514 LXXVI. CONIFERS. 



5000 ft. The wood is much heavier than that of the Scotch Fir, very durable, 

 mainly used as fuel and for charcoal ; but the chief value of the tree in the Alps 

 consists in its thriving on poor soil and in exposed situations, and serving to 

 clothe steep stony, dry and wet slopes, preventing their denudation, and affording 

 protection against slips and avalanches. Young plants bear more shade than 

 P. sylvestris. 



3. P. Laricio, Poiret ; Willkomm Forstl. Flora, 184 ; Reichenb. Ic. Fl. 

 Germ. t. 524. Syn. P. austriaca, Endl. ; Schwarzkiefer, Germ. A large tree, 

 with tall straight cylindric stem, clear of branches to a great height, foliage dark 

 green, branchlets turned up at the ends. Leaves green, 2-5 in. long, persistent, 

 3-4 years on the branches, with a sharp whitish point. Cones sessile, 2-3 in. 

 long, spreading, ovoid-lanceolate, shining, yellowish red when ripe. Seeds large, 

 wing 3-4 times the length of seeds. Mountains of South Europe and Asia Minor, 

 forming extensive forests in Spain, in Corsica at 3000-5000 ft., and lower Austria 

 (Wiener Wald). Fl. May; the cones of this, as of the other allied species, ripen in 

 autumn of the second, and shed their seed in spring of the third year. Attains 

 150 ft. in Corsica. Wood very resinous, sap large, heartwood red, very durable, 

 heavier than Larch, up to 56 lb. (Mathieu). Mathieu, Fl. Forest, 398, records 

 an instructive series of measurements of the number of rings of sap- and heart- 

 wood of the wood from Corsica. A tree 90 years old, with a radius of 235 mm., 

 had 73 rings of sapwood, in the aggregate 185 mm. broad ; and a tree of 375 

 years, with a radius of 380 mm., had 190 rings of sap, measuring 80 mm. and 

 185 rings of heartwood. The Austrian Pine is tapped for resin in Austria, and 

 of late years the splendid forests of P. Laricio in Corsica have been worked on 

 a large scale for resin, the mode of procedure being the same as in the forests 

 of P. Pinaster in France. In its youth the tree has a rapid growth, and long 

 powerful leading shoots. In England the Corsican and Austrian Pine are con- 

 sidered distinct varieties. 



4. P. Pinaster, Solander ; Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 525. Syn. P. maritima, 

 Lamarck ; Cluster Pine Pin maritime, Fr. A large tree, with a tall but not 

 very straight stem attaining great girth, branches high up, forming a rounded 

 crown ; bark very thick, cut by deep fissures, foliage dense, dark green. 

 Leaves thick, rigid, 1 line broad, 5-8 in. long, remaining 3 years on the branches. 

 Cones purple when quite young, clustered at the end of the current year's shoots, 

 when ripe subsessile, spreading or reflexed, in whorls and dense clusters of 5-10' 

 or more, ovoid-cylindric, nut-brown, shining, 4-5 in. long, and 2-3 in. diam. at 

 base, ends of scales sharply and transversely keeled, with a dark-grey conical, 

 sharp tip. Mediterranean region, Algeria, Portugal, Spain, South and West 

 France, Corsica, where it forms, with Quercus Ilex, a zone intermediate between 

 the evergreen Mahi of the coast and the forests of P. Laricio. Italy, Dalmatia. 

 Fl. April, May ; the cones ripen in autumn of the second year. Prefers a light 

 sandy soil, and thrives luxuriantly on the white shifting sands of the Dunes along 

 the coast of Gascogne, which, by means of sowings steadily continued ever 

 since 1789, have now been converted almost entirely into forests of this tree. 

 It also forms extensive nearly pure forests, to a great extent planted, on the 

 heaths of the " Landes." 



The wood has numerous large resinous ducts, and the tapping of the tree is car- 

 ried on in a methodical manner in Gascogne, which should be imitated in India 

 if it be resolved to work any of the Himalayan Pines systematically for resin. 

 When the tree has attained a girth of 3-4 ft., a flat cut is made near the ground 

 through the bark into the wood, a few inches high, and about 5 inches wide ; the 

 resin which exudes is collected in small earthen pots, fixed at the base of the cut, 

 into which it runs over a flat piece of zinc. From time to time, once or twice 

 a- week during the season (1st March- 15th Oct.), the cuts are extended upwards, 



rards, 



