ON THE PINUS PINASTER OR CLUSTER PINE. 267 



for low-lying situations, wliether in heavy or light soil, the 

 Pinaster or the Pinus austriaca are preferable to Scots fir. 



The effects of the alteration of situation upon the economic 

 value of timber, are more distinctly observable in the case of the 

 Pinaster than in any other tree of the coniferous family. In 

 this respect, it has been noticed that the quality of the timber of 

 this pine grown on the island of St Helena is far superior to that 

 grown from the same strain in other and less insular positions. 

 General Beatson, writin^^' to Sir John Sinclair in 1811, first 

 observed and called attention to this peculiarity, and it Jias since 

 been frequently noticed that wood of the Pinaster grown in 

 proximity to sea breezes is always of better quality than when 

 grown under other circumstances. 



The great suitability of the Pinus Pinaster for planting in 

 sandy downs by the sea shore, removed from the influence of 

 frosty spring winds from the east, has been acknowledged and 

 satisfactorily tested, by the success which has attended the intro- 

 duction and extensive planting of this pine along many tracts 

 of the sea coast on the south of France, the Landes of Bordeaux, 

 and between the latter city and Bayonne. The achievement of 

 M. Bremontier, director of the Forest Administration of France, 

 are matters of history, and are too well known to arboriculturists 

 to require to be detailed here. Suffice it to say, that in the 

 interests of his government, between the years 1789 and 1809, 

 he had succeeded in transforming 12,500 acres of waste, barren, 

 drifting sandbanks into thriving plantations, through the medium 

 of the Pinus Pinaster; and altliough the value of the timber 

 grown, owing to the inferior quality of this species, forms no 

 great revenue, still the produce of the woodlands in the shape of ° 

 tar, resin, and other oleaginous extracts from the wood, form the 

 staple commerce and source of sustenance of the inhabitants \ 

 while a great national boon has been conferred on the country, 

 and posterity has been shown how energy properly directed by 

 the right selection of the best adapted species for the given site, 

 will triumph over tremendous odds, and even in the face of the 

 opposing forces of nature. 



It will tlius be seen that the soil of all others best adapted for 

 the healthy culture to advantage of the Pinus Pinaster is a deep 

 soil of a light sandy nature ; and we have seen that with careful 

 attention to its proper protection, it thrives even in pure sand. 

 It will also succeed well in a litrht loam of friable texture, and 



• 1 • . 



indeed it is not particularly averse to any soil which is not toa 

 heavy or clayey. 



The peculiarity of its roots, which differ from many of the 

 coniferous genera (which are frequently shallow-rooted), is, 

 that although the roots of the Pinaster are less spreading in their 

 habit, and are, at the same time, less numerous than those of 



