954 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



1 P. s. 1 1 tortuosa Don of Forfar. Leaves shorter than those of P. s. 

 vulgaris, and somewhat curled, or rather twisted. 



Other Varieties. P. rotundata, and some other species which appear to 

 us to be varieties of P. sylvestris, are described by Link ; and P. hamata 

 and P. argentea are described by Stevens, as given in Gard. Mag., vol. 

 xv. p. 224., but none of these kinds have yet been introduced. We might 

 also have included in the above list P. (s.) pumilio; but though we have 

 no doubt of its being only a variety of P. sylvestris, yet it is so very dif- 

 ferent both in appearance and magnitude, that we have kept it apart. 



The weight of the wood of P. sylvestris varies according to its age and 

 other circumstances. A cubic foot, in a green state, generally weighs from 

 54- Ib. to 74 Ib. ; and, in a dry state, from 31 Ib. to 41 Ib. The wood is valued, 

 like that of every other pine, in proportion to its freeness from knots ; and it 

 is found that the knots of this species are much more easily worked, and much 

 less liable to drop out of flooring boards, than is the case with knotty boards 

 of the spruce or silver fir. The facility with which the wood of the Scotch 

 pine is worked occasions its employment in joinery and house carpentry, al- 

 most to the exclusion of every other kind of timber, wherever it can be pro- 

 cured. It is at once straight, light, and stiff, and, consequently, peculiarly 

 fitted for rafters, girders, joists, &c., which may be made of smaller dimen- 

 sions of this timber than of any other. In point of durability, if it is kept 

 dry, it equals the oak ; more especially if it has been of slow growth, and is 

 resinous. As a timber tree, for planting in poor dry soils and in exposed 

 situations, none can excel the Scotch pine, and it is only equalled by the 

 larch. In Britain, it surpasses every other species of the pine and fir tribe 

 for sheltering other trees, with the exception of the spruce fir, which, being 

 of 'a more conical shape, admits more light and air to the heads of the trees 

 which are to be drawn up by it. The Scotch pine is, however, altogether 

 unfit for giving shelter in single rows, unless the branches are allowed to re- 

 main on from the ground upwards, and the roots have free scope on every 

 side. Hence, this pine, like every other species of the tribe, is altogether 

 unfit for a hedgerow tree. When planted in narrow belts round fields for 

 shelter, it soon becomes unsightly, unless the trees stand so thin as to allow 

 of their being clothed with branches from the ground upwards. The true 

 situation for this tree, when grown for timber, is in masses over extensive 

 surfaces. A granitic soil, it is generally allowed both by British and Conti- 

 nental writers, is the most congenial to the Scotch pine ; and the sand and 

 gravel of the Forests of Rastadt and Haguenau are composed of the debris 

 of this rock. It does not harden its wood well when growing on the grau- 

 wacke ; and it is short-lived, and never attains a large size, on chalk. It will 

 grow and nourish in any kind of soil, from a sand to a clay, provided the 

 substratum be rubble or rock ; but in wet tilly soils it ought never to be 

 planted ; because, whenever the roots have exhausted the upper soil, and 

 begin to perforate the subsoil, the tree languishes and dies. It is justly ob- 

 served by Mathews, that the natural location of the Scotch pine in poor sandy 

 soils does not result from these soils being best adapted for it, but from the 

 seeds which are blown about by the winds rising readily in such soils, and the 

 plants growing more vigorously in them than any other tree. Should any one 

 doubt this, he observes, let him make an excursion into Mar Forest, and there 

 he will find the Scotch pine in every description of soil and situation, but 

 always thriving best in good timber soil ; and, in short, not differing very 

 materially, in respect to soil, from the sycamore, the elm, the oak, or the ash. 

 The Scotch pine produces cones at the age of fifteen or twenty years ; and 

 every cone generally contains from 60 to 100 seeds. The cones are gathered 

 in the months of December and January, and laid in a dry loft, where they 

 will keep good for a year or two, if not wanted for sowing ; and whence they 

 may be taken in early spring, and exposed to the sun, or at any season, and 

 slightly dried on a kiln, as already mentioned, p. 949. 



