154 HARDY CONIFEROUS TREES. 



is an ill-chosen subject for exposed ground. The timber is 

 light, but strong, has a pleasant yellowish tinge, works readily, 

 and polishes nicely. 



The Weymouth Pine {P. Strobus) when viewed in 

 an economic sense is well worthy of culture. Unfortunately, 

 like the Douglas fir, it cannot succeed in exposed situations, 

 and is rather particular as to the class of soil in which it is 

 planted. At Gwydyr Castle, in Wales, at Longleat, and 

 other places, the tree succeeds well, and at the former it has 

 attained to lOO feet in height, the boles being perfectly 

 straight, free of branches for half the height, and girthing 

 8^ feet at 4 feet above ground level. In thinning a mixed 

 plantation of the present tree and the Douglas fir, I noted 

 that trees of the former, thirty years old, were 57 feet high, 

 with stems girthing 4 feet 2 inches at a yard from the ground. 

 On thinning a plantation of the Weymouth pine growing on 

 rather dry and light gravelly soil, many were " pumped " or 

 rotten at the core — a timely warning to planters of the tree. 

 The timber is soft, light in proportion to its bulk, free from 

 knots, and easily worked. 



The Scotch Pine {P. silvestris) will, for economic 

 planting, always hold a high rank, it being of great value for 

 planting on poor gravelly soils and in cold, exposed sites 

 No doubt this pine will always be extensively planted 

 wherever shelter is wanted, and rightly so, for few others 

 are so well suited for withstanding the cold, cutting blasts of 

 our exposed hill-sides. The almost valueless quality of the 

 timber produced in this country generally will always be a 

 serious drawback to the extensive use of this particular 

 species ; but this is in great part counterbalanced by the 

 hardy nature of the tree, the great amount of shelter it affords, 

 and the rapidity of growth on poor thin soils. The best 

 quality of Scotch pine timber, such as that produced in some 

 of the northern Scottish counties, and Bedfordshire, in 

 England, no doubt realises even at the present time a fair 

 price ; but, generally speaking, that produced throughout 

 Scotland, England, as a whole, and also in Ireland, is of so 



