Pinus 



II 17 



Cultivation 



The maritime pine was introduced by Gerard more than three centuries ago, 

 and though it has at various times been very largely planted in some parts of 

 England, it has never taken the place of a forest tree, and has no qualities which will 

 justify its being considered as such, except in a few places. 



It seems, however, so much at home^ on the warm sands of south-east Dorset- 

 shire, where it reproduces itself freely by seed, that it might perhaps take the place of 

 Scots pine for pit props in places where sea carriage is available. On the road from 

 Christchurch to Heron Court it attains a very large size. The best I measured was 

 about 85 ft. by 9^ ft. on almost pure sand among rhododendrons and tall bracken. 

 I could not learn, however, that the timber was valued here, and was unable to find 

 out the age of the trees. 



Though the tree is a native of the Mediterranean region, it seems able to 

 endure great extremes of wet and cold in this country, as I have seen it growing well 

 in the damp climate of Wigtownshire and on the sandhills of Norfolk. 



We have measured a great many adult trees in various parts of England, among 

 which a tree (Plate 290) near the house at Foxley Hall, near Hereford, is one of the 

 finest, measuring, in 1907, 95 ft. by 11 ft. 8 in. with a bole clean to 50 or 60 ft. 

 This was remarkable, because the soil and climate at Foxley seem to be more suit- 

 able to oaks than to maritime pines, though the situation is well drained and 

 sheltered. 



In the grounds of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe at Mount Edgcumbe, Cornwall, 

 Mr. A. B. Jackson measured an immense old tree, which in 1909 was 18 ft. in girth. 



In the kitchen garden at Penrhyn Castle, there is a remarkable tree 80 ft. high 

 and forked close to the ground, forming two huge trunks 11^ ft. and 8 ft. 10 in. in 

 girth, between which a large aviary is fixed. 



Other large trees are as follows : — 



At Westwick, Norfolk, according to Loudon, who quotes the Trans. Soc. Arts, 

 xxviii. n (1811), J. B. Petre, Esq., planted in 1809, on upwards of 500 acres, over 

 200,000 trees raised from his own seed from trees planted about 1 702. I am informed 

 by Mr. M. P. Price that in March 1909 he measured roughly some of the largest sur- 

 viving trees, and found them to be from 75 to 80 ft. high by 9 to 10 ft. in girth, 



1 Cf. Clement Reid, Origin British Flora, 12 (1899). Boswell Syme, Eng. Bot. viii. 270 (1868), erroneously states that 

 it is a native of the south of Ireland. 



2 A tree labelled P. Escarena, planted in 1841, measured 66 ft. by 8 ft. 3 in. in 1909. 



