128 NATURAL HISTORY OP SCOTCH FIR. 



at times even declining, not very strong, very much elongated, and 

 often flexuous ; those of the inferior stages almost naked, ramifying 

 themselves in feeble twigs, which carry at their extremity little tufts 

 of short and outspreading leaves, while those of the ascending 

 branches are, on the contrary, very closely pressed towards the branch. 

 The crowns, by I'eason of their being somewhat equal, are in regular 

 stages, so that they show the trunk bare between them. 



" The bark is in general more grey than red, very often of an unde- 

 termined shade between the two. That of the base is manifestly less 

 thickened, less brown, and less rent than that of the Haguenau. 

 In regai'd to enlargement, this pine is inferior to the Rigas raised 

 from Russian seed, and much more so than some of the Rigas raised 

 from French seed, but, above all, than those of the lot of Haguenaux, 

 which, at the same age, have almost doable the magnitude ; and its 

 increase in height is in a similar measure less than in all those 

 named. It does not, in this respect, surpass any but its analogue 

 the pine of Brianc^on, to be afterwards described. 



"A botanical character, somewhat constant in the pines of this 

 series, is, that the leaf is shorter, broader, and firmer than in the 

 others, and especially than in the Haguenau. Their bud in spring 

 is behind that of these, and especially that of the Russian pine, by 

 from eight days to a fortnight. 



" The exceptions to the general characters, which I have just noted, 

 consist principally in the following : A small number of individuals 

 are elongated pyramidal, and as regular as some of the best Riga 

 pines first described ; others somewhat more numerous are expanded 

 pyramidal, some regulai-, others with strong gourmandes branches. 

 The individuals of these variations, almost including the last, have 

 a pretty mai-ked advantage over the others in regard to increase 

 in height, but more in regard to enlai'gement of trunk; the bark of 

 these is not sensibly better than in the mass. There ai'e found here 

 and there, but far separated, trees of which the bark is of a marked 

 and uniform reddish tinge ; but this exception is not more frequent 

 amongst the pyramidal than amongst the horizontal. 



" To sum up the whole, the Ardeche pine is, or at least appears for 

 the present, inferior in every respect to the red pines of the North, 

 both those raised from Russian, and those raised from French seed. 

 It does not nearly equal in value the Scotch fir, so unequal as these 

 are compared with the Haguenau ; this may be doubted, because it is 

 exempt from the great defects of that race, but it has not the good 

 qualities of that tree ; and, in view of the whole, the first appears to 



