438 CONIFERS. 



cultivated in many districts, as well as its ornamental qua- 

 lities, entitle it to some notice in a work like the present, 

 though it cannot be recommended as a species valuable 

 for its timber, or calculated to repay the planter for its 

 occupancy, in soils capable of producing wood of more 

 general utility. In the quality and texture of its wood 

 it is greatly inferior to the Common Pine, as well as to 

 the other species whose cultivation we have already recom- 

 mended, and, even in its ornamental properties, it does 

 not, we think, surpass the Pinus laricio, Pinus palla- 

 siana, or the Pinus Austriaca, all of which occupy a higher 

 zone, that is, grow in a colder climate, and are, therefore, 

 better calculated for extensive cultivation throughout the 

 varied surface of the British Islands. It possesses, how- 

 ever, a constitution and habit which render it of great 

 importance in certain localities, being a species that bears 

 with impunity, indeed thrives within, the influence of the 

 sea air, at the same time that it affects a deep soil of a 

 light sandy nature, and even grows with vigour upon 

 tracts of pure sand. Such are those extensive woods of 

 the Pinaster which cover so large a surface of the sandy 

 downs along the southern coast of France, the Landes 

 of Bordeaux, &c, in which districts its produce, consisting 

 chiefly of the tar, resin, &c, extracted from the avoocI, 

 constitutes a principal source of the riches of the inha- 

 bitants. 



This predilection for a maritime situation, and a constitu- 

 tion sufficiently hardy to brave the vicissitudes of our climate 

 at a low elevation, point out the Pinaster as the most ap- 

 propriate, indeed, we believe, the only species of Pine that 

 can be reared with any prospect of success within the direct 

 influence of the sea air, and upon such tracts of our coasts 

 as are chiefly composed of sand. For such a habitat, how- 



