MONADELPIIIA. POLYANDRIA. Pinus. 819 
for tbeir hearths. With its leaves they strew their floors, and afterwards burn them, and 
collect the ashes for manure.” E.) Sheep and goats are not fond of it; horses refuse it. 
—(The bark of the Fir apple is a principal food of Loxia curvirostra , or Cross-bill; and 
thus are many seeds disengaged from their scaly covering, and committed to the earth. E.) 
It affords nourishment to Phalama Pini , quadra ; Curculio Pini , and Cime.v slbictis. 
{Aphis Pini converts the buds or young shoots of the Fir into a very beautiful gall, 
somewhat resembling a Fir-cone, or a pine-apple in miniature. And a species of Ckermes 
sometimes produces an enormous scaly protuberance at the summit of the branches, and 
formed by the extravasation of the juices occasioned by punctures made in order to deposit 
their eggs. The young larvae shelter themselves in cells contained in the tumour. Barbut. 
It has lately been ascertained that Fir-trees are liable to be absolutely destroyed by the 
perforations of Siren juvencus, as the woods at Henham-hall, Suffolk, testify. Vid. Linn. 
Tr. xiv. 584. Noctua Pinastri deposits larva; in the leading buds, often perforating the 
young shoots, and thus depriving the tree of its leader. And here must be introduced 
Achatsa spreta, Curt. vol. O.pl. 117. {Noctua Pinipcrda, Kob), a moth whose larvae totally 
consumes the foliage, (which the green-striped caterpillar singularly resembles), occasionally 
ravaging even extensive forests. The magnificent and rare insect Odonestis Pini (Curt. 
Brit. Eutom. vol. 1. pi. 7.) also feeds upon the Scotch Fir ;—and the Pine forests of Scotland 
are the most productive places for the uncommon Lopkyrus Pini, (also L. pallidas ), Curt, 
vol. 2. pi. 54 ; whose larvae are gregarious, assembling in numerous troops on the branches, 
and not only devouring the leaves of the Pine, but also the bark of the young shoots.-— 
The leading branches are likewise destroyed by the beetle Hylurgus piniperda , Curt.pi. 
103. where the process is fully detailed and illustrated. Phillips, in Sylva Florifera, 
observes that the leaves and brandies of the Scotch Fir afford wholesome nourishment 
cattle and sheep, which is no small consideration in mountainous countries, where 
the snow lies for months together. The resinous roots are dug out of the ground 
in the highlands, and, being divided into small splinters, are used instead of candles, 
(a custom not peculiar to northern nations, being, according to Sir W. Guseley, equally 
prevalent at Bedrowas in Turkey. E.) “ Fishermen make ropes of the inner bark. Tav 
and pitch are obtained from the trunk and branches; the juice being received in trenches 
made in the earth, is afterwards freed from impurities by colature through wicker baskets. 
They also yield turpentine and resin : 
“The Fine that oftentimes doth rosin drop.” 
Every part of these trees displays infinite wisdom in its formation, which is so pecu¬ 
liarly adapted to the native mountains. The resinous juices with which the trunks and 
branches abound, defy the rigour of the frost to congeal the sap, whilst the filiform na¬ 
ture of the leaves of these evergreens are not less happily adapted for resistance to the 
impetuosity of the winds, that beat with such violence on elevated situations. As these 
trees were designed by nature for perpetual winter, their foliage possesses the farther ad¬ 
vantage of reverberating the heat, like the hair of animals. 
Mr. Salisbury mentions that plantations of Firs, of twenty-five years’ growth, on the 
South Downs, have been sold at a price which averaged a profit of twenty shillings per 
annum per acre, on land usually let for sheep pasture at not one fourth that value. 
Loudon considers the self-sown Highland Pine equal to any foreign timber of the kind : the 
Lowland, and planted , fit only for roofing, lining of carts, lathing, packing boxes, and 
inferior purposes. On the elevated moors between Blackland, at the head of the Derwent, 
and Wolsingham, on the river Wear, and even on the mountains of Cross Fell at an 
elevation of nearly 3,000 feet, the roots and trunks of very large Pines are seen protruding 
from the black peat moss, being exposed to view by the water of these bogs having drained 
off and left the peat bare; but this tree is no longer indigenous there. The Scotch Fir* 
even though protected and planted on a lower level, does not at this day attain the size of 
these ancient Pines. In favourable situations, as by the Eden at Corby, in Cumberland,, 
some large trees may be noticed ; but on moorland soils, where it formerly flourished, it 
seldom thrives after thirty or forty years of age, and spreading its roots horizontally, it is 
very liable to be blown up by violent winds.” Winch Geog. Few have ventured to 
advocate the appearance of the commonly despised Scotch Fir ; but Gilpin pronounces it, 
when in perfection and standing singly, not unworthy of attention even as a picturesque 
object. “ For myself,” says that amiable writer, “ I admire its foliage ; both the colour of 
the leaf and its mode of growth. Its ramification too is irregular and beautiful; and not unlike 
