io8 TREE-PLANTING. 



in England for fifty or sixty years, may be estimated 

 at one foot. 



Dwarf Pines. There are some interesting spe- 

 cimens of dwarf trees which bear a family likeness to 

 each other and the Scotch pine, P. sylvestris pumilio ; 

 P. S. Mugho, and P. s. uncinata, which are natives of 

 high mountains, and are found on the Alps and 

 Pyrenees in cold and exposed situations where their 

 growth is contracted into the compass of hardy shrubs 

 merely, but with a little more shelter they attain the 

 size of low bushy trees. Their foliage is thickly set, 

 and of a dark green colour, being broad and spreading 

 in habit, making only small annual shoots, which well 

 adapts them for cold windy situations. 



It is supposed that this habit has been acquired 

 after ages of exposure in repeated generations, for in 

 an opposite direction, and in the spirit of progress, 

 some of these dwarf pines when cultivated in low and 

 rich ground, have been known to produce female 

 blossoms at the age of three years, and infertile cones 

 at their fourth. These having been frequently grown 

 in nurseries for ornamental purposes, have made a 

 new departure at times, and by repeated propagation 

 of seed raised in a low situation have shot up upon 

 occasions into trees of considerable altitude, which 

 could scarcely be distinguished from the Scotch pine. 



In their native condition they all produce wood 

 which is red, hard, and durable, and being very 

 inflammable is often used for torches by the inhabi- 

 tants of the districts in which the trees are grown. 



The direct opposite to these trees is the Gigantic 

 or Lambert pine (P. L amber tiana), so far as mere size 

 is concerned, some of the imported cones measuring 



