266 ON THE riNus pinaster or cluster pine. 



Biitain. In some localities, however, it is invaluable ; and in 

 these or similar places its more extensive introduction for special 

 purposes is well worthy of attention. These positions are low, 

 flat, sandy stretches along the shore, exposed to the west or 

 south west, where many descriptions of trees, both hard-wooded 

 or coniferous, whose peculiar constitutions do not render 

 them so w^ell adapted to withstand the salt spray-charged 

 air and breezes of the sea coast, are benefited by the free 

 use of the Pinaster planted among them for nurses. Planted 

 as an outer belt to such plantations, the screen afforded by 

 the P. Pinaster, which thrives and luxuriates in the briny- 

 laden atmosphere, is far more effectual than that of a solid stone 

 wall. Indeed, it may be doubted whether a wall is of nmch assis- 

 tance in these situations as a wind-screen, for it is well known 

 that beyond the immediate and close proximity of the side of the 

 wall itself, the trees of a plantation suffer more from the peculiar 

 re-action of the blast after striking against the wall, termed 

 " back- wind ; " and which seems, rising obliquely over the wall, 

 to recurve and dash with increased energy along the plantation. 

 A very good illustration of the effects pi'oduced upon trees by the 

 action of sea breezes, and of the beneficial and advantageous use 

 of Pinasters as a screen, may be instanced at Gosford, on the coast 

 of East Lothian, between Longniddry and Aberlady, where the 

 closely planted nurses themselves seem as if switched across- 

 with a hedge-bill from the outer side, each row of trees gi'adually 

 acquiring taller proportions, as it is situated further inland, and 

 the whole top of this dense belt presenting the appearance of a 

 very broad sloping hedge. Immediately within this sheltering 

 zone, however, although still quite near the shore, trees of all 

 kinds, deciduous and evergreen, hard wood and coniferous, 

 thrive well, and acquire considerable size and bole. On the 

 shores of the Bristol Channel there are also to be seen instances 

 of the value of Pinaster as a tree well suited to foster the 

 development of other timber trees in such trying situations. 

 Again, at Dunskey, between I'ortpatrick and Stranraer, the 

 Pinaster lias been largely planted for slielter to inner plantation 

 belts, and tliere it thrives remarkably well ; but in the 

 immediate vicinity of that locality, planted upon higher ground, 

 it does not succeed so well ; and, generally speaking, in Wigtown- 

 shire, and along that coast, the suitability of the Pinaster 

 noticeably declines with the increase of altitude in which it may 

 be placed, presenting in the higher inland sites a marked 

 peculiarity of tenderness and susceptibility to suffer from frost. 

 Indeed it may be said generally in regard to the more extended in- 

 troduction of the Pinaster in Scotland, that it is safer to use the 

 Scots fir or the Pinus Laricio as a nurse for plantations where 

 the altitudes exceed 300 feet, than to employ the Pinaster ; while 



