2178 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



" Under the great shelter of the close-planted woods, the timber is soft and 

 porous, without much resin ; but, under great exposure, especially to dry air, 

 the timber is hard, close, and resinous. This is, however, considerably mo- 

 dified by the soil." (On Naval Timber, &c., p. 339.) According to Dr. Walker, 

 the Scotch pine may be planted on the thinnest and driest soils, and also in 

 mossy soil, when it is less than 2 ft. in depth, and bottomed with gravel 

 rather than with clay. It may also be planted in sand on the sea shore, and 

 on mountains to the height of 1400 feet. (Highlands of Scotland, ii. p. 237.) 

 In England, it is found that the Scotch pine will grow on every soil ; but that, 

 among dry soils, the one on which it thrives the least is chalk. The worse 

 the soil, the farther the plants should be placed apart, in order to insure their 

 vigorous growth ; but, as this distance will admit of their becoming branchy 

 trees, what the timber gains in strength and durability, it will lose in its fit- 

 ness for many purposes, from the number of the knots produced by leaving 

 on the branches. 



Propagation and Culture. 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 betaken in early spring, and exposed to the 

 sun, or at any season and slightly dried on a kiln, as already directed, p. 2131 . 

 Eleven imperial gallons, or about a bushel and a half, of cones, will afford 

 1 Ib. of seed with the wings on, or from 13 oz. to 14 oz. without wings. A 

 bushel and a half of seeds, with the wings on, weigh 12 Ib. ; and without the 

 wings, 26 Ib. As might be expected, the seed keeps longest when the wings 

 are left on. If kept in a dry place, and turned over occasionally, to prevent 

 it from heating, the seed will keep fresh several years ; but its vitality is very 

 doubtful after the second year. Old seeds are easily proved by sowing a few 

 in a pot, and placing it in heat in a moist atmosphere; when, if the seeds are 

 fresh, they will come up in a few days. In general, however, the freshness 

 of the seeds may be ascertained by opening them ; and, if the kernel is plump 

 and fragrant, there can be little doubt of their germinating. In the Diction- 

 naire des Eaux et Forets, it is said that, in France, the seeds of the spruce, 

 which are of a reddish colour, are sometimes turned black by means of powdered 

 charcoal, and sold for those of the wild pine ; but nothing of this kind takes 

 place in Britain, as the seeds of the latter species are of all the most abun- 

 dant, and consequently the cheapest. The seeds should be sown in beds in 

 light rich soil, and covered very slightly, perhaps from a sixteenth to a fourth 

 of an inch, according to the soil, situation, and climate. Sang directs the 

 seeds to be sown so as to rise at the distance of a quarter of an inch from one 

 another, and the covering to be in. thick. In France and German}', 

 forests of wild pine are frequently raised by sowing the seed where the plants 

 are finally to remain ; in which case an acre, where the soil and situation are 

 favourable, will require 14 Ib. of seeds with the wings on, and 11 Ib. without 

 the wings ; and, where the soil and situation are unfavourable, 16 Ib. with the 

 wings, and 12 Ib. without them. If the seeds are sown in rows, half the 

 quantity will suffice in both cases. The time for sowing, whether in the 

 nursery or in the forest, is from the end of March to the beginning of May ; 

 taking the climate of London for one extreme, and that of Aberdeen for the 

 other. 



Boutcher, from having observed that the seeds of the Scotch pine are often 

 injured by kilndrying, recommends not gathering the cones in the December 

 of the same year in which they ripen, but deferring this to the March or 

 April following ; and then keeping them in a dry place till June, July, or 

 August, sooner or later, according as the weather becomes hot. At this 

 season, they are to be taken out and exposed to the heat of the sun during 

 the day ; but put under cover in the evenings, and kept constantly from rain 

 and dew. In a few days the cones will expand, and the seeds will rattle 

 within them, when they can be easily taken out by sifting, &c. They are 



