276 



when the space beneath floors is well veEtilated, it is wise to 

 creosote those portions that are built into walls. An. idea of 

 the importance of the wood of the Scots Pine in the timber 

 market may be gathered from the figures given for the exports 

 from Eiga alone to the United Kingdom in 1912. Under the 

 heading " Boards and Deals," the Board of Trade returns 



give — 'pieces, 1,556,006; boards, 354,999 standards, value 

 ^2,464,670," whilst the timber export trade of Russia for 1912 

 was given as 6,861,887 tons, valued at £16,136,613.* 



As already stated, very good pine wood -is grown in Scotland, 

 yet the prices obtained by the owners are often unsatisfactory, 

 whilst that wood which is far removed from a manufacturing 

 centre is heavily handicapped by transit charges. In fact, 

 although about 4,500,000 tons of pit wood are required in the 

 British Isles each year, British grown wood which is at a con 

 siderabk distance from the nearest collieries, after cost of cutting 

 and delivery have been deducted from the returns shows scarcely 

 any margin for rent of ground and profit, so cheaply can foreign 

 grown_ wood be supplied. Nevertheless, the Scots Pine is the 

 most important pine_ for sylvicultural purposes in the British 

 Isles at the present time and with improved methods of cultiva- 

 tion and marketing, prices will doubtless have an upward 

 tendency. • 



Pinus sylvestris forms a tree up to 140 or 150 feet in height 

 with a trunk diameter of from l-3i feet. The grey or glaucous- 

 green leaves are 3-3 inches long, produced in pairs, rather broad 

 m comparison to the length, and usually flat and slightly twisted. 

 The cones are small, greyish, li-2 inches long, and nearly an 

 mch wide. ^ It grows well in light, dry, sandy soil and with- 

 stands considerable exposure. In one or two places in Scotland 

 it is found at an altitude of nearly 2000 feet as a fair-sized 

 tree, but as a rule the limit of its usefulness as a timber tree is 

 reached between 1000 and 1500 feet. 



On the Continent resin and other resinous products are obtained 

 from the wood, but In Great Britain the Scots Pine is grown 



simply for its timber. 



_ In Museum No. IV. at Kew an exhibit is made of timber grown 

 m some of the principal forests of Scotland, and workers in pine 

 wood would do well to compare the quality of the timber with 

 that imported from foreign countries. 



<P.l^^ "Diplomatic and Ooiisnlar Eeport," Annual Series, No. 5107 

 (Kiissia), p. 8, September, 1913. 



