320 PINUS CEMBRA. 



distribution is much restricted, its vertical range is from 3,500 to 

 5,000 feet, and on the latter from 4,000 to 6,000 feet above sea- 

 level ; its western limit is on the Vosges of Dauphine in France, 

 where it is quite rare. 



In the valleys of the higher Alps Pinus Cembra was formerly very 

 abundant, but it is yearly decreasing and becoming more and more 

 rare ; it is now seldom seen in forests ; it is even rare to see 

 well-shaped individual trees. Being the only tree capable of living 

 at so high an elevation, the herdsmen have 110 other firewood, and in 

 order to extend the pasturage for their milk industry they have 

 destroyed whole forests, and young trees when they spring up are 

 eaten by sheep and goats. In several of the cantons, the Cembra 

 forests have already disappeared, whilst in others the government has 

 been obliged to take steps to prevent their total destruction. In the 

 Val Arola, on the Riffelberg, and in other parts of the canton of 

 Valais, fine old trees are still numerous, but felling is going on 

 recklessly, and in many areas the number of stumps of felled trees 

 exceeds the number of plants coming up to replace them. Moreover, 

 whilst a few seedlings struggle through the protecting undergrowth, 

 yet they seem to be destroyed by some cause before attaining any 

 great height. The storm-tossed Cembras riven by lightning, decapitated 

 by falling boulders, maimed and mutilated by winter storms and snows, 

 riddled by pine beetles, and subject to numberless other evils, valiantly 

 struggle to repair the injuries they receive. On the whole, a 

 melancholy feeling attaches to ' these interesting trees, whose decadence 

 and ultimate extinction seem by no means remote.* 



In Siberia the Cembra Pine differs but little from the Swiss type ; 

 in the damp swampy grounds of eastern Russia it attains a height of 

 100 feet, with a smooth trunk free of branches for two-thirds of the 

 height, above which it forms a spreading crown. Beyond the Ural 

 mountains it conforms to the general law of diminishing dimensions 

 as it approaches its northern limit, where it finally dwindles to the 

 low straggling bush described as the variety pumila. This form also 

 inhabits the highest summits of the Japanese mountains, in places 

 covering hundreds of acres, and spreads northwards through Yeso, 

 Saghalien, the Kurile Islands and Kamtschatka. The better class of 

 inhabitants in western and southern Siberia plant the Cembra Pine as 

 an ornamental tree in front of their houses and in their gardens ; it 

 is not known to succumb to the severe cold of that region which in 

 ordinary winters often sinks to 40 C. 



The economic value of Pinus Cembra -is very considerable throughout 

 the regions in which it abounds ; the wood is white, soft, and fine 

 in grain; it has also an agreeable fragrance, which is at the same 

 time obnoxious to insects ; it is used chiefly for indoor carpentry, for 

 wainscotting and upholstery, especially for lining clothes' chests, etc. 

 The large seeds are much eaten in Russia and Siberia where other 

 fruit is scarce, and an oil is expressed from them which is used for 

 lamps. In the Tyrol, the seeds are collected by the peasantry and 

 offered for sale in the fruit markets as Cembra nuts (Zirbelniisse). 



Pinus Cembra was cultivated by Archibald, Duke of Argyll, in 1746, 

 and is thence supposed to have been introduced by him, and many 

 * Gardeners' Chronicle, XXIV. ser. 3 (1898), p. 236. 



