CHAP, CXII1.

coni'ferje. pj'nus.

2277

it has been observed that the leaves incline more to-wards the shoots which produce them during winterthan in summer, as if to prevent the snow fromlodging on them; and this is said to be much moreconspicuously the case with the leaves of P. Cembrathan with those of any other species. The malecatkins are red, and appear at the base of the youngshoots. According to Lambert, the flowers have amore beautiful appearance than in any other speciesof pine, being of a bright purple; and the unripefull-grown cones, he says, have a bloom upon themlike that of a ripe Orleans plum. The tree is ofremarkably slow growth in every stage of its pro-gress, more especially when young ; seldom advanc-ing more, even in rich soils, than 1 ft. in a year(though, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh , as willbe hereafter noticed, it grows much faster); but itgrows quicker when it becomes older. It is readilyknown from all the other species of pines by its nar-row, conical, compact form, and the shortness of its silvery leaves, whichform tufts at the extremities of the branches. In England, it is a formal,and we do not think it can be considered a handsome, tree : it presentsto the eye a multiplicity of tufts of leaves, piled up one above another,of the same size, and equidistant; and every where of rather a dull greencolour. The uniformity

of shape is nowhere .JjL

broken, except at thesummit, where alonethe cones are pro-duced ; and hence, as amass, it may be charac-terised as formal andmonotonous, withoutbeing grand. In proofof this, we may refer toa plate of this tree inour last Volume. InSiberia and Switzer-land , trees such as thosementioned by Pallas asbeing 120 ft. in height,have a much moregrand and picturesqueappearance; and Jig.

2192. is a portrait ofone of these trees.

The largest tree thatwe know of in England18 the original plantat Whitton, which, in1837, after being 91years planted, was only50 ft. high, with a trunk1 ft. 6 in. in diameter.

This tree bears conesand ripens seeds every

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year; and, though it appears to have suffered from the soil round it havingeen raised above a foot in height, yet it still continues to grow with vigour,

7 h 4