964 ARBORELUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
of the countries whence they were introduced, but they are not worth 
keeping distinct. The only varieties of pinaster which we think worth cul- 
tivating are, P. P. Aberdénieg and P. P. Lemonidnus, and, for those who 
like variegated plants, P. P. foliis variegitis. 
There is a more decided taproot in this pine than in 
any other European species; and, where the soil is dry and 
sandy, it descends perpendicularly into it, like the root of a 
broad-leaved tree. In proportion as the perpendi- 
cular roots are stronger than those of other pines, 
the horizontal roots are weaker ; and hence, in the 
case of transplanted trees, from the weight of the 
SF 
M 
i) 
il 
tt 
1785. P. P. minor. 1786. P. Pimaster. 
head, produced by the dense mass of long foliage, the stem is generally 
inclined to one side; and when, after two or three years, it begins to grow 
erect, a curvature appears close above the root, which remains visible even in 
old trees. The rate of growth is very rapid; plants, in 10 years from the 
seed, attaining the height of 10 or 12 feet, and, in twenty years, the height of 
30 ft., in the climate of London. The wood is in thick layers, soft, and not 
of great duration. The most remarkable fact in the history of this tree is the 
great use which has been made of it in France, in covering immense tracts of 
barren sand on the sea coast. Though the wood of the pinaster is soft, and 
not of long duration, it is employed, in the marine arsenal at Toulon, for the 
outer cases of all the packages which are put on board vessels, and principally 
for the piles and props which are used for sustaining the frames of vessels’ 
while they are being constructed. In Bordeaux and in Provence, it is em- 
ployed for the common kinds of carpentry, for packing-boxes, and for fuel ; 
but the most valuable purposes to which the tree is applied in these countries 
is the production of rosin, tar, and lampblack. The modes of procuring pitch, 
tar, rosin, &c., from the Pindster, are given at length in our first edition, vol. iv. 
p- 2221. to 2224, A deep dry sand, or a sandy loam ona dry bottom, suits 
this tree best ; it abhors chalk, and every description of calcareous soil. With 
