and the black Newfoundland spruce. These, however, dif-er so little, that one description may serve for them all. They are of an upright growth, though they do not shoot so freely or grow so fast with us as the Norway spruce. The leaves are of the same green, and garnish the branches in the same beautiful manner, as those of that species; only they are narrower, shorter, and stand closer. The greatest difference is observable in the cones; for these are no more than about an inch in length, and the scales are closely placed. In the cones, indeed, consists the difference of these three sorts; those of the white species are of a very light brown colour, those of the red species more of a nut-brown or reddish colour, and those of the black species of a dark or blackish colour.

7. The pinus balsamea, or hemlock fir, a native of Virginia and Canada, possesses as little beauty as any of the fir tribe; though, being rather scarce in proportion, it is deemed valuable. It is called by some the yew-leaved fir, from the resemblance of the leaves to those of the yew-tree. It is a tree of low growth, with but few branches; and these are long and slender, spreading abroad without order.

8. The pinus orientalis, or oriental fir, a native of the East, is a low but elegant tree. The leaves are very short, and nearly square. The fruit is exceedingly small, and hangs downward; and the whole tree makes an agreeable variety with the other kinds.

9. The strobus, or North American white pine. This grows sometimes to the height of a hundred feet and up wards, and is highly valued on account of its beauty. The bark of the tree is very smooth and delicate, especially when young; the leaves are long and slender, five growing out of one sheath; and the branches are pretty closely garnished with them, thus making a fine appearance.

10. The pinus taeda, or swamp-pine, is a tall evergreen tree, being a native of the swamps of Virginia and Canada. 1here are several varieties of this genus.

11. The pinus cedrus, ranked by Tournefort and others under lαrix, and famous for its duration, is that popularly called by us the cedar of Lebanon, by the ancients cedrus magna or the great cedar ; also cedrelate, κεδfKaτη ; and sometimes the Phoenician or Syrian cedar, from the country where it grows in its greatest perfection. It is a coniferous evergreen, of the larger sort, bearing roundish cones of smooth scales, standing erect, the leaves being small, narrow, and thickly set. They sometimes counterfeit cedar by dyeing wood of a reddish hue; but the smell discovers the cheat, that of true cedar being very aromatic. In some places the wood of the cajou tree passes under the name of cedar, on account of its reddish colour and its aromatic smell, which somewhat resemble those of sandal. Cedar-wood is reputed almost immortal and incorruptible; a prerogative which it owes chiefly to its bitter taste, which the worms cannot endure. For this reason it was that the ancients used cedar tablets to write upon, especially for things of importance, as appears from the expression of Persius, Et cedra digna locutus. A juice alluded to by Horace was also drawn from cedar, with which the ancients smeared their books and writings, or other matters, to preserve them from rotting; and by means of which it was that Numa’s books, written on papyrus, were preserved entire to the year 535, as we are informed by Pliny.

Solomon’s temple, as well as his palace, were both constructed with this wood. That prince gave Hiram, king of Tyre, several cities for the cedars he had furnished on these occasions. Cortes is said to have erected a palace at Mexico in which were 7000 beams of cedar, most of them 120 feet in length and twelve feet in circumference, as we are informed by Herrera. Some tell us of a cedar felled in Cyprus 130 feet in length and eighteen in diameter. It was used for the mainmast in the galley of King Demetrius. Le Bruyn assures us, that the two largest he saw upon Mount Lebanon measured, one of them fifty-seven palms, and the other forty-seven, in circumference. In the temple of Apollo at Utica there were cedar-trees near two thousand years old; which yet were nothing to the beam in an oratory of Diana at Saguntum in Spain, said to have been brought thither two hundred years before the destruction of Troy. Cedar is of so dry a nature that it will not endure to be fastened with iron nails, from which it usually shrinks; so that they commonly fasten it with pins of the same wood.

It is remarkable that, as far as has yet been discovered, this tree is not to be found as a native in any other part of the world than Mount Libanus. What we find mentioned in Scripture of the lofty cedars can be nowise applicable to the common growth of this tree; since, from the experience we have of those now growing in England, as also from the testimony of several travellers who have visited the few trees remaining on Mount Libanus, they are not inclined to grow very lofty, but, on the contrary, extend their branches very far; a circumstance with which the allusion made by the Psaloust agrees very well, when, describing the flourishing state of the people, he says, “They shall spread their branches like the cedar-tree.”

12. There is another species, namely, the larch-tree, which the old botanists ranked under larix, with deciduous leaves and oval obtuse cones. It grows naturally upon the Alps and Apennines, and of late has been very much propagated in Britain. See Plantation.
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