230 



Retrospective Criticism. 



The Stone Pine, Vimis ¥inea, and not Pirnis C^mbra (as erroneously 

 stated in an extract from the Foreign Review, and copied into the Gar- 

 dener^ s Alagazinc). — Sir, In Vol. IV. p. 391., under the title of Switzerland, 

 you speak of " the Stone Pine (Pinus Cembra)." 1 respectfully conceive 

 that you use an inaccurate expression in calling the Pinus Cembra the 

 *' Stone Pine," without more addition. The Stone Pine is the Pinus Plnea, 

 a native of the south of Europe, and which also has an eatable fruit ; but I 

 doubt whether you will find that to be a native of the Alpine regions of 

 Switzerland, at the elevation at which thePinus Cembra flourishes, and I also 

 much doubt whether you can lay claim to the like praises for the quality of 

 its timber, as for that of the Pinus Ctmbra. The Pinus Cembra is the 

 Aphernousli Pine, or Siberian Cedar, and its timber is undoubtedly en- 

 titled to all the praises you give it. The finest of the Riga deals are pro- 

 duced from this tree : the timber is peculiarly tough, and can be separated 

 by the plane into very tenacious and flexible ribands of the whole length 

 of the plank, for filling up fire places in summer, or similar purposes. — 

 CausicUcus. November '24. 1828. 



The Stone Pine is Vhius Vinea and not the "Pinus Cembra (as erro- 

 neously stated in the Gardener's Magazine. — Sir, In the last Number of 

 your instructive Magazine (Vol. IV. p. 591.), art. Switzerland, in an ex- 

 tract from the Foreign Review and Continental Miscellany, for January, 

 1828, you speak of the Stone Pine and Pinus Cembra as one and the 

 same plant. An error of such magnitude is a reflection upon your so 

 generally correct pages; and, as a contributor and well-wisher to your 

 popular work, I hasten to correct it. Referring your readers to that 

 article, I beg permission to inform such of them as have not made the 

 genus Pinus their study, that the Stone Pine (Pinus Pinea) is not a native 

 of the Alps, nor will it ripen its fruits or prosper in so cold a climate as 

 Switzerland. It is called (I think erroneously, but that, however, in the 

 present case, matters not) a native of Italy, where it is much cultivated in 

 the gardens, not only for the sake of its fruit, which is considered a great 

 delicacy, and which the natives eat both in a crude state, and mixed 

 greatly with their dishes, puddings, for instance, &c.; but for the great 

 beauty of its form and manner of growth, and the lovely green of its 

 foliage in winter, bo admirably ^--t^ i* 



described in Mad. de Stael's ^<;^^j?;^M^ISlifiS^' 



popular novel oi Corhme de ^ . i' \^ -s « . a^. 



PItalie. 



The Pinus Cembra, or Cem- 

 bran Pine, is a native of Swit- 

 zerland, but rarely found now 

 in a wild state. The inhabit- 

 ants of that country have 

 from time immemorial rooted 

 up all they have been able to 

 discover when young, for the 



purpose of planting them in TH 47 



their gardens, or near their 

 houses, where they place them 

 as emblems of good fortune, 

 and regard them with the same 

 sort of veneration that the 



Germans pay to the stork. — ,_^___„ 



The origin of their supersti- <^— ^^^'^5^^'i'!S!f?*''^' 



tious feeling for this tree I have never been able to discover. 



The form and character of the two trees, are as much dissimilar as is 

 possible for plants of the same genus. The Pinus Pinea throws up a lofty 

 naked stem,and carries thereon a large and extended broomhead (Jig.17.), as 



