144 NATURAL HISTOKY OF MARITIME PINE. 



inhabited by a few wretched sheep has succeeded an immense timber 

 forest, supplying in abundance timber, firewood, and resinous sub- 

 stances. 



" Many are the villages which owe their foundation to the intro- 

 duction of the maritime pine, before which there was a dearth of 

 timber and of firewood for baking the bricks and tiles, which are 

 indispensable for building purposes in a country devoid of means of 

 transport. 



" I cannot enumerate here all the benefits to mankind rendered by 

 this tree; let it suffice to briefly notice some of the chief uses of the 

 tree. 



** Immense sandy plains in Gascony, Orleanais, Touraine, and 

 Maine have become profitable through its culture. 



" Certain cantons, formerly desert and uninhabited, owe their im- 

 provement to the maritime pine, which furnishes materials in- 

 dispensable for houses and workshops ; its timber and resin are 

 useful for domestic purposes ; the baker needs firewood, the painter 

 turpentine and varnish, and the sailor tar for ropes, timber and pitch 

 for his vessels and boats ; and by this tree all these are supplied. 



" On the sea-shore the growth of the Bordeaux pine is the only 

 means of arresting the invasion of the dunes, which, like an ocean of 

 sand with moving waves, lays waste the fields and carries misery and 

 desolation into important populous centres. 



" Its protecting shelter from the caustic action of the salt winds 

 permits cultivation to be carried on in spots where this would other- 

 wise be impossible, and it withstands tempests better than any other 

 tree. 



" The maritime pine is met with all over France ; in fertile ground 

 where it would be the reverse of profitable, it occupies an important 

 place in landscape gardening. 



"To sum up, in cleared land it appears as the first symptom of 

 civilisation and progress, and is connected with one of the most 

 wonderful discoveries of the age, for with two of its relatives it shares 

 the privilege of supporting the wires, which in a second convey human 

 thought to the ends of the earth." 



In another connection he writes thus on the same theme : 



" The maritime pine is at home in Gascony, there it attains the 



largest size, and, provided that sheep are absent, it] multiplies 



indefinitely when once introduced. Sologne does not suit it nearly 



so well, it suffers from the inclemency of the climate and the badness 



