•SYLVICULTURE. l9i 



^oots. — The roots are cre,eping and hardy, and extend a 

 long lyay. There is almoist no tap-root. 



OrflyotJf, and Length of Life. — The black pine grows 

 rapidly, and continues to do so until a very advanced age. 

 When circumstances are favourable, it will live for two or 

 three centuries, and attain a diameter of a metre or more 

 at the foot, and thirty or thirty-three metres in height. 

 Some ,autl)ors have asserted that the trunk is rarely 

 straight. ZoQtli, who for a long time superintended some 

 forests of Austrian pine, and has published on the subject, 

 does not speak of this peculiarity ; and he considers the 

 black pine supplies excellent building timber. 



Qualities and Uses. — As we have seen, the black pine is 

 much- esteemed in Austria for building purposes, and we 

 are assured th^^t its durability equals that of the larch. 

 When under water, it is, so to speak, indestructible. It 

 supplies good firewood, and the charcoal is as valuable as 

 that of the birch. 



Writers agree in saying it ought to be cultivated in the 

 same way as the Scotch fir. In the eighth edition of La 

 Culture des Bois, by Cotta, there are given the following 

 directions : — 



In order that it may attain its full development of size 

 and qualities the Austrian pine should be subjected to a 

 revolution of from 120 to 150 years, according as it occu- 

 pies more or less elevated regions. In early youth it bears 

 the shade of large trees a little better than does the Scotch 

 fir, but in middle age it will not thrive where planted 

 closely together any more than will the latter, consequently 

 the ground is often covered with shrubs and thorns. 



The coupes de regeneration should be executed in the same 

 way as in forests of Scotch fir, — 60 or 80 reserved trees per 

 hectare will be enough for the coupes d'ensemencement. 

 Removing the thorns and ploughing the ground is very 

 useful in assuring the success of self-sown seed. 



Les coupes (Tamelieration, of which nothing is said in the 

 work quoted above, should be effected according to the 

 rules which have been given for forests of Scotch fir. 



