74 
WILD PINE OR SCOTCH FIR. 
In that part of Europe which lies above the 55th degree of latitude, are 
found immense forests of resinous trees, in general composed entirely of 
this species ; below this parallel the leafy trees begin to mingle with them, 
and soon exclude them from the forests. In the centre of Europe the 
Wild Pine abounds only in the coldest and most elevated situations, such 
as the Pyrenees j the Tyrolian, Swiss and Yosgian Mountains. In Scotland 
it is so common as to leave no doubt of its being indigenous to that king- 
dom, though some authors believe it to have come originally from the 
Continent. 
This tree arrives at perfection only in the north of Europe, where it is 
more than 80 feet high and 4 or 5 feet in diameter. The full-grown trunk 
is covered with a thick and deeply furrowed bark ; the leaves are in pairs, 
of a pale green, stiff, twisted, and about 3 inches long : the flowers are of 
a yellowish tint, and the cones are grayish, of a middling thickness and a 
little shorter than the leaves. Each scale is surmounted by a retorted 
spine ; the seeds are small, black, and garnished with a reddish wing ; they 
ripen the second year. 
The great elevation of the Wild Pine, its uniform diameter, and the 
excellent quality of its wood, resulting from a just proportion of resinous 
fluid, render it peculiarly proper for the masts of large ships, and for an 
infinite variety of secondary uses. A considerable exportation takes place 
from the north of Europe, especially from Riga, Memel and Dantzick, to 
the maritime states, particularly to England, where, according to Sir A. 11. 
Lambert, it is known by the name of red deal , and in London by that of 
yellow deal. In Poland and Russia, the houses in the country are generally 
constructed of it. This species furnishes four-fifths of the tar consumed 
in the dock-yards of Europe, which is imported from Archangel, Riga, and 
other ports of Russia and Norway. 
In the north of Europe, great ravages are committed in the forests com- 
posed of the Wild Pine and Norway Spruce Fir by several insects, of which 
the most destructive is the Bostrichus piniperda. This little animal intro- 
duces itself into the cellular tissue of the bark, and succeeds in dividing 
it from the trunk. The separation of the bark prevents the circulation of 
the sap, and hence results the inevitable death of the tree. It is impossi- 
ble to oppose an effectual resistance to this winged enemy ; but I have 
been informed by a Polish gentleman that its progress is sometimes arrested 
by felling all the trees, for a space of fifty yards in breadth, between the 
part of the forest which it already occupies and that which it threatens to 
assail. 
The faculty which I have ascribed to the Wild Pine of growing in cli- 
mates, soils and exposures extremely different, is of inestimable value, and 
its cultivation has been successfully attempted on lands abandoned during 
ages of hopeless sterility. Plantations may be formed from the seed, or 
