232 CONIFEROUS TREES 



country, I may be allowed to venture at least 

 the remark that the timber is of excellent quality, 

 and peculiarly well suited for constructive purposes. 

 Speaking of trees of fully fifty years' growth, I 

 have found the wood strong, tough, elastic, very 

 resinous, and readily worked. I have experi- 

 mentally used home-grown Laricio wood for many 

 purposes, and always with very satisfactory results 

 — some of the largest planks employed in this 

 way being fully 27 inches wide and cut from trees 

 that girthed 9 feet at a yard from the ground. 

 Planks that were used for several purposes both 

 in and out of doors have stood a test of fully 

 twelve years, in such a manner as to give one the 

 impression that few of our home-grown coniferous 

 woods can surpass that of the pine in question. 

 In summing up, it may be said that the Corsican 

 Pine is perfectly hardy everywhere in these isles, 

 a tree that will thrive well and produce large 

 quantities of timber on poor gravelly soils, one 

 that is readily and cheaply raised from seed — 

 all qualities of the highest value, and such as are 

 rarely so well concentrated in any other species. 

 The rate of growth is rapid under favourable cir- 

 cumstances. After being planted for five years 

 the average annual rate of growth for the next 

 ten years is, in specimens I have measured, as 

 much as 30 inches in height. Stem bulk is, Hke- 

 wise, well carried on with this increase in height, 

 and quite recently I examined a plantation of 

 thirty-two years' growth in which Pinus Laricio 

 had attained to 65 feet in height, and with many 

 of the stems girthing from 5 feet to fully 6 feet 

 at a yard from the ground. Standing alongside 



