THE CORSICAN PINE 6i 



more able to resist anything than temptation, and 

 dubious opinions were expressed as to the strength 

 of the temptation that a 3''oung Corsican might offer 

 to the gratification of their recurrent appetite. The 

 majority prophesied a short shrift and a speedy end 

 to the sacrificial victim, and the majorit}^ were wTong. 

 To-day, when the rabbits have since been almost 

 improved off the face of this plot, the tree, as a respect- 

 ably grown and ornamental member of the Society 

 of Pines, remains, and is a monumental evidence to 

 the distasteful qualities of its flavour; and the 

 excellency of their discrimination would be endorsed, 

 we feel sure, by any species of man or superman who 

 would care to try conclusions with the bitter ex- 

 perience that a taste of its leaves produces. 



Possibly this trial by taste, as a trial of vintages 

 after the gathering of the grapes, might have some 

 influence in deciding between a Corsican and Austrian 

 Pine. We have referred in the Table to the difference 

 as to shape, bark, and leaves, and in an old tree the first 

 two of this trio of differences are the most convincing. 



Many complaints have been received as to losses 

 incurred, owing to the long tap root, in transplanting 

 Corsicans. Professors from schools of forestr}^, and 

 other wiseacres who have made the experiment, bid 

 us plant them late in the spring, very late, even to the 

 time when summer is upon us. When fuller grown 

 this long tap root may have been of great service to 

 the stability of the tree at a later date. Speaking 

 from a limited experience, upon the point of view of 

 quantit}^ of trees under immediate observation, but 

 not from a limited or impersonal experience of the 

 force and fury of the gales and winds (I write in 1916), 

 the Corsican has withstood the test when Scots Pines, 

 Weymouth Pines, Silver Firs, and Spruce Trees, and 

 many Hard-woods have strewn the ground with havoc 

 and derelicts. 



