believe, almost entirely discarded." This
pine thrives best on a soil that is deep, sandy, and dry. It should be
well sheltered and nursed, as it is rather tender while in its young
state. It is best to keep the seedlings under glass, though they may
be planted out in the open air after their fourth or fifth year.

The cones of this pine supply the "pignoli" of commerce. The Italian
cooks use these seeds in their soups and ragouts, and in the Maritozzi
buns of Rome. Sometimes the Italians roast the barely ripe cone,
dashing it on the ground to break it open, but the ripe seeds of the
older cone when it naturally opens are better worth eating. They are
soft and rich, and have a slightly resinous flavor. The empty cones
are used by the Italians for fire lighting, and being full of resinous
matter they burn rapidly and emit a delightful fragrance.

_Description._--Pinus pinea belongs to the Pinaster section of the
genus. In the south of Europe it is a lofty tree, with a spreading
head forming a kind of parasol, and a trunk 50 feet or 60 feet high,
clear of branches. The bark of the trunk is reddish and sometimes
cracked, but the general surface of the bark is smooth except on
the smaller branches, where it long retains the marks of the fallen
leaves, in the shape of bristly scales. The leaves are of a dull
green, but not quite so dark as those of the Pinaster; they are
semi-cylindrical, 6 inches or 7 inches long and one-twelfth of an inch
broad, two in a sheath, and disposed in such a manner as to form a
triple spiral round the branches.

The catkins of the male flowers are yellowish; and being placed on
slender shoots of the current year, near the extremity, twenty or
thirty together, they form bundles, surmounted by some scarcely
developed leaves. Each catkin is not more than half an inch long, on a
very short peduncle, and with a rounded denticulated crest. The female
catkins are whitish, and are situated two or three together, at the
extremity of the strongest and most vigorous shoots. Each female
catkin has a separate peduncle, charged with reddish, scarious,
lanceolate scales, and is surrounded at its base with a double row of
the same scales, which served to envelop it before it expanded; its
form is perfectly oval, and its total length about half an inch.
The scales which form the female catkin are of a whitish green; the
bractea on the back is slightly reddish on its upper side; and the
stigma, which has two po