EXPERIMENTS WITH INTRODUCED TREES, 



95 



other introduced trees to the same ex- 

 tent. 



Jeffrey's Pine. — This is the only 

 Californian Pine of large foliage that 

 supports the rigours of the North Ger- 

 man climate. The fine forest planta- 

 tions of Baron von Borkheim at Wern- 

 heim nearHeidelberg,on the other hand, 

 can show the whole series of handsome 

 Pines from the Pacific Coast. Jeffrey's 

 Pine does well as an experiment. It is 

 still very young, but its season of vege- 

 tation is very short in Prussia. 



Banks's Pine. — The idea of in- 

 cluding in experimental forestry the 

 crooked Pine of Canada may seem a 

 strange one, and the popular name of 

 Scrub Pine is not promising. It is a 

 dwarf tree, often bushy and spreading 

 in northern Canada. West of Lake 

 Superior the tree grows thickly in fo- 

 rests, is very slender, and of middling 

 height. At Eberswalde it has shown, in 

 addition to hardiness and facility of re- 

 covery, rapidity of growth in the first 

 years, and precocious fertility, trees of 

 six years having reached a height of 

 1 6 feet and yielded fertile seed. For 

 clothing poor soils and for severe cli- 

 mates the tree is therefore useful, and 

 the experiments with it at Eberswalde 

 are not without interest, although it 

 is probable the value of the wood may 

 turn out next to nothing. 



False Pitch Pine (Pinus rigidd). 

 —The tree has been much planted in 

 France and elsewhere by amateurs in 

 the hope of obtaining Pitch Pine from 

 it, deluded by the ancient name of 

 Pitch Pine given to it in the Atlantic 

 States of America, but not in the 



southern states, where the true Pitch 

 Pine (P. palustris) grows. As a hardy 

 tree it will be found useful in cool 

 sands, even those with water in cold dis- 

 tricts but not arid. It is frequently met 

 with along the coast of the North Sea, 

 in Belgium, Holland, and in North- 

 West Germany. There it takes the place 

 almost of the hardiest maritime Pine. 

 In the North German plain the tree for 

 want of moisture finds no place, and 

 the young plants at Eberswalde at six 

 years old are not much more than 30 

 inches high. 



The Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis). 

 — The oldest trees of this fine Fir are 

 about thirteen years old, and some of 

 them are already 23 to 26 feet high; 

 taking into account the slow rate of 

 the first year's growth this result is 

 good. I was told that the results are en- 

 couraging in the regions close to the 

 North Sea. The tree was much planted 

 in Prince Bismarck's park at Friedrichs- 

 ruhe, and I saw young plantations of 

 it near Diisseldorf in rich sandy loam 

 but very moist, and they were very vigo- 

 rous. I have often observed in France 

 that trees of this, if isolated, lose their 

 tops, and I think that it should be 

 planted close and kept so. 



The Red Cedar (Juniperus Vir- 

 giniand). — The tree is not at home in 

 a sandy soil and rigorous climate, not 

 that it is not hardy, but because it de- 

 mands a long and warm summer, and 

 much light and air. Where it has been 

 tried it has been replaced by Douglas 

 Fir. In the warmer parts of Germany it 

 is grown for the sake of its heart wood, 

 which is sold to the manufacturers of 



