PIXUS SYLVESTKLS. 381 



The wild Pine of Scotland has been exhaustively studied in its 

 forestial aspect by the Scottish forestry authorities, from whose publications 

 the following interesting particulars have been gleaned : 



Although native, and with evidence that the greater part of Scotland, 

 north of the Grampians, was covered with the wild Pine at no very 

 remote period, forests of indigenous Firs are at the present time few 

 and far between. The chief remaining ones are to be found about 

 the heads of the valleys of the Dee in Aberdeenshire and of the 

 Spey in Inverness-shire ; whilst another, equally beautiful but perhaps 

 not so well known, lies on the shores of Loch Rannoch, one of the 

 tributary lochs of the Tay in Perthshire. The latter, from its sombre 

 appearance, is called by the natives the Black Wood. It lies 011 the 

 south side of Loch Rannoch, and extends along the shores of the loch 

 for about 2J miles, with an average breadth of about 1 mile ; this 

 is about the extent of the dense part of the wood, but including 

 the outlying parts, the length is nearly 7 miles and the greatest 

 breadth 5 miles. In altitude above the sea level the wood lies 

 between 700 and 1,500 feet. There is another remarkable natural 

 forest of Scots Pine at Ballochbuie, on the Braes of Mar, which has 

 now r become the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and thus u 

 guarantee is afforded that it will be permanently preserved as a worthy 

 remnant of those magnificent Pine forests with which the Highland 

 glens and mountains were once so widely clothed. 



In these forests, specimens of the Scots Pine are to be found which 

 have attained large dimensions. Some of them measure 12 and 13 feet 

 in circumference near the ground, with a height of over 80 feet; many 

 of them are between three and four hundred years old. The trunks 

 are comparatively smooth, and generally straight and free of branches 

 for a considerable part of the height. If in healthy growth, the bark 

 is of a reddish colour on the upper portion of the trunk, and this 

 reddening is usually a sign that the locality is favourable to their 

 development. The quality of the timber of the Scots Pine is very 

 much influenced by the nature of the soil and situation upon which 

 it is grown, as well as by the ~age at which the tree is cut. The 

 close-grained, highly resinous timber produced upon cold, high-lying 

 districts in the north of Scotland, is found, when of mature age, to be 

 superior to that imported from any part of Europe ; whilst that which 

 has been planted in the lowlands of Scotland, as well as in the 

 rather rich soils in many parts of England, is not nearly so good 

 although of the same age. 



The technical uses to which the timber of the Scots Pine is 

 applied are almost endless, no sort of wood being so generally used 

 for almost all kinds of purposes to which timber is applied. The 

 wood of young trees felled for thinning is used for cases for dry 

 goods, cooperage, and rough fencing ; that of full-grown trees for 

 house building, out-of-door carpentry, railway ties, piles, hydraulic works, 

 street paving, etc.* Among the minor products that were formerly, and 

 are probably still utilised in places are the resinous juices from which 

 tar and pitch are prepared and also turpentine used in house painting, 

 In Lapland and northern Russia the bark is used for covering huts and 

 many other purposes. 



The Scots Pine, from its hardy constitution and rapid growth, is 

 * The Forester, by James Brown, ed. VI, Vol. I, p. 255, 



