196 TRANSACTIOXS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Amongst the forest trees of the Eastern continent the Scots 

 pine has the widest zone of distribution, and is at the same time 

 one of the most important for forest culture. It ranges from the 

 very east of Siberia to the utmost west of Europe, from the White 

 Sea in the north to the south coast of the Black Sea in the south. 



It is natural that, in the course of thousands upon thousands of 

 years, the trees, though of the same original species, should have 

 developed special characteristics in accordance with the great 

 variety of climatic conditions under which they have existed. 



It is a matter of general knowledge that Pinus sylvestris 

 possesses in a marked degree the faculty of developing widely 

 varying types of crowns, from the strong-branched, broad crown 

 familiar in Scotland, to the slender pyramidal shape of a well- 

 grown spruce, characteristic of the Baltic pine. 



Attempts have been made to classify the species into different 

 varieties. Various morphological differences in the shape of 

 flowers, cones and leaves, etc., have been searched for, analysed 

 and undoubtedly found to exist to some extent ; but a sufficient 

 constancy in typical differences has, so far, eluded the most 

 diligent inquiries, and the practical establishment of botanically 

 justifiable varieties has as yet failed. 



The various types are, however, of the greatest interest to the 

 forester, and the subject has, from this point of view, been most 

 thoroughly and lucidly dealt with by Dr Kienitz in his treatise on 

 "Shapes and types oi Pinus sylvestris.'''' 



The author has for upwards of thirty years made a special 

 study of the influence of the origin of the seed on the future 

 character of forest trees, and is still continuing his inquiries and 

 experiments in connection with the International convention, and 

 its numerous branches of research, represented in Britain by 

 Professor Eraser Story. 



So far back as 1879, Dr Kienitz warned against the indis- 

 criminate purchase of pine seed from afar, even in spite of 

 favourable germination tests, on the supposition that the parent 

 plant might have the characteristics of a different climate and of 

 conditions different from those of the locality of the proposed 

 cultivation, and that these characteristics might probably lie 

 dormant in the seed, rendering the young plant raised entirely 

 unsuitable to its new home. To the subsequent regret of 

 numerous cultivators he was not listened to. Since then he has, 

 by indefatigable research and many experiments, proved the 



