148 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFEBS. 



Pinus Laricio pygmsea is a dwarf dense bush with all its 

 branches and their ramifications much shortened, and with the 

 foliage clustered in thick tufts at their extremities. 



Other varieties of Pinus Laricio have received the names of com- 

 pacla, contorta, nana, pendula, &c. 



" The Corsican Pine is well adapted for profitable planting in this 

 country. For quality, quantity, general utility, and early maturity it 

 may have equals, but no superiors among the true Pines. It is con- 

 stitutionally hardy, of very rapid growth, surpassing its congeners, and 

 a rival to the now diseased Larch ; of large dimensions, attaining 

 heights of from 80 to 130 feet ; arriving at maturity in sixty to 

 eighty years, but will produce timber fit for any purpose in about 

 thirty or forty years. It is not fastidious as to soil or situation, and 

 excepting in spongy marsh or soft peat, there is no description of 

 soil not surcharged with stagnant water in which it would not grow 

 and produce wood of as good quality and equal quantity, and yield 

 as quick and profitable a return as any timber tree extant. 



" Its wood when young, or newly cut, is creamy white ; when 

 matured and seasoned, brownish yellow ; very resinous, elastic, and 

 tough ; very durable, long grained, and ^though a little coarse in texture, 

 is easily worked and capable of receiving a tolerably good polish. It 

 is less subject to the ravages of insects, fungi, game, or vermin than 

 any other Pine, which may be accounted for by the bitter aromatic 

 flavour with which its juices are impregnated." 



It is a sparse tap-rooted Pine when in a young state, but it is 

 not on that account bad to transplant. If the seedling plants are 

 transplanted in the autumn or winter, after their first summer's growth, 

 and again every succeeding autumn or winter till removed to their 

 permanent quarters, the failures are nil.* 



The specific name Laricio is the common name of the tree in 

 southern Europe. It is often called the Corsican Pine in England, 

 for no assigned reason, except that considerable quantities of seed have 

 been received from the island of Corsica. 



Pinus Massoniana is usually described as a larger tree than 

 P. densiflora, with which it is associated, and which it closely 

 resembles. The trunk attains a greater height, the branches are 

 longer and more spreading, the branchlets stouter, and the foliage 

 of a brighter green. The leaves are from 4 to 6 inches long, 

 rounded or convex above, channelled beneath, abruptly pointed, 



* Senilis in Gardeners' Chronicle of 1865, p. 891. See also Proceedings of the Scotch Arbori- 

 cultural Society, 1873, where Pinus Laricio is recommenced as the best substitute for Larch 

 where the latter fails in consequence of disease, 



