820 MONADELPHIA. POLYANDRIA. Pinos 
that of the Stone Pine ; which it resembles also in the easy sweep of its stem ; and likewise 
in the colour of its bark, which is commonly, as it attains age, of a rich reddish brown. In 
its stripling state indeed it is less an object of beauty, its pointed and spiry shoots being then 
too formal.”—“ Some of the most picturesque trees of this kind perhaps in England, 
adorn Mr. Lenthall’s deserted mansion at Basilsleigh, in Berkshire.” p. 88. Stoddavt 
states that Mr. Farquharson has planted on his estate of Invercauld no less than sixteen 
millions of Fir; and that in the natural woods are some very ancient ones, “ above one 
hundred feet in straight height. They were much more numerous; but having been 
injudiciously thinned, the wind forced its way among them, and in one night laid most of 
the veterans low. The natural beauty of the individual tree has been greatly undervalued ; 
but surely when planted on so broad a scale, their effect is peculiarly adapted to augment 
the grandeur and majesty of these vast hollows. At Invercauld, as at Glenmuir, the 
mountains seem to be divided by a dark sea of Firs, whose uniformity of hue and 
appearance affords inexpressible solemnity to the scene, and carries back the mind to those 
primeval ages, when the axe had not y.et invaded the boundless regions of the forest.” ii. 
167. However the sylvan produce of Scotland may have been disparaged by a partial and 
prejudiced view, experience proves that the various kinds of timber raised in such exposed 
situations, are thereby rendered decidedly superior both in texture and enduring quality, to 
what may be obtained more rapidly, and of some sorts perhaps with greater certainty, in the 
lowlands of England. Pliny remarked that timber which grew in moist and sheltered 
situations was less compact and durable, than when reared under opposite circumstances : 
and Homer, for the same reason, assigns to Agamemnon a spear formed of a tree which had 
braved the fury of the tempest. 
“ Yon verdant Pines , that midst the winter smile, {grimly > it must be admitted), 
Offspring of Scotia’s or Virginia’s soil.” Delille. 
Indeed it is in the Highlands of North Britain that we must look for “ this magnificent 
tree,” as Dr. Greville terms it, “ w'here it is truly wild, and differing as much from the 
formal ornament of the plantation, as the hardy mountaineer from the sedentary mechanic 
of a crowded city.” The sprig of a favourite plant often constitutes the badge of respective 
chieftains, and as such we find this mountain tree appropriated, in the Lady of the Lake, to 
the Clan-Alpine. 
“Hail to the chief who in triumph advances ! 
Honoured and blessed be the evergreen Pine / 
Long may the tree in his banner that glances 
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line ! ” 
Interesting particulars respecting the Scotch Fir may be read in Evelyn’s Sylva, and Phil. 
Tr. No. 275®~277. See also Library of Entertaining Knowledge, vol. ii. p, 34, with a 
fig. E.) 
