964 



ARBORETUM 



FRUTICETUM HIUTANNICUM. 



of the countries whence they were introduced, but they are not worth 

 keeping distinct. The only varieties of pinaster which we think worth cul- 

 tivating are, P. P. Aberdom'te and P. P. LemomWws, and, for those who 

 like variegated plants, P. P. foliis variegatis. 



There is a more decided taproot in this pine than in 

 any other European species ; and, where the soil is dry and 

 sandy, it descends perpendicularly into it, like the root of a 

 broad-leaved tree. In proportion as the perpendi- 

 cular roots are stronger than those of other pines, 

 the horizontal roots are weaker ; and hence, in the 

 case of transplanted trees, from the weight of the 



1786. P. Pin.'ister. 



head, produced by the dense mass of long foliage, the stem is generally 

 inclined to one side ; and when, after two or three years, it begins to grow 

 erect, a curvature appears close above the root, which remains visible even in 

 old trees. The rate of growth is very rapid ; plants, in 10 years from the 

 seed, attaining the height of 10 or 12 feet, and, in twenty years, the height of 

 30 ft., in the climate of London. The wood is in thick layers, soft, and not 

 of great duration. The most remarkable fact in the history of this tree is the 

 great use which has been made of it in France, in covering immense tracts of 

 barren sand on the sea coast. Though the wood of the pinaster is soft, and 

 not of long duration, it is employed, in the marine arsenal at Toulon, for the 

 outer cases of all the packages which are put on board vessels, and principally 

 for the piles and props which are used for sustaining the frames of vessels 

 while they are being constructed. In Bordeaux and in Provence, it is em- 

 ployed for the common kinds of carpentry, for packing-boxes, and for fuel ; 

 but the most valuable purposes to which the tree is applied in these countries 

 is the production of rosin, tar, and lampblack. The modes of procuring pitch, 

 tar, rosin, &c., from the Pinaster, are given at length in our first edition, vol. iv. 

 p. 2221. to 2224. A deep dry sand, or a sandy loam on a dry bottom, suits 

 this tree best ; it abhors chalk, and every description of calcareous soil. With 



