Foreign Notices : — Spain. 363 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Foreign Notices. 



SPAIN. 



(^Continued from p. 208.) 



" Section across the Castiles, between Valencia and Gijon. — The P. halepensis 

 is found on the sands of the Albufera to the very brink of the Mediterranean, 

 and extends, probably uninterruptedly, across the Sierra de Cuenca, in follow- 

 ing the course of the Xucar. Above it, on the southern verge of the Sierra, 

 I have every reason to believe is the P. hispanica, as before stated ; and on 

 the north side are the P. Pinaster and P. sylvestris. The Alcarria and dis- 

 trict near the junction of the Tagus with its great western branch the Gua- 

 diela, where there is a considerable mass of pine, have, to my knowledge, no 

 other species than the P. halepensis. This locality, in the vicinity of Sacedon, 

 is, as far as my observation extends, the northern limit of this species, as the 

 Sierra de Cuenca is the southern limit, certainly in Europe, of the P. 

 sylvestris. 



" Reaching the foot of the Guadarrama, which is in the line of section, the 

 P. Pinaster is seen forming the lower zone, but has nearly disappeared ; and 

 above it is a vast mass of P. sylvestris, which forms the noble forest of S. 

 Udefonso ; and, no doubt, the same order prevails in those of the Tietar, in the 

 neighbourhood of Talavera, and in the same range ; where pitch and tar are 

 made in considerable quantities. 



" It will be observed that the same order exactly prevails on the opposite 

 sides of the plain of New Castile, in ascending the Sierra de Cuenca and 

 Guadarrama. After crossing this central range, the scanty remains of forest 

 in Old Castile, between the Guadarrama and Valladolid, are of the Pinea, 

 according to information I have received. In approaching the chain which 

 divides Leon from Asturias, the oak, Q. prasina ?, is topped by the beech, 

 which is at the Puerto of Pojares, on the road to Oviedo; and below it, on the 

 other side of the range, are other oaks, elms, and chestnuts, to the sea. I 

 could not ascertain that any pines exist in the elevated range of Asturias, the 

 beech occupying, as in the Abruzzi, the highest level. The P. pectinata, which 

 is next in the series, does not appear until you reach the Western Pyrenees. 



" The districts not included in these sections are Catalonia, in which, from 

 the coast as far as my observation has extended, there is only the P. hale- 

 pensis, which is in large quantities, every hamlet and village having a propor- 

 tion, which would be much more valuable, but for the barbarous practice of 

 polling, or cutting off the branches, so fatal to the fir tribe, and which com- 

 pletely defeats the purpose meant to be obtained by it, of procuring a larger 

 quantity of timber on a given extent of ground. There are said to be three 

 kinds of pine on Monserrat ; but they escaped my observation the more easily, 

 as it is impossible, in the manner the trees are cut, to distinguish a species 

 from individuals with only a small bunch of branches at the top of a trunk 

 twenty or thirty feet high. It is not improbable that the P. hispanica may be 

 found in the upper region of the mountain ; and a desideratum, in this part, 

 would be, to follow the line from the coast to the forests of P. hispanica on 

 the Essera, to ascertain (which I have not had the opportunity of doing) 

 whether there is a species or more interposed between the P. halepensis and 

 P. hispanica, in ascending from the coast level. [From a commuuication from 

 the author, dated Dec. 9. 1835, we learn that, after more muture consideration, 

 he is inclined to place the P. hispanica above the P. Pinea, but still without 

 considering the point as quite settled.] 



" In the Pyrenees, on the confines of Aragon and Navarre, and on the 

 river which gives the name to the former kingdom, is a valley named Roncal, 

 which produces the timber used at Zaragoza, and which they assured me was 

 of excellent quality. 1 could obtain no certain information about the species 



