CHAP. CXIII.

coni'fera:. pi'nus.

2279

in carving out of it numerous curious little figures of men and animals,which they sell in the towns, and which have found their way all overEurope . The wood is much used for wainscoting; having not only anagreeable light brown appearance, but retaining its odour, according toKasthofer, for centuries. The kernel of the seed, in Dauphine, Villarsinforms us, is eagerly sought after by a species of crow (Corvus Caryo-catactes L.), which shows an almost incredible degree of skill inbreaking the hardest shells. In Switzerland , the seeds are used in someplaces as food, and in others as an article of luxury ; and the shellbeing very hard, and requiring some time and skill to separate it fromthe kernel, the doing so forms an amusement for young persons in thelong winter evenings ; who, Kasthofer observes, show a degree of skillin it that might vie with that of the squirrel. In some places in theTyrol, the seeds are bruised, and an oil obtained from them by expression.So abundant is this oil in comparison with that produced by other seeds,that, while a pound of flax seed yields only 2| oz., 1 lb. of cembra seedyields 5 oz. Cembra oil is used both as food, and for burning in lamps;but, as the breaking of the seeds requires a long time, it is generally dearerthan most other oils: it has a very agreeable flavour when newly made,hut very soon becomes rancid. The shells of the kernels, steeped in anykind of spirits, yield a fine red colour. In Siberia , the seeds of thecembra are sometimes produced in immense quantities; but in other sea-sons there is scarcely any crop. In abundant years, they form, accordingto Gmelin, almost the sole winter food of the peasantry. The seeds, bothin Siberia and Switzerland , are employed medicinally; and Gmelin relatesa story of two captains of vessels, who were suffering dreadfully from thescurvy, and whose crews had almost all died of the same disease, beingcured in a few days by eating abundantly of these seeds. In Britain ,P. Cembra can only be considered as an ornamental tree; and, thoughwe hold it to be scarcely possible for a pine to be otherwise than ornamental(if it were for no other reason than its being an evergreen), yet we cannothelp, as we have already observed, considering the Cembran pine, whencompared with other species, as rather monotonous, both in form and co-lour. The summit of the tree, however, and its purple cones, we acknow-ledge to be truly beautiful. That we may not run the slightest risk ofinjuring this tree, we may mention that Mr. Lambert, so far from enter-taining the same opinions as we do respecting it, looks upon it as “ one ofthe handsomest trees of the whole genus.” (Pin., ed. 2., i. p. 49.)

Soil, Situation, ■ fc. Though the Cembran pine, as we have seen, will growin the poorest soils, and in the most elevated and exposed situations, whereno other pine or fir will exist, yet it will not grow rapidly, except in a free soil,somewhat deep, and with a dry subsoil. This is rendered evident from thetrees at Dropmore, which, though they cannot have been planted abovehalf the time of the trees at Whitton and at Kew, are above 40 ft. high,with trunks from 1 ft. to 14 in. in diameter. The tree at Whitton is on verymoist soil, and that at Kew on very dry poor soil. The soil at Dropmore isalso dry, but it is not so much exhausted by the roots of other trees as thesoil in the arboretum at Kew. All the varieties are propagated from importedseeds, which may be sown in the same autumn in which they are received;°r, perhaps, kept in a rot heap for a year, as they lie two winters and onesummer in the ground before germinating. The plants grow exceedingly slowlyfor 4 or 5 years, seldom attaining in that period a greater height than from1 ft. to 2 ft. When they are to be removed to any distance, they are bestkept in pots; but, the roots being small and numerous, large plants ofP. Cembra transplant better (when they are not to be carried to too great adistance) than most other species of Pinus .

Statistics. "Pinus C4mbra in England. At Syon, it is 30 ft. high ; in the Mile End Nursery, it is

ft- high j at Walton on Thames, it is 35 ft. high. In Surrey , at Farnham Castle, 35 years planted,