Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/113

Rh PINE 103 tains the name among their descendants in Britain, though botanically now classed as a pine. It grows vigorously in Lapland on the lower ground, and is found even at an elevation of 700 feet, while in south Norway it occurs up to 3000 feet, though the great forests from which &quot; Norway pine &quot; timber is chiefly derived are on the com paratively lower slopes of the south-eastern dales ; in the highest situations it dwindles to a mere bush. In Germany, both on the mountains and the sandy plains, woods of &quot;kiefer&quot; are frequent and widely spread, while vast forests in Russia and Poland are chiefly composed of this species; in many northern habitats it is associated with the spruce and birch. In Asia it abounds in Siberia and on the mountains of Dahuria ; on the European Alps it occurs at a height of 5600 feet, and on the Pyrenees it is found at still higher elevations ; on the northern side of Etna it is FIG. 2. Scotch Fir (Pinus syhestris). a, fertile flower of mature coiie ; b, winged seed ; c, fertile catkin (or cone) ; d, scale and bract ; e, inner side of scale. said to grow at above 7000 feet. In Britain natural forests of Scotch fir of any extent are only now found in the Highlands, chiefly on the declivities of the Grampians, and most of the great woods have been much curtailed in recent times, while the larger trees are generally felled as soon as they attain a timber size. In former ages the tree covered a large portion of the more northern part of the island, as well as of Ireland ; the numerous trunks found everywhere in the mosses and peat-bogs of the northern counties of England attest its abundance there in prehistoric times ; and in the remoter post-Glacial epoch its range was probably vastly more extended. The tree is not at present indigenous in southern Britain, but when planted in suitable ground multiplies rapidly by the wind-sown seeds ; on many of the sandy moors and commons natural pine woods of large extent have been thus formed during the last fifty years. The Scotch fir is a very variable tree, and certain varieties have acquired a higher reputation for the qualities of their timber than others ; among those most prized by foresters is the one called the Braemar pine, the remaining fragments of the great wood in the Braemar district being chiefly composed of this kind ; it is mainly distinguished by its shorter and more glaucous leaves and ovoid cones with blunt recurved spines, and especially by the early horizontal growth of its ultimately drooping boughs ; of all varieties this is the most pictur esque. On the Continent the Hagenau pine of Westphalia is esteemed for the straightness and good quality of its timber. The heart-wood of the finer kinds of Scotch fir is of a deep brownish-red colour, abounding in the resin to which its durability is probably due. For all indoor and most outdoor purposes it is as lasting as oak, and for ship planking is perhaps little inferior ; Irom its lightness and elasticity it is well adapted for the construction of yachts and other small fast-sailing craft, and is said to be the best of all wood for masts and large spars ; its weight varies from 30 to 40 t&amp;gt; the cubic foot. The sap-wood is more perishable, but is useful for fences, casks, and a variety of other purposes; soaking in lime-water renders it more lasting; great numbers of young pines are annually cut for railway sleepers, mining timber, and numerous agricultural applications ; large quantities are consumed in forming the wood-pavement which in the great towns is rapidly superseding stone. The quality of the timber depends greatly on the soil and position in which the trees are grown : the dry slopes of granitic or gneissic mountains, or the deep well-drained sandy gravels of the lower country seem to answer equally well ; but on clay or wet peat the tree rarely flourishes, and the timber is always indifferent ; it is usually said that the wood is best in the cold climate of its more northern habitats, but the writer has seen a trunk (4 feet in diameter) grown on the sands of Surrey with heart-wood quite equal to any produced in Glenmore or Rothiemurchus. The rapidity of growth is still more variable : in Britain full maturity is attained in from seventy to one hundred and twenty years, but in Norway the trunk increases much more slowly ; Schiibeler states that a tree felled in the Alten district (about 70 lat.), measuring 2 feet 10 inches in diameter without the bark, showed four hundred circles of annual growth. In Norway the tree, growing in dense forests, is generally of but moderate girth, and prob ably this pine nowhere reaches a greater size than in the Scottish woods ; a plank from Glenmore forest measured nearly 5| feet across, and from 3 to 4^ feet is not an unusual diameter for a British pine tree. _ ( Vast numbers of Scotch firs are raised in nurseries for artificial planting ; the seed is sown in the spring, being just covered with earth, and the seedlings transplanted in the second year into rows for further culture, or taken direct from the seed-bed for final planting ; sometimes the seed is sown where the trees are intended to grow. A plantation of Scotch fir requires frequent and careful thinning as the young trees increase in size ; but pruning should be avoided as much as possible, excepting for the removal of dead wood. Plantations in England are generally ready for final cutting in from sixty to seventy years, and many are cleared at a much earlier stage of growth. P. sylvestris in Britain is liable to many insect depredations : the pine-chafer, Hylunjus piniperda, is de structive in some places, the larva of this beetle feeding on the young succulent shoots, especially in young planta tions ; Hylobius abietis, the fir-weevil, eats away the bark, and numerous lepidopterous larvas devour the leaves ; the pine-sawfly is also injurious in some seasons ; the removal of all dead branches from the trees and from the ground beneath them is recommended as most of these