PINUS PINASTER. 381 



times, the Swedish peasant exhibits no sign of discontent; 

 and if his countenance do not portray a great flow of 

 spirits or hilarity of manner, it shows him to be what he 

 really is, humble, serious, devout, and happy. Give him 

 but the smallest trifle, he receives it with thankfulness, 

 and you are doubly repaid by the grateful and contented 

 manner in which it is accepted." l 



PINUS PINASTER. 

 THE CLUSTER" PINE, OR PINASTER. 



THE Pinaster is one of the most extensively planted in 

 this country of all the foreign Pines. In its younger 

 stage it is a pyramidal bushy tree, well marked by its 

 erect growth and regular whorls of ascending branches 

 from a foot to a foot and a half apart, by its tufts of long 

 deep green leaves, and by its clusters of large cones, which 

 are perfected on very young trees. From the starlike 

 arrangement of these cones it derives its name of Pin- 

 aster, Star Pine. The clusters are situated beneath the 

 whorls or tiers of branches, and contain from four to a 

 dozen cones ; but it is far from uncommon to see as many 

 as twenty or thirty in a mass, the lowermost being forced, 

 by the pressure of those above, to point downwards. 

 They often remain attached to the tree many years after 

 they have attained maturity, and indeed may sometimes 

 be seen, covered with gray lichen, adhering to the main 

 stem, on which, while it was a mere twig, they were 

 produced a dozen years before. For the first five and 

 twenty years of its growth the age of the Pinaster may be 

 discovered with tolerable accuracy from observing the 

 number of tiers formed by its branches, each interval 

 between two tiers being the result of a year's growth. As 

 the tree grows older, the lower limbs die off, and the trunk 



1 Brook's " Sweden." 



