CHAP. CXIir. CONi'fER/E. //BIE'TIN^E. 2121 



Garden. For these notices of pinetums in Ireland, we are indebted to Mr. 

 Nuttall, Mr. Nevin, and Mr. Mackay, whose respective communications on 

 the subject will be found in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. xiii. 



Among nurserymen, the most complete collection in England is in the arbo- 

 retum of Messrs. Loddiges ; and next, as regards the number of rare species, 

 arc the collections of young plants grown for sale in the nurseries of Messrs. 

 Brown at Slough, of Messrs. Osborne at Fulham, and of Messrs. Lee at 

 Hammersmith. The best nursery collections in Scotland are, Mr. Lawson's at 

 Edinburgh, and Mr. Roy's at Aberdeen; and the best in Ireland, that of Mr. 

 Hodgkin at Dunganston. Mr. Charlwood is the principal British nurseryman 

 for seeds of rare /Ibietinae, which he imports annually from America. 



In France, the first collection of /ibietinse worthy of notice appears to have 

 been that of the celebrated Du Hamel, on his estate at Monceau, noticed p. 140. 

 Since that period, several species have been sent from America by Michaux, or 

 collected by the government gardeners, and planted in the grounds of the 

 Trianon, at Versailles, and in the Bois de Boulogne. The Baron Tschoudy 

 had a collection on his estate at Colombey ; and M. Delamarre had extensive 

 plantations at Vieil-Harcourt, in the department of the Maine, which he 

 thought of so much importance, that he bequeathed them, together with his 

 treatise on the subject (Traite Pratique de la Culture des Pins), to the French 

 government. M. Vilmorin, the joint author with Michaux, of notes to the 

 edition of Delamarre's work, published in 1831, has paid great attention to 

 the subject of pines, and has tried many species on his estate at Barres, where 

 he has collected all the species which he could procure, and planted them 

 singly, or in groups, or masses ; the sorts most nearly allied being placed 

 adjoining to each other, with a view to the study of the species and varieties 

 by botanists, when the plants shall be grown up. In this pinetum, M. 

 Vilmorin has been particularly assiduous in procuring and planting all the 

 varieties of the species most esteemed in Europe for their timber : such as 

 P. sylvestris, P. Laricio, P. Pinaster, &c. M. Puvis, who has given an 

 account of M. Vilmorin's plantations, in his work entitled De V Agriculture du 

 Gatinais, &c, states that the pinetum at Barres is at all times open to the. 

 inspection and study of botanists and cultivators. Perhaps the most remark- 

 able fact connected with the pine and fir tribe in France, is the circumstance 

 of grafting having been performed on a large scale on the pine trees in the 

 Forest of Fontainebleau, belonging to government. Here M. De Larminat, 

 the conservator of the forest, had grafted many thousands of P. Laricio on 

 plants of Pinus sylvestris, which have become fine trees; and the practice is 

 annually continued. In the French nurseries, the best collections are those 

 of M. Vilmorin and M. Soulange-Bodin. In Germany, there are collections 

 of pines in the different botanic gardens; and the most complete is that in the 

 Berlin Garden : but even this is surpassed in number of species by the 

 collection of Messrs. Booth, in the Floetbeck Nurseries. 



Poetical, mythological, and legendary Allusions. The gloomy grandeur of the 

 pine and fir tribe, their upright growth and great height, the regularity of their 

 forms, and the murmuring of the winds through their stiff leaves and rigid 

 branches, have made them favourites with the poets from the remotest 

 antiquity. The Egyptians considered the pine as an emblem of the soul. 

 Homer describes the residence of the Cyclops as " brown with o'erarching 

 pine ; " and other Greek poets tell us that the nymph Pitys, who was 

 beloved by Pan, having slighted the passion of Boreas, was dashed by him 

 against a rock, when the pitying Pan caused a pine tree to spring from her 

 remains. Marsyas, who challenged Apollo to a trial of skill as a musician, 

 and was afterwards flayed alive by that god for his presumption, was fastened to 

 a pine tree, and left there to perish. He is often represented, in ancient 

 sculptures, as tied with his hands behind his back to a lofty pine; while 

 Apollo stands before him holding his lyre. Some authors, however, say that 

 the place of Marsyas's suffering was against a plane tree. (See p. 2038.) The 

 Roman poets frequently mention the pine. Ovid tells us that Polyphemus 



