102 HARDY CONIFEROUS TREES. 



green hue. The cones are justly remarkable, for in the home- 

 grown specimens now before me they are not unlike large, fully 

 ripe pine-apples both in size and shape. Each cone is 8 inches 

 long by fully 6 inches diameter at widest part, hard as yew, 

 and the scales terminating in hooked points. They are of a 

 light brown colour, and contain nearly 300 seeds, which are 

 large and edible. 



Light warm soils and well-sheltered situations must be 

 chosen for this handsome species. 



P. Silvestris, Linnaeus. Scotch Pine. {Synonyms: — 

 P. rubra, Miller ; P. Mughus, Jacquin ; P. rigensis, Des- 

 fontaines ; and many others.) Northern Europe and Asia, 

 Britain. — A well-known species of very variable habit. The 

 habit of the young tree is usually formal, the stem straight 

 and the branches regularly arranged ; but in old age, with 

 the loss of the lower branches and increase in size of those 

 near the top, the tree often presents a decidedly picturesque 

 appearance, which is still further enhanced by the warm 

 cinnamon brown of the bark. In the juvenile specimen the 

 leaves are longer and more' silvery in appearance than when 

 the tree becomes advanced in growth. They vary in length 

 from 2 inches to 3 inches, and are arranged two in a sheath. 

 The cones vary greatly in size and shape, but are usually 

 from 2 inches to 3 inches long, and i to ly inches at widest 

 part. Both as an ornamental tree and for the value of 

 timber it produces, the Scotch pine will ever rank high with 

 planters. It is, further, of undoubted hardihood, a good 

 shelter-producer, and succeeds well on the thinnest and poorest 

 of sand and gravel. The timber is greatly affected by climate, 

 and that produced in northern Scotland is superior to what is 

 grown either in England or Ireland. 



P. Silvestris arg^entea. The silver-leaved Scotch 

 Pine. — This varies much in variegation, and many specimens 

 have only a tinge of the silvery-whiteness for which the best 

 variety is so much appreciated. The leaves of the young 

 shoots in particular are creamy-white, but this to some extent 

 gives way with the approach of winter. 



