the Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum. 12 7 



years afterwards, when he examined the same plantation, he found the trees 

 from 45 ft. to 60 ft. high, generally thicker than a man's body, and the decay- 

 ing stratum of leaves so much increased, that several rocks, which before 

 appeared 2 ft. above the soil, were no longer visible. {Annates de la Societe 

 d' Hortieidture de Paris.) 



The Pine and Fir Tribe, though they will succeed perfectly well in poor 

 sandy soil, by no means thrive in poor calcareous soils. M. Vilmorin has 

 sown and planted the pine and fir tribe on the poor sandy wastes of his 

 estate, Les Barres, near Montargis, on the road to Lyons, which have thriven 

 wonderfully : on the same estate, there are some poor calcareous soils, and 

 on these M. Vilmorin has not been able to get the pine and fir tribe to suc- 

 ceed at all. "Nevertheless, on the chalks of Champagne there are pine woods; 

 though it is acknowledged, on all hands, that the pines and firs on chalk grow 

 much more slowly, when young, than they do on either sand or loam. 

 {Poiteau in Annates de la Societe d'Hort.) 



P. sylvestris {the Scotch Pine) as compared with P. Pinaster {the Pinaster). — ■ 

 The Forest of Fontainebleau contains nearly 30,000 acres, of which above 

 25,000 are covered with pines of different species, all planted. It is among 

 the more ancient of these plantations that the vast superiority of the Pinus 

 sylvestris appears over every other species, and more especially over the P. 

 Pinaster. The pinaster grows more rapidly when young, but the Scotch pine 

 soon overtakes it, and, after a certain number of years, attains a higher eleva- 

 tion, and still continues to grow. The Scotch pine has a trunk always straight 

 and erect, with a reddish grey bark, scaly, but only slightly furrowed. The 

 pinaster, on the contrary, never has a straight trunk, while its bark is much 

 thicker, rougher, more deeply furrowed, and of a darker grey, than that of 

 the Scotch pine. The two trees can be distinguished at a considerable dis- 

 tance by a bare inspection of the bark. (A?m. de la Soc. Hort. Paris.) 



P. Pinaster var. major, and P. Pinaster var. minor. — Cones of these two 

 varieties have been sent us by Mr. Strangways, who received them from 

 Naples. The former is nearly twice the diameter of, and about a third part 

 longer than, the latter. The terminations of the scales are particularly promi- 

 nent and pointed, in both varieties ; and on the lower part of one side of the 

 cones of P. minor they are turned down exactly in the manner of those of 

 P. sylvestris uncinata. Of course this is only an accidental circumstance, 

 which often happens to the cones on one part of a tree, and is totally wantino- 

 on those of the other parts. — Cond. 



P. Pinaster Escarenus (so named by Risso, in honour of his friend Count 

 Escarena, on whose estate this pine was found), Arb. Brit. 2214., Hort. 

 Lig. 119. — This variety of Pinaster, recorded in the Arboretum Britannicum 

 on the authority of the name placed on the plant in the Horticultural 

 Society's garden, and also on that at Dropmore, the Duke of Bedford 

 has discovered not to be the plant named P. Escarena by M. Risso. 

 His Grace passed the winter of 1837-8 at Nice, and there saw M. Risso 

 who first discovered and gave the name to this alleged new species, of 

 Pinus ; and from him procured specimens, which he brought to England. 

 These specimens Mr. Forbes, the Duke of Bedford's gardener at Woburn 

 considers to be nothing more than the Scotch pine; and a tree of this species 

 in Mr. Harrison's pinetum, at Cheshunt, is said to be the true Pinus Escarena 

 of Risso. It seems that the Earl of Aberdeen, who first brought the seeds 

 to England, committed them to the care of his gardener; who, in sowin^ 

 them, confounded them with the seeds of some other pines. The whole 

 matter, His Grace the Duke of Bedford informs us, will be set to rights in 

 the catalogue of the pinetum at Woburn, which is now preparing for the press 

 under His Grace's direction. 



Since the above was in type, we have seen Lord Aberdeen, who informs us 

 that, when he first saw the P. Escarena at Nice, he thought it very like the 

 Scotch pine, and was quite surprised when he saw that name applied to the 

 tree at Dropmore, and to that in the Horticultural Society's garden. His 



