THE PINE. 419 



as the Pine. In the lowlands and in England plantations 

 of Scotch fir are now seldom made except upon the 

 poorest soils and most exposed situations, as it has been 

 discovered that many other trees will readily grow upon 

 ground that formerly was thought incapable of producing 

 any other tree than the Pine ; in consequence, that tree 

 is now almost exclusively used as a nurse plant, to foster 

 and protect the deciduous species, though even for this 

 purpose we prefer the larch, and, where the soil will admit 

 of them, the spruce and silver firs. 



In the natural forests, after a fall of timber, all that 

 is necessary to secure the reproduction of the Pine, is 

 to keep the ground free for a certain time from the de- 

 predation and inroads of cattle and sheep, so that the 

 seedlings may spring up unmolested and uninjured. In 

 these forests, Mr. M'Pherson of Ballendalloch, a corre- 

 spondent of Mr. Loudon's, remarks, " The plants spring 

 up in thousands and of different ages, and being, conse- 

 quently, of various sizes, the stronger gradually destroy 

 the weaker, until the wood is reduced to the distances 

 at which the trees can ultimately stand, whilst the lateral 

 branches gradually decay and fall off, so that thinning 

 and pruning are quite unnecessary." Mr. Grigor, also, 

 in his report previously quoted, seems to consider these 

 operations as scarcely necessary in respect to native forests, 

 though it is occasionally done by some proprietors where 

 the trees are very much crowded and of nearly equal 

 size, especially when situated near a road or river, where 

 the timber is of most value, " but this," he adds, " is not 

 attended to in the more remote parts of the forest." 



Artificial plantations, however, seem to require some- 

 what of a different treatment, for the trees being all planted 

 at the same time, and of the same age, rise together of 



