166 THE PINE TREE. 
it exists on a very thin stratum above water, where trees in 
general perish. Of all soils common in waste lands, pure 
bog is most uncongenial to its growth; and although the 
plant is sometimes seen to live in soil composed almost wholly 
of this vegetable substance, yet the pine requires a mixture of 
inorganic matter, in order that it may produce timber. 
In early life the tree rises in a formal shape, particularly 
in planted woods, where it indicates its age by the whorls of 
its branches, or their marks on the trunk. Trees fifty years 
of age are met with in sheltered situations, which furnish a 
scale of their growth during the respective years of that long 
period, when their entire height is often seventy feet. Some 
of the tallest pine trees in Scotland measure upwards of 100 
feet in height, but in a wild state they are seldom found to 
exceed seventy feet. But although the growth of the tree 
when young, particularly in planted woods, is according to a 
regular form, yet in its native wilds it soon assumes a very 
different character, presenting a massive trunk, with ramifi- 
cations irregular and beautiful. It is an Alpine tree, prefer- 
ring an elevated situation, a northern exposure, and a cool 
climate. Throughout the Highland districts isolated groups 
of the tree arise here and there in broken and varied outline, 
scattered around lakes, and on the rocky knolls of an undulat- 
ing surface, while single specimens stand throughout the 
brown heath, investing the scene with an air of grandeur and 
antiquity, of solemn and solitary beauty, which no tree but 
the Scotch pine and cedar could confer. Such scenes are of 
a very striking character during the heat of summer and the 
snows of winter. In the Highlands of Morayshire, along the 
roadside from Carr-bridge towards Aviemore, for several miles 
magnificent specimens of the native tree stand with massive 
trunks, broad and umbrageous heads, displaying a ramification 
equal to that of the oak. 
Wordsworth, who had a lively perception of the picturesque 
grandeur of the native Scotch fir, wished to insert a few 
plants of them in his grounds at Rydal, which we supplied, 
and to show his appreciation of the tree I take the liberty to 
