14 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



reason, of cellulose.^ In the Pyrenees the expense of transit 

 is so great that the timber is disposed of locally so far as 

 possible. The price is there slightly below that of Scots pine, 

 as the local demand is for the wood more easily worked. 



In Denmark the Mountain Pine, in its Intermediate form, has 

 played an important part in the afforestation of the heaths and 

 dunes of Jutland. It was introduced into Denmark from 

 Eisenach in 1798. It did not come into prominence until the 

 middle of the nineteenth century, when the wholesale destruction 

 of the plantations of Scots and Austrian pine by Lophodermimn 

 Pinastri induced the Danish foresters to turn their attention to 

 a species which had escaped that pest. The plantations of 

 Mountain Pine now cover more than 15,000 acres. It is only 

 since 1886 that the Upright variety has been planted on a 

 large scale. It promises well, but is found rather more exacting 

 as regards soil than the Intermediate form, and rather more 

 subject to Lophodermium Pinastri. Specimens forty to forty-five 

 years old prove that the tree maintains its erect habit in 

 Denmark.^ 



On the Danish heaths the Mountain Pine displays a wonderful 

 power of resistance to humic acid, and is found to improve 

 heath soil for other species in a manner which is described by 

 Danish writers as "remarkable and partly unexplainable."^ It 

 does not appear certain that the Upright variety shares this 

 valuable quality. If it does, it cannot fail to be of value in 

 Scotland. Danish foresters assert that the Intermediate variety 

 can make its good influence felt among spruce when it is in the 

 low proportion of one to four. In the Pyrenees the Upright 

 variety has the reputation of succeeding well on peat and in 

 swampy places, but a plantation on soil of this character in the 

 Foret de Barres, near Mont Louis, does not look particularly 

 happy; it is, however, on an undrained snipe bog, such as the 

 most sanguine Scot would shrink from planting. 



It is a pity that the Upright variety of Mountain Pine is 

 so little known in this country. It will be seen from the few 

 illustrations given that it is absurd to dismiss this species as a 

 mere bush, as most British writers do. No one would advocate 

 its employment where more valuable kinds would thrive, but 

 it appears to have the merit of living and making good 

 timber where other kinds fail. An admirable description 



^ Haandbog i Skovbriig, Hauch & Oppermann, Copenhagen, 1898-1902. 



