1883.] BEAUTIES OF BRITISH TEEES. 15 



every purpose of the closed ovary which distinguishes Angiosperms 

 from such gyinnospermouSy or technically naked-seeded plants, as 

 these Firs. 



The seeds which, in some allied species were large enough to be 

 valuable as human food, are furnished with a brown membranous 

 wing three times their length. This closely resembles, and performs 

 the same purpose as, the * samaras,' or winged fruits, of Elms and 

 other trees, the disposal of the seed away from the parent tree being 

 the object in either case. The curiously formed beak of the cross- 

 bill, a rare visitant of our islands, is specially adapted for the extrac- 

 tion of pine seeds. 



Few plants yield a greater variety of useful substances than the 

 Pine. Tar, pitch, turpentine, resin, and deal are the chief, the tree 

 being mainly imported as timber from Dantzic and Eiga. Thus, 

 though generally associated in the minds of poets and painters with 

 mountain scenery, there is no doubt that the finest Pines are grown 

 in lowland plantations. In England, at least, the primary use of the 

 tree, from which, in fact, the name of * Fir,' i.e., fire tree, is derived, 

 viz., the making of torches from its resinous wood, is a thing of the 

 past ; but, though neither so rapid in its growth nor so remunerative 

 a crop as the Larch, there are still many good reasons for planting 

 Pines. 



As has been already mentioned, they will grow where Larch will 

 not : they form an invaluable shelter from the wind sweeping over 

 wide stretches of heath ; and if perhaps too gloomy in their appear- 

 ance and too destructive to all vegetation beneath them to be very 

 desirable in park or garden close to the homestead, no trees form a 

 more picturesque belt in the distance, crowning a hill or skirting the 

 domain. 



The popularity of Bournemouth as a health resort is in itself a 

 testimony to the real value of that aroma that seems to invigorate one 

 at every whiff, even among the glaring sands of the hottest and most 

 relaxing situations. I have in my mind's eye while I write, a heath 

 on a lofty sand-hill on the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckingham- 

 sliire, from which stretches away to the west and north a wide 

 landscape of fertile farms, pastures and woodlands, whilst on the 

 south and east lies a thick wood of Scotch Fir, and, in the bay thus 

 formed, a comfortable house stands among broom and heather. I can 

 imagine few finer situations. 



Mr. Euskin has described in his graphic prose one of the most 

 wonderful effects of Pines in a landscape, though, as he points out, 

 it has only been noticed by two of our poets. 'When,' says he, 

 * the sun rises behind a ridge of Pines, and those Pines are seen 

 from a distance of a mile or two against his light, the whole form 



c 



