THE CORSICAN PINE. 187 
Where the plants are to be inserted in the nursery a line should be 
stretched along the surface, and a sloping notch taken out with a 
spade along both sides of the line, thus leaving the ground in the 
shape of asmall sharp-pointed ridge. The line should then be lifted 
and the plants set along the ridge, spreading the roots carefully out 
into the notch on both sides, and covering them with loose, fine soil. 
It will readily be seen that by this method the roots are in a 
measure trained from infancy in the position which they should 
occupy when they become trees ; and, as they will form a complete 
whorl round the base of the stem, they are not only enabled to 
collect food from all quarters, but are much less apt to be uprooted 
by the wind during a storm. 
If a greater amount of attention was bestowed on the nursery 
management of Pinus /aricio, and frequent transplanting resorted to, 
we should not so often hear of the few roots formed by it, or of the 
difficulty usually experienced in successfully transplanting the tree. 
In various other places as well as amongst our Welsh hills, the 
Pinus laricio seems to do well, for Lord Powerscourt, in his letter 
to the Times of 21st July 1883, on the “ Reafforesting of Ireland,” 
thus speaks of it:—“ There is also a considerable sprinkling of 
Pinus laricio, which latter I consider to be perhaps the most 
valuable of the recently imported foreign conifers.” Another 
correspondent to the same paper wrote as follows regarding Pinus 
laricio :—“ This is one of the best conifers for planting on poor 
land in exposed situations, with a view to a permanent crop of 
timber. We have a quantity of it here planted out on a bleak 
plain, in a thin, poor, brashy soil, growing at a rapid rate, quite 
overtopping the larch and Scots fir; and it appears to shape itself 
so well for a timber-producing tree, that I believe it will prove to 
be the best of all the pine family yet introduced. It has other 
good qualities too, for hares, rabbits, and boring beetles rarely in- 
jure it. It has, however, one drawback—it transplants badly, but 
this may be overcome by growing it on in a nursery, and carefully 
shifting it every autumn until it is ready to plant out.” __ 
At Blair Athole the Corsican pine is doing well at 700 feet above 
sea-level, and makes as much girth and growth in that position as 
the Scots fir. 
In conclusion, from my experience of this tree, I have every 
reason to believe that, in point of general utility, as well as 
suitability for our climate and soil, it is not excelled by any as yet 
introduced into Britain. 
