THE AUSTRIAN PINE 
ing better than any other Pine, woods | 
of it should be freely thinned after a ; 
certain time, as it is very spreading. Its 
native country is among the mountains 
of Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, 
etc., and in those districts it comes : 
down to the plain within a zone of i 
from 900 to 2,400 feet above the sea- 1 
level. Though enduring the driest and 
stoniest of rocky soils, it is most ' 
frequently found upon limestone and 
dolomitic soils, for which it is better 
adapted than any other Pine, thanks to 
its thick canopy and abundant leaf-cast. 
The wood of the Austrian Pine is 
good in quality, resembling that of the 
Corsican Pine, but, being quicker to 
grow, its annual rings are wider, and 
the wood is consequently not so close 
or so finely grained. It is harder, 
heavier, and fuller of resin than the 
wood of the Scotch Fir, and more last- 
ing and better as fuel. 
The abundant castings of the foliage 
of this Pine, especially when young, 
and their rapid change into leaf-mould, 
make it a valuable soil-maker. With 
even a short rotation (say, of twenty 
years), a wood of this Pine not only 
yields a considerable quantity of fire- 
wood, but is a storehouse of fertility, 
whether for direct application to land, 
or allowed to accumulate and enrich 
the soil, which, in the course of a few 
years, is thus fertilised without the help : 
of any manurial or other dressing. 
Foremost among the gains in plant- 
ing this tree, is its peculiar fitness for 
a wide range of chalky country in 
southern England, where few other ! 
trees will grow. There is no land more | 
desolate than much of that country — 
treeless and almost naked, without shel- 
ter or woodland beauty of any kind ; 
while here is a tree that will not only 
live in these conditions, but actually 
enrich these arid wastes, running as 
they do through several ranges of hills. 
The Beech is the only other tree which 
serves this purpose, and the two might 
sometimes be associated, one helping 
the other : the planting should not be 
Leaf and Cone of Austrian Pine. 
done in little dots and skinny lines 
which the drying winds pass through 
at once, but in bold masses which are 
easier to fence and to tend in everyway. 
Increase. — This tree is offered in the 
right state for planting, and at reasonable 
prices, in all forest nurseries ; there is 
therefore no need to raise it in private 
