Pinus Laricio 413 



there are 109,000 trees over 16 inches in diameter, 4000 of which are decayed or 

 diseased. Only trees over 9 feet in girth are marked for felling ; and these are 

 being cut down gradually, two or three trees in each spot, so that gaps are left in 

 which seedlings may spring up. Though good seed years occur about once every 

 three years, natural regeneration is always difficult on account of the poverty and 

 dryness of the soil, and only occurs in open spaces exposed to sunlight. As a great 

 deal of the best timber has been removed in past years, the number of excessively 

 large trees is limited, there being only thirteen over 14 feet in girth. The largest 

 tree now standing, the " Roi des Laricios," is growing in a dense part of the forest at 

 3850 feet altitude, and measured 143 feet in height by 18 feet 9 inches in girth, with 

 a clean stem to 100 feet. Plate 113, from photographs taken by me, shows the 

 stem of this tree and a dense stand of pines. Plate 114, from a negative kindly 

 lent us by M. A. Andr6, Inspector of the French Forest Service, shows very 

 well the peculiar habit assumed by the Laricio in old age, the crown becoming 

 remarkably flattened, owing to the bending over of the leading shoot and the 

 increase in size of the upper branches, which become very stout and horizontal or 

 even curve slightly downwards. The frontispiece is reproduced from a sketch taken 

 in Corsica by the late Robert Elwes of Congham, Norfolk. 



In this forest the presence of a considerable number of diseased trees is 

 probably explained by the fact that some twenty years previously most of the large 

 trees had been tapped for resin, an operation which was not justified by its financial 

 results, and which exposed the trees to the attacks of fungi. In many parts of the 

 Valdoniello forest, as in parcelle F, the trees are very tall, and stand very close 

 together, and have beautifully clean stems, showing that the tree bears crowding 

 without injury. The foliage of the trees in Corsica struck me as being denser than 

 is the case usually in isolated trees growing in England ; and I agree with Prof. 

 Fliche that the canopy of Laricio is considerably denser than that of the Scots pine, 

 and as a corollary that plantations should not be over-thinned. In Corsica, as only 

 trees of large size are saleable, no thinning operations are ever attempted. 



The railway passes through another fine forest, that of Vizzavona, which is 

 about 3400 acres in extent. The trees here are as a rule younger than those at 

 Valdoniello, and in many parts of the forest are mixed with beech, between 3000 

 and 4000 feet. In one place it was evident that, owing to an excessive felling 

 of Laricio several years ago, the young forest coming up will consist almost 

 entirely of beech. In pure stands of young but tall pines there is usually a slight 

 undergrowth of beech and holly. Near the forester's house I measured a large 

 tree, 145 feet high by 12 feet 3 inches in girth, which was growing at 3200 feet 

 altitude. 



With regard to the size attained by Laricio in Corsica, a tree in the forest of 

 Pietropiano with a short stem measured 23 feet in girth. In the forest of Marmano 

 trees have been felled which were clean in the stem to 115 feet, and yielded 950 

 cubic feet of dressed and squared logs. At Aitone there is a fine forest of Laricio 

 which I was unable to visit from Valdoniello, as the pass across the mountain was 

 impassable owing to deep snow. I was informed that the forest of Asco has been 



