264 DEVASTATIONS OCCASIONED BY TOBRJINTS, 



plants over others consists in this, that within one or two years after being 

 transplanted they have acquired body, have become more densely branched, 

 and have formed more tufted and branched roots, and so can better adapt 

 themselves to transplantation to the place destined for their growth. 



" Plants obtained from the strips where they have been reared are, on 

 the contrary, always rather slender and poor, because they have grown up 

 in a very crowded condition." 



The kinds of trees best suited for the work of rehoisement is the next 

 subject to which attention is given by M. Marschand. " The choice of the 

 kind of tree to be planted," says he, " ought always to be made with great 

 care ; and if it have been practicable to make trial of different kinds in the 

 locality, never should extensive works be attempted with any but the kinds 

 the success of which has been made certain." And he goes on to say, — 

 "I have seen the most beautiful rehoisements obtained by means of — (1) 

 the Scotch fir, (2) the Austrian pine, (3) the Siberian pine, (4) the larch, 

 (5) the Norway fir. 



" The pin sylvestre (pin-us sylvestris), or Scotch fir, transplanted and 

 replanted, succeeds always ; it is employed in the Gontre-fort of the Alps, 

 which constitutes the principality of Lichtenstein. This tree, which does 

 not grow well but on deep earth, covers in the Alps immense areas, but it 

 becomes remarkable there for its poor and stunted appearance ; and this 

 variety, which offers no redeeming advantage, should be rejected. 



" The pin noir d'Autriche, or Austrian pine, is very robust, and may be 

 considered the pine of calcareous lands ; it has almost everywhere given very 

 good results ; its qualities and its products make it valuable, and it is not 

 without reason that day by day the adoption of it is spreading on all hands. 



" The pin dt, crochets, the Mugho or dwarf pine, is common in the Alps ; 

 the greatest mass of this in growth which I know extends from the Engadine 

 to the Munster-Thal ; it is the forest of Oflfen, more than 50 kilometres, or 

 about 35 miles, long. The tree — now creeping on the ground, now shooting 

 up — presents everywhere a poor appearance, and yields wood fit only 

 for fuel. 



" This tree rarely attains to great dimensions ; it is well, therefore, to be 

 chary in the employment of it — it should be consigned to dolemite chalks, 

 and pebbly ground, unsuitable for all other kinds of forest vegetation. Yet 

 I have often seen this tree in demand in the Alps, though often enough it 

 possessed no claim to be classified with forest trees. 



" The pin Cembro, or Siberian pine, is a tree growing at great altitudes; 

 it is not much employed, nor has it generally succeeded well on the Alps. 

 In the Grisons and the Oberland, it is considered one of the most robust of 

 trees, the success of which when planted is most certain. 



" The seed of it should be gathered in autumn ; during the winter it is 

 kept in sand or in saw-dust, in a place slightly moist and of mild temperature, 

 such as a cellar or stable ; or the cones may be left spread on hurdles in such 

 places. In spring the seeds are slightly watered daily for a fortnight, at 

 the end of which time they are taken out and sown. Unhappily the mice 

 are very fond of this seed, and scarcely have they been committed to the 

 earth when they are devoured ; in Engadine they surround the seed-beds 

 with frames of planks, sunk about 16 inches, and covered with wire-oloth — 

 and thus the mice are kept out. M. Coaz, by successive waterings, causes 

 the seeds to germinate in the boxes in which they are kept during winter, 

 he then sows them on the ground ; and the mice do not attack these, 



