P IN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



P IN 



325 



we have an example of the good thriving of these trees, upon 

 a hill of common white sand, in which one could hardly 

 expect the least vegetable quality ; and the trees now grow- 

 ing there have not been planted more than forty years, 

 although they are more than forty feet high ; but it is to be 

 observed that they are hardly six feet asunder, which may 

 be the true cause of their unusual height, and the freeness 

 of their stems from knots. Hunter's directions for raising 

 plantations of Scotch Fir are as follows : Let the cones be 

 gathered in February or March, from thriving young trees ; 

 expose them to the heat of the sun, thinly spread on coarse 

 canvass, taking them under cover at night, and only exposing 

 them while the sun shines. When any quantity of the seed is 

 shed, separate it from the cones ; otherwise the first dropped 

 seeds would become too dry. The sowing must be finished 

 at the end of April or the beginning of May ; so that if the 

 cones will not yield their contents to the sun, they must be 

 gently kiln-dried. A light loamy soil, trenched a foot and 

 half deep, and laid out in beds five feet broad, answers best 

 for sowing. Let the seeds be sown very thick, and covered 

 with a thick sifting of mould from the alleys. The plants 

 will thus rise like a brush, and a good crop will have above a 

 thousand in every square foot. No manure should be given 

 them, that weeds may not be introduced ; the drawing up of 

 which brings up many of the tender plants, and by loosen- 

 ing the ground lets in both frost and drought. When they 

 have the growth of two seasons, plant them out irregularly 

 from the seed-bed, three feet asunder, upon the grounds 

 where they are to rise to perfection ; planting the driest 

 ground in autumn eighteen months after sowing, and con- 

 tinuing till frost sets in. Begin again in February, or rather 

 as the weather admits, and continue the work if necessary 

 to the end of April. It is best to plant thus from the seed- 

 bed, for when they are removed into the nursery, the roots 

 must be pruned considerably before they can be planted 

 where they are to continue, which adds greatly to the 

 expense ; and nursing causes a luxuriant growth in this 

 hardy mountainous tree, which spoils its nature, and robs it 

 of longevity. The trees which grow spontaneously from seed, 

 come up very close, and grow very slow ; for these reasons 

 they are taller, less knotty, and of a closer harder grain, 

 than planted trees which are usually set in a richer soil and 

 allowed more room. Mr. Boutcher directs the cones to be 

 gathered or picked up in March or April, and kept in a dry 

 place till the hottest weather, when they should be treated 

 as he has directed for Larch ; and afterwards kept in boxes or 

 bags in a dry room till the season of sowing, which should 

 be the middle of March, or as soon afterwards as the land is 

 dry, and the weather favourable, on shady borders of gene- 

 rous loose mould, at the rate of a pound of good seed to a 

 bed of sixty feet long by three feet and a half broad ; cover- 

 ing them a quarter of an inch thick. As the plants begin to 

 appear, water them in the morning every four or five days 

 for five or six weeks, if the weather be dry without frost. 

 From the beginning to the middle of April following, trans- 

 plant them from the seed-bed in rows fifteen inches asunder, 

 and six or seven inches in the row, giving them three or four 

 plentiful waterings if the weather require. Let them remain 

 two years, and they will be fit to encounter all difficulties, 

 and to succeed in the worst soils and coldest situations. For 

 the purpose of immediate shelter, they may be removed once 

 more into rows, three feet asunder, and eighteen inches in 

 the row, to stand two years longer. In all the removals, 

 have by you a tub of water and earth, mixed to such a con- 

 sistence as that a considerable quantity will adhere to the 

 roots of the plants. As soon as they are taken up, let them 



be plunged in the tub as deep as they stood in the ground ; 

 and if they continue several hours in this situation, so much 

 the better. A plantation of Scotch Pine can be made at 

 much less expense than any other tree in the northern parts 

 of Scotland, because the young plants can be afforded at a 

 smaller price. In Aberdeenshire, plants of two years old 

 (and above that age no experienced planter will ever buy 

 them) sometimes sell at four-pence the thousand, consisting 

 of twelve hundred ; and they seldom exceed eight-pence : 

 besides this, there are men who will undertake to complete 

 the whole enclosing and planting at the distance of a yard 

 from each other, and supply the deficiencies for five years, 

 at the rate of from ten to thirty shillings the Scotch acre, 

 according to the size of the enclosure and the nature of the 

 fence. It is found by experience that there is scarcely any 

 soil so bad, or any exposure so bleak, where this tree will 

 not live, if the plantation be of sufficient extent, and not 

 upon the very summit of high peaked hills. They do not 

 indeed bear the sea air very well ; nor is t'he wood ever of 

 a good quality, or the tree long-lived, upon clayey soils. 

 Several planters in the south of England have found that the 

 Pinaster, or second species, bears the sea blast much better 

 than any of the other Pines. The Spruce Fir will bear a 

 still more exposed situation than the Scotch Pine, and after 

 a few years it shoots up with still greater luxuriance. But 

 the cones not being to be had in equal abundance, and the 

 plants being more difficult to rear, they are sold at a much 

 higher price. Silver Fir in a good soil prospers well, and is 

 a beautiful tree, but the price of the plants is too great to 

 admit of large plantations of them being made. Where the 

 situation is bleak, and much exposed to strong blasts of 

 wind, the plantation must not only be of considerable extent, 

 but the trees must be planted very close, so as to be not 

 more than from two to three feet asunder : the more exposed 

 the situation, the closer they must be ;. for it is observed, 

 that until the branches intermingle, and thus serve to give 

 a mutual support to each other, the trees never begin to 

 advance with vigour. Where the plantations are thus thick, 

 there is a necessity for beginning to thin them out from the 

 tenth to the fifteenth year after planting. Where the planta- 

 tions are extensive, these thinnings sell at a small price ; but 

 there are few situations in which they will not do more than 

 pay for the expense of cutting them out. Their leaves and 

 branches afford a very wholesome nourishment to cattle and 

 sheep. In mountainous countries, where snow sometimes . 

 lies upon the ground for many weeks together, the benefit 

 which may occasionally be derived from such plantations will 

 be very great ; and the larger branches that are left make 

 excellent fire-wood. The seeds of Pines are better extracted 

 from cones, by laying them in the sun, than by the fire. 

 The application of too great a heat will injure or destroy 

 vegetation in them ; and the practice of laying the cones on 

 the floor of a malt-kiln, which is said to prevail with seeds- 

 men, will account for the badness of seed purchased from 

 them. It may also be too old, and should be sown as soon 

 as possible after being taken from the cones ; the seeds of 

 the Stone Pine especially, which, whether kept in the cones 

 or taken out, are never good after the first year. 



7. Pinus Tseda ; Frankincense Pine Tree. Leaves three in 

 a sheath ; cones oblong-conical, shorter than the leaf, aggre- 

 gate; scales echinated. The Canadian French built a sixty- 

 four gun ship entirely with the wood of this tree, which is 

 like that of Scotch Pine, but has more resin. Native of 

 North America. There are several varieties j of which the 

 Three-leaved Virginian Pine Tree is most worthy of notice. 

 There are many of them in the noble plantations of the duke 



