12 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
nurseries, where too often we see it kept 
overlong and until too big to give the 
best results in planting. The stage that 
is known in the forest nursery as " three 
years transplanted " is the best. This 
tree, like other Pines, is a victim to the 
idea so long prevalent in Britain, that 
they should be set apart like milestones ; 
and if, by chance, trees should be found 
comfortably gathered together, they 
must be over-thinned, and thereby in- 
jured. Plant close — never more than 5 
feet apart, 4 feet is better still. Where 
the soil is suitable. Larch may be planted 
of about the same age, the distance apart 
to be the same in either case. The Larch, 
being the more useful in its early life, 
would be cut away to give room to the 
Pine. In all cases where poor, rocky 
soils prevail, there is, at the outset, very 
little to nourish a Pine in years with as 
low a rainfall as seven out of ten recent 
years have shown. \n much of the west 
and northern country this is not so much 
felt. But think of the condition of our 
hot South Down slopes, or some of 
those wide Wiltshire chalk deserts, 
during recent hot seasons. All the more 
fertile land on the hills is cultivated ; 
the steep slopes and worst soils remain 
for planting, and it will make all the 
difference as to result, whether we 
stand our trees close together or in thin 
open ranks. The close-set little trees 
will soon keep the sun's rays from the 
soil, kill the grass, and set to work to 
make good soil for us, where the trees, 
set wide apart, would starve. Encour- 
aging the trees to spread out their 
branches also delays the formation of 
leaf-soil, while, owing to the very close 
habit of the young trees, they present a 
far greater leverage to the wind. On 
the other hand, those that put all their 
energies skywards, shelter each other, 
drop their infant garments in the shape 
of lower boughs that have done their 
work, and are far more ready to meet 
the wildest storm, sleet, or snow. As to 
season of planting I prefer the autumn, 
from about the ist of November to 
Christmas, especially upon hot, earth- 
less wastes. 
Synonyms. — Pimis aiistnaca^ .Hoess. ; P. calabrica^ 
Delamarre ; P. dalmatica, Vis. ; P. Laricio var. aiistriaca, 
Endl. ; P. Laricio var. nigricans.. Pari. ; P. Laricio var. 
stricta^ Carr. ; P. leiicodertnis, Antoine ; P. magellensis^ 
Guss. ; P. maritiina, Koch. ; P. nigra^ Link. ; P. nigricans., 
Hoess. ; P. Pinaster^ Bess. ; P. romana., Hort. ; P. sylves 
tris, Baumg. ; P. tanrica., Hort. 
References. — Woods and Forests; Gordon, Pinetum, 
p. 229 ; Loudon, Arboretum, vol. 4, p. 2,205 ! Veitch, 
Manual of the Coniferas, p. 144 ; Boppe, Les Forets, p. 
100 ; Webster, Hardy Coniferous Trees, pp. 90 and 155 ; 
Selby, Forest Trees, p. 431 ; Mouillefert, Exploitation et 
Amenagement des Bois, p. 147 ; Cannon, Semeret Planter, 
pp. 4^ and 150 ; Nisbet, Our Forests and Woodlands, p. 
211. ^ # # # 
The Spell of the Alps. — For some of us, the 
Alps have a charm surpassing any sensation 
as of the sightseer or the Alpine climber. 
They are a welling source of life and happi- 
ness, impelling us to rejoice anew in their 
matchless panorama and varied beauties of 
plant life. They fill us with that fulness of 
human delight in which body, soul, and spirit 
unite with such harmony and force as if care 
and weariness were strangers to our being. 
More, they inspire to heights in which all else 
is forgotten in the pure love of Nature. These 
are the joys the mountains hold for us, and 
surely they are ample ; but, in the man himself 
is the true source of one half the beauty he 
enjoys. The mountains may be the exciting 
cause which so develop our sense of ecstasy, 
yet there are hearts in which the same beauty 
awakes no more response than with the brutes. 
To you it is given to know the spell of an 
alpine sunset. You speak of it with tender- 
ness, but the tenderness comes from your own 
heart ; you murmur, " How glorious," but the 
glory is one half your own. — Fran(;isque 
Morel. 
