46 CULTURE OF THE MARITIME PINE. 



ing the repwpleinent of the pineries of Gascony required. The 

 maritime pine finds in that land conditions so favourable to its 

 development that it goes on reproducing itself indefinitely on the 

 same ground, without any necessity for man to trouble himself about 

 the sowing of fresh seeds. Often, in order that a sandy surface may 

 cover itself spontaneously with young pines, it is enough to surround 

 it with an enclosure, which shall keep out from the pasturage which 

 it supplies cattle left without surveillance in the pineries." 



An illustration of the importance of this occurs in one of the earlier 

 works by Darwin. It is stated, if my memory serves me right, that on 

 a piece of waste land or heath a common having been enclosed, forth- 

 with, to the surprise of many, there began to grow up vigorously 

 seedling pines, though pines had never been grown there before. 

 And, on examination, it was found that all around, growing amongst 

 the grass, were decapitated seedling trees, which had sprung up from 

 self-sown seed, but been broken over by cattle grazing there ; and 

 apparently nothing more was required in order to the whole becoming 

 a forest of pines than that this destructive operation should be 

 prevented by a fence to exclude the cattle. 



When the pineries become fairly established on the Dunes in 

 Gascony, or on fixed sands more inland, which belong to the tertiary 

 formation, they require, as the trees increase in size, to be subjected 

 to periodical thinnings, and in some cases to moderate pruning 

 judiciously executed. 



" In thinning, attention is given to removing the worst of the 

 trees, and to leave to the better trees the air, light, and space 

 required for their perfect development. Pineries which are not 

 thinned at the proper times suffer from this, as do crops overgrown 

 by weeds from neglect of hoeing suffer from these injurious plants. 

 The best sowings are those which are neither too sparse nor too 

 dense; pines which have much space for growth develope more in 

 breadth than in height ; they present a dwarfed trunk, irregular and 

 full of knots, and they are loaded with strong and vigorous crowns, 

 conditions which are as unfavourable to the operation of tapping for 

 resin as to the production of useful timber. If the plants remain 

 too numerous and too close they famish one another, shoot up 

 beyond what is desirable, and fall into an emaciated condition, in 

 which they succumb to every injurious influence. The stems are 

 slender ; and the crowns, weak and few in number, fall off of them- 

 -selves, leaving stumps, which disappear. But they recover them- 



