EXPANDED PYEAMIDAL PINE. 119 



ground, and come to a sandy sub-soil, eminently favourable to their 

 growth ; it may be also attributed to this, that, planted as they have 

 been in a long row directly facing the south, this position may have 

 helped to give to one portion of the branches an extraordinary 

 development. Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances, 

 the greater number have thus far preserved in their trunk, their 

 crowns, and their bark, the characteristics of the best Pin du Nord ; 

 and in view of everything, while regretting much that they have not 

 been planted in a close clump, I do not doubt that one portion of 

 them at least may one day be the most beautiful -pins sylvestres in the 

 school. On the other hand, this lot will be all the more interesting 

 to examine in their after growth — that it exists in sufficient extent to 

 supply studies somewhat conclusive ; it comprises about 400 trees." 



Under this second head he classes a Riga pine raised from seed 

 which had been sent to him by M. Noel, gardener of the Jardin 

 botanique de la marine, which had been gathered on a plantation at 

 Guiparaz, near Brest, which again had been raised from seeds brought 

 from the north in 1802 by an officer of marine; a Riga pine raised 

 from seeds brought originally from the north by the late M. Penna- 

 nech, of Morlaix, with which he formed a plantation on his property 

 at Bretagne ; a Riga pine from seed raised by M. Pousson, d'Hollande 

 of Bergerae ; a Riga pine from seed raised by M. Batelat, of Vie ; and 

 trees of P. sylvestris, raised from the seed of a tree in the garden 

 of M. Picot-Lapeyrouse. 



Of Riga pines, raised from seeds yielded by trees grown from seed 

 obtained from Russia, he writes : 



" When my Riga pines, raised from seed obtained directly from 

 the forests, began to yield seeds, I caused these to be collected, with 

 a view to ascertain whether the race would reproduce itself with its 

 peculiar characteristics. The plants which have been thus produced, 

 though they cannot be yet judged with certainty, have in general a 

 decided analogous appearance to that of their parents. A certain 

 number, however, presenting some defects in the trunk, or having 

 their crowns too strong, I do not wish to place them in the first 

 series, but would rather put them provisionally in the second series, 

 which contains many lots which are still young, and upon which an 

 approximate judgment only can be formed. Whatever may be the 

 definite place of these, the mass promises thus far to be very good." 



The second series, Riga pines of expanded pyramidal outline, 

 have the branches ascending and spreading, and the crown regular. 



