ORNAMENTAL PLANTING. 143 



profit. Another very interesting tree from the East, introduced into 

 the country about twenty years ago, Pinus Pallasiana, has been 

 better known by the name of Pinus Taurica. In the central regions 

 of the Crimea, on the western declivities of the mountains, which stretch 

 along the shores of the Black Sea, this tree, called tzaam by the 

 natives, forms considerable forests, and grows to a great size. Its 

 wood is very knotty, resinous and durable, but is not well adapted to the 

 purposes of the joiner, on account of the knottiness of its texture. It 

 throws out its branches, almost from the base of its trunk, in a horizontal 

 direction, and is said to be strikingly picturesque in its habit. It abounds 

 with a resin singularly odorous, and will probably be one of the most 

 distinguished inhabitants of the Pinetum. But the experience of Mr. 

 Lambert has assigned to this tree a station of singular utility. He has 

 ascertained practically its capacity of flourishing upon the most barren 

 chalk downs, where the thinness and aridity of the soil combine to forbid 

 almost every other tree from succeeding. A few trees which he planted 

 at Boyton about twenty years ago, where the soil was little more than 

 two inches thick upon a bed of hard chalk, are now nearly thirty feet 

 high, and very luxuriant. Many were planted by the present Duke of 

 Marlborough at White Knights. Their cones produced in this country 

 have never perfected seeds, but it cannot be difficult to procure them from 

 the Western Coast of the Crimea. It maybe as well to remark here, that 

 in bringing home cones of any fir, peculiar care should be had in placing 

 the box containing them, in an airy situation, in the cabin or between the 

 decks. The high temperature and confined air of the hold of the ship 

 destroy the life of seeds speedily. A very magnificent pine was discovered 

 by Mr. David Douglas in sandy plains in Northern California, and appro- 

 priately named Pinus Lambertiana, in honour of the very distinguished 

 botanist, Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq., whose magnificent work on the 

 Genus Pinus, to which we have been largely indebted, has contributed in 

 a remarkable degree to elucidate the history of this extensive genus. It 

 is a plant of vast size, growing in its native plains from 150 to 200 feet 

 high: one specimen which Mr. Douglas measured was 215 feet in 

 length, and 19 feet in diameter. The cones of this splendid tree are 

 sixteen inches in length and nine inches in circumference. We apprehend, 

 from some observations which we have made, that in Great Britain it can 

 only be regarded as a specimen tree, confined to very sheltered and warm 

 spots. But the recent and still-pending researches of the same enter- 

 prising traveller and enthusiastic botanist, in the same regions of North 

 America, the regions which bound the Northern Pacific Ocean, bid fair 

 to enrich the Pinetum in no common degree. In the mountain valleys of 

 the Alps of New Albion, surrounded by snow peaks exceeding Mont 

 Blanc in elevation, he has lately discovered several most interesting 

 species, which must all be hardy in England : Pinus nobilis, and Pinus 

 grandis, equalling Pinus Lambertiana and Pinus Douglasii in hugeness of 

 stature ; Pinus monticola, two varieties, resembling in elegance, of foliage 

 the Weymouth pine ; Pinus Menziesii, of smaller growth, but curious 

 habit; Pinus Sabiniana, are all plants of great interest, and will be 

 acquisitions of uncommon value. We suspect that mountain trees, 

 from elevations correspondent in temperature with the climate ot Bri- 

 tain, will be found to succeed in it better than trees from lower regions, 

 even when situated more northerly. The larch of Switzerland and the 

 Tyrol countries, to the south of us, succeed better here than the larches of 

 Siberia and Canada. The Pinus Laricio of the mountains of the genial 

 countries of the Mediterranean is more at home in England than the 



