CONIEEBJE. — THE PINUS, Oil PINE TREE. 
S7 
and though planted sixteen years after them, 
they are now by far the largest and hand- 
somest trees. Upon observing the rapid 
growth of these trees, I was induced to 
enlarge my plantations, and took into my 
park 200 acres more, which I planted entirely 
with pinasters, except in the valleys where 
other trees grow. My pinaster plants were 
all raised from my own seed ; and this year 
their progress has been astonishing, and they 
are the admiration of all persons who have 
seen them. I am preparing to add another 
hundred acres, and have raised above 200,000 
plants for that purpose. I shall then have a 
plantation of 500 acres*, with a five-mile drive 
through it. December 1st, 1809." This is 
cheering information to proprietors of poor 
soil. It has been generally understood that 
the Scotch pine is, of all trees, the least scru- 
pulous as to the quality of the land they may 
be placed in ; but we have a proof here, that 
another individual of the cone-bearing family, 
is equally, if not more, serviceable in shelter- 
ing bleak and barren districts. 
The fact that few of the new pines produce 
wood at all equal to that of the Pinus sylves- 
tris, which can be got at such a low price 
throughout Britain, is at once a barrier to the 
introduction of many species of the noble 
family now under consideration. This cir- 
cumstance, however, ought not by any means 
to operate against the wide-spread introduc- 
tion of iheJP. Pinaster, and its valuable variety, 
the P, P. minor, or as the latter is generally 
called, the Pinus mavitima. The quality of 
the timber of any given tree is certainly one 
of the first points of importance ,* but if one 
can be selected which shall successfully carry 
down vegetation to the sides of the ocean, that 
feature should be sufficient of itself to stamp 
it as an object most worthy of cultivation.. 
To dilate upon the grand expanses of the 
sea, beheld from the deep recesses of a sylvan 
bower, is rather beside the object of this paper, 
yet it must not be overlooked that amongst 
the kw trees which we possess, suitable for 
maritime situations, the P. P. minor, ranks as 
one of the first objects to combine with the 
sublimest of all pictures exhibited on earth. 
Sea-side planting is, comparatively, a new 
study, but so far as it has been carried out, 
it has afforded a satisfaction which the pro- 
prietors of inland plantations have little con- 
ception of. Nature is ever ready to second 
and permanently record the well-directed 
exertions of men, and in this department, as 
well as in others, the beautiful adaptation ex- 
isting between certain objects and localities 
within her domain, is admirably exemplified 
in the luxuriance with which the plant rises 
when exposed to the sea air. On a cliff at 
Trimingham, in Norfolk, many of the plants 
may be seen rising fearlessly within fifteen 
yards of the German Ocean. What it may 
do for the immense districts lying waste in 
such situations, depends altogether on the en- 
terprise of proprietors who may be possessed 
of maritime lands. 
This tree, as an ornamental object, is un- 
questionably grand. In favourable situations 
it becomes a tall tree, displaying large portions 
of its bare reddish-brown branches, tufted 
with masses of rich foliage. The bark of the 
stem is deeply furrowed and coarse, and where 
this pine prevails, the feeling invariably awa- 
kened is, that you are in the neighbourhood of 
tremendous rocks and crags. 
The wood of the pinaster is reckoned softer 
than that of the common Scotch fir ; but ac- 
cording to the woodman at Mr. Petre's, deals 
of it, when raised on poor soils in exposed 
situations, are quite equal to any home-grown 
pine timber. In the countries where it is in- 
digenous, its chief use consists in its resinous 
products, tar, and lampblack. In France, it 
has been the means of reclaiming immense 
tracts of land which were perfectly destitute 
of any sort of vegetation. The plan adopted 
was, to sow the seeds along with those of 
broom, covering them with branches of trees 
so as to prevent the wind from removing the 
soil in which they were deposited. The 
broom affords shelter to the young pinasters 
for the first few years, after which it is over- 
topped and speedily smothered.. 
The way in which the seeds of this tree are 
procured, and their treatment,, are somewhat 
peculiar to this pine, and require special ob- 
servation. The cones are fully ripe in the 
month of March, when they should be gathered. 
I pay at the rate of two shillings per sack for 
the cones, and before they reach my nursery, 
an additional charge of four-pence per sack is 
made for carriage. The kiln, on which they 
are laid, and which I erected solely for the 
purpose of drying Coniferse, is in shape simi- 
lar to a malt-kiln ; but the cones are laid on 
wood instead of bricks, the latter admitting 
the heat to that degree so as to toast the seeds, 
and, of course, destroy their vegetating power. 
The boards on which the cones are laid are 
full of holes, through which the seeds fall ; and 
as they are by this means collected in the 
bottom of the pit, which is fifteen inches below 
the level of the fire-place, they are quite be- 
yond the reach of any heat calculated to injure 
them.. A cessation of heat takes place twice 
in a day, when the cones are completely turned 
over, and the boards swept clean of all the 
seeds, which are then removed from the 
bottom of the pit, or technically, the kiln-logie. 
The pinaster cones are much more difficult to 
open than those of any other pine ; and if 
they are gathered early in the season, they 
