68 C II AFTER VIII. 



be more frequently planted. Probably it does not 

 grow rapidly enough for these breathless days : 



" lam quse seminibus jactis se sustulit arbos 

 Tarda venit, seris factura nepotibus umbrara. " 



The Eucalyptus runs up faster, and is more in 

 favour. A society has been founded in Nice for the 

 planting of trees ; they should place the Stone Pine 

 at the head of their list. 



The seeds, called " pignons," are used in con- 

 fectionery. It is curious that the two Pines with 

 edible fruits should grow, one, the Pinus Cembra, on 

 the highest crests of the Maritime Alps, the other, 

 Pinus Pinea, where the mountains meet the sea. 

 P. Cembra, the Arolla Pine, German " Zirbel," is a 

 Russian and arctic tree. Its seeds are the food of 

 squirrels and other rodents, for we constantly find 

 the hard shells nibbled through. I saw some birds 

 which a man shot near the head-waters of the 

 Vesubia : they were something like starlings, and 

 their crops were so full of the uncracked seeds of 

 Pinus Cembra that these fell out in numbers when 

 the bird was held up by the feet. 



The Stone Pine is more abundant on the Riviera 

 di Levante, as at Sestri, and farther south at 

 Viareggio near Pisa ; but the greatest plantations are 

 at Ravenna, " Queen of the marshes," where these 

 trees extend for miles. The " pinetum " at Ravenna 

 yields an enormous quantity of the edible seeds. The 

 embryo of these seeds with its cotyledons bears some 

 resemblance to a human hand. The natives use them 

 as a charm. 



If the Riviera di Ponente has few Stone Pines, 

 we make up for the deficiency by possessing the finest 



