unipers,
cypresses, spruces, larches, yews and hemlocks, with some foreign trees,
and form a distinct and striking natural group. 'This family has claims
to our particular attention from the importance of its products in
naval, and especially in civil and domestic, architecture, and in many
other arts, and, in some instances, in medicine. Some of the species in
this country are of more rapid growth, attain to a larger size and rise
to a loftier height than any other trees known. The white pine is much
the tallest of our native trees.'"

"How high does it grow, Miss Harson?" asked Clara.

"From one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet," was replied, "and on
the north-west coast of America one called the 'Douglas's pine' is the
loftiest tree known; it is said to measure over three hundred feet.
'From the pines are obtained the best masts and much of the most
valuable ship-timber, and in the building and finishing of houses they
are of almost indispensable utility. The bark of some of them, as the
hemlock and larch, is of great value in tanning, and from others are
obtained the various kinds of pitch, tar, turpentine, resin and
balsams,' The pines and firs have circles of branches in imperfect
whorls around the trunk, and, as one of these whorls is formed each
year, it is easy to calculate the age of young trees. In thick woods the
lower whorls of branches soon decay for want of light and air, and this
leaves a smooth trunk, which rises without a branch, like a beautiful
shaft, for a hundred feet or more.

"These trees are found everywhere except in the hot regions around the
equator. The white pine is the most common, but in the evergreen woods
of our own country it is mixed with pitch-pine and fir trees. In our
Southern States there are thin forests, called pine-barrens, through
which one can travel for miles on horseback. The white pine is easily
distinguished by its leaves being in fives, by its very long cones,
composed of loosely-arranged scales, and when young by the smoothness
and delicate light-green color of the bark. It is known throughout New
England by the name 'white pine,' which is given it on account of the
whiteness of the wood. In England it is called the Weymouth pine.

"Many very large trees are found in Maine, on the Penobscot River, but
most of the largest and most valuable timber trees have been cut down.
The lumberers, as they are called, are constantly hewing down the grand
old trees for timbe