CHAP. CXIII

coni'feraj. pi'nus.

2167

clay, inferior- to the generality of the subsoil in Duthel and Glenmore. Thequality of soil in the Highlands seems, in no degree, to alter the externalappearance and figure of the pines. Under every circumstance, they assumea rough and shaggy form. In general, they are older than most plantationsthroughout Scotland, and are of greater size, even in proportion to their age.Notwithstanding this, it is very uncommon to see a single tree in a decayingstate. We observed several trunks that had a few feet of timber scooped outfrom the side of each, to be used as candles by the cotters, yet the trees con-tinue quite green and healthy, with the hollows overhung with turpentineicicles several inches in length. The pines grown in these districts appear tobe of one species, and differ from the great bulk of those produced in the lowcounties of Scotland in the following respects : — The Highland Pine is of amore robust and shaggy appearance. In early life it grows, although crowdedtogether, to a greater girt; it is found to attain a greater size on very wetground; its wood is redder and harder, consequently more durable, and isfound to be more inflammable. It produces very few fertile flowers or cones,and what it does produce are uniformly found to be rounder, smaller, andwhiter; and it outlives many generations of the common cidtivated fir, andultimately attains a larger size. It may be difficult to ascertain the differencesin plants necessary to constitute a distinct species, but, if the superiority ofthe Highland pine to the common tree of the low countries should not beattributed to a difference in kind, the great proportion of the trees in Scot-land, by repeated cultivation, must have lamentably degenerated ; since it isknown, that thousands of the common fir have arrived at maturity, and thou-sands have died of old age, without ever producing timber in any respectcomparable to that of the districts now attempted to be described; and theywho aim not to propagate these magnificent objects of nature, overlook thatanalogy which is every where observable in the works of creation.” (/Aid.)

The influence of these various climates and soils on the Scotch pine is sogreat as almost to change its character. In Spain, and in the south otFrance, it flowers in March; in the climate of Paris, about the end of April;in that of London, about May; and in the Highlands of Scotland, and inNorway, it flowers from the beginning till the middle of June. On the northside of the Highland and Norwegian mountains, where it is crowded together,and on the plains of the north of Germany and Russia, where the trees alsostand in close woods, they are drawn up to a great height, and produce cleanstraight timber. On elevated irregular surfaces, and in very poor soil, thetrees, when crowded, are often stunted; and, when scattered, become tortuousbushes, or low branchy trees. The leaves and cones vary, in these situations,as much as the entire tree; and the quality of the timber as much as the ex-terior appearance.

History. The Pinus sylvestris was doubtless known to the Greeks andRomans. (See p. 19.) Pliny, as we have seen (p. 2112.), expressly mentionsthe wild pine, which was called pityida, from the name of the nymph Pitys(see p. 2121.); and that the fruit of it was considered an excellent remedy fora cough, (lib. xv. c. 10.) The first modern record of the tree is by Matthiolus,who calls it Pinus sylvestris montana ; and the first of these epithets, sylves-tris, was adopted as a specific name by Linnasus. Miller, in the earlier edi-tions of his Dictionary , made four species, P. sylvestris, P. rubra, P. tatarica,and P. montana; but these are now (as we have seen, p. 2150.) consideredby most botanists as only varieties; viz. P. s. vulgaris, P. s. horizontalis orP. s. rigensis, P. (s.) pumilio, and P. (s.) p. Mugkus. The different qualitiesof the timber of this tree, according to the soil and situation in which it was firstgrown, seem to have been ascertained in England in the time of Evelyn; but itwas not till long after his time that it was generally known that the red woodand yellow deals and planks of the Baltic, so generally esteemed throughoutEurope, were produced by the Scotch pine. This point seems to have beendetermined by Pallas and Cox, and made generally known by the latter in hisTravels, which were published in 1784. The tree only began to be planted