48 TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 



To the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, K. B. President of the Royal 



Sir, ^'''''y- 



Having lately discovered that pineaster trees raised at St. Helena, 

 from English seed, yield a timber far superior to any of the 

 pine species I have ever seen or heard of, and conceiving that 

 their rapid growth, and the very extraordinary change which has 

 been effected in the appearance and texture of fir timber, are 

 circumstances deserving the attention of those who are accus- 

 tomed to contemplate the causes and effects in nature, I beg 

 leave to present you with a specimen of the fir timber of this 

 island. 



Of the tree from which this specimen was taken, I have pub- 

 lished a short account in page 17 of the inclosed St. Helena 

 Register : but after I had sent it to the press, I perceived I had 

 been led into a mistake in naming it " Scotch fir ;" for upon 

 examination, and comparing its branches, leaves, cones, and 

 seed, with the descriptions of the various species of pine, they 

 seem to me in every respect, to accord with those of the pineaster. 

 Pinus foliis geminis crasciusculus glabris, conis pyramidatus 

 acutis. 



In order, however, to be further satisfied on this matter, I 

 have sent by the present conveyance, to Sir Hugh Inglis, a twig 

 and cones of the trees in question, together with some seeds of 

 the very tree from which the specimen of wood was taken. It 

 is of consequence to be certain upon this point, that I may 

 receive the proper seed from England ; for it is my intention to 

 establish seed-beds and nurseries, sufficient to plant on this 

 island several hundred acres of this most valuable timber. 



Many trees of different sorts have been already tried here ; 

 there are none, however, so peculiarly adapted to the climate and 



