ill 1809) were upwards of 80 feet high, and contained about eight loads of timber each. There is one
at Croom Court, in Worcestershire. 90 feet high, and many all over the country from 40 to 60 feet,
Major-General Beatson, Governor of St Helena in 1811, mentions, in letters published in the
St Helena Register, dated 22d July and iStli September, that most of the Pitiasters at Plantation
House, St Helena, were raised from seed brought by .Mr Henry Porteous, and sown on the ist of July
1787. He gives the girth of some of the largest of the trees in 1811 ; one was s feet 7 inchcs in girth,
others from 5 to 3 feet, or even less (all at 4 feet above the ground), the difference in size being due
to the kind of soil in which they were planted. The product of one single tree was in all 193
superficial feet. The first 7 feet above ground squared to 13 inches. The whole of the stem
measured 146 superficial feet, and the lai^e branches contained 47. The size of another specimen
was 4 feet 8 in girth at i foot from the ground; 3 feet 7 at 2 feet from the ground; and 38 feet
in height, of which 40 feet was ser\-iceable timben
It is nf litde value as a timber tree, but has proved extremely
It is one of the few Conifers which thrive in sand, and under exposure
found invaluable, on account of these properties, in reclaiming soin
other, large trads of sandy dunes, more especially on the westein c
the Gulf of Gascony are composed of loose drifting sand, which i
M. Bremontier, of the then Administration of Forests in France,
surface, and the means
used were planting
u'ith the Pin
he compared this surface
a billowy seait
useful for shelter and decoration,
to the sea-breeze; and has been
e, and preserving from desolation
oasts of Fi-ance, The Landes in
1 1789 covered 300 square miles,
set himself to fix this mercurial
In a report of his proceedings.
lung to the eye but EI monotonous repetition of white wavy mountains perfectly destitute of vegetati
ind the surface of these downs was entirely changed; wliai were hills of sand often becoming valleys,
occasions was often carried up into the interior of the countr>', covering cultivated fields, villages, and c
gradually (by the sand sweeping along the surface and thus raising it, or falling from the air in a sh
ircely perceptible) that nothing -wa-s destroj-ed. The Sand gradually rose among the crops as if ihej
This Uikss placs
:o t^nc a o be b
quite green and healthy, even to the moment of their being t
in England in Iiour.glasses. On this movini; and sliiftinij se
with water, and the herbage and » p . ol ..
the sand, which is so very fine
sowed jeeds of the common Broom mbted with those of the P. PiHosler, cc
wind generally prevail.5. and sowing in narrow zones, in a direction at rifcht
by a line of hurdles, this zone protecting the second, the second the third, and s
iicing 0
igles t.
that of the wind-
To prevent the seed bei
)lown away before it had germinated and becoi
firmly rooted, he pr
; modes, such as hurdles and thatching, and he ha<l at last th
ulties, of seeing his first zones firmly e.stablished. The rest \
:! degrees the Pinaster co\'ered the whole of these sandy ilo
tecled it by various ingenious
after conquering many diffici
j)aratively easy, and by raj:
only providing the interior country
themselves from a desolate waste inl
The details of the whole proce;
•• From 4 lb. to 5 lb. of Broom seed, and
of Pines or of otl,..T trees with the leaves on,
hurdle fence to retain the sand. These branclic
«0 a.'s to produce a sort of that
vith a barr
s are thus
.f the
the surface; and it
^r against the assault;
.f jiroductive indu.str>',
uoted at length by Loud(
n order to shelter
iner in the direclioi
expoicd rods are
;nds, but tl
.gratificatio
as then co.i
•ns; thns n.
li; the clowi
c, and immediately covei'cd w
ind protefl the seed, and by
of the wind, and overlapping
In a word, wherev. er seeds are sown, the surface of the downs, as far as i. he sowing extends, may be said to be carefully thatchei 1; branches
of evergreen ireei ; being 11 sed instead of straw. In six weeks or two mt mlhs the liroom seeds have produced plants 6 inches in height, an<l
whicl. attain three or four ti mes that height in the course of the first season . The Pines do not rise above 3 inchcs or inchcs in th
and it is seven or <ïig ht yea,n , before they completely overtop the Broom, whi ch often attains in these downs from 12 feet to 15 fee 1 in height.
M the age of tc n or tw, :lvc years, the I'ines have in a great measure . suffocated the Broom, and they arc then thinned; tl le branclus
cut off being used for the purpose of thatching downs not yet recovered , and the trunks and roots cut into picccs and burncil to make tar
and charcoal. In about tw( MUy year» the trees are from 20 feet to 30 feet in height, and they are now prepared ftir producing resin, w. liich pr.«ess
is carried on for t en or iwi slve years, when the trees arc cut down and their brandies applied, as before, for thatching, and their trunl ;fi and roots
for making tar ai id cliarcoal, the sclf-.sown seeds having furnished the « ,urfacc with a progeny lu succced them, in iHii. j commi-ssion,
appointed by the French Governme
in the one dire^^ion, antl from the
that it wa» found a thatchmg or cc
branches, and wai even preferable,
boards for tlidt of wattled hurdles, sc
t. made a report on the downs, and announced that about 12,5
sea ID the mouth of the river ll.irdnne in the other) had 1
'«ring of any kind of vegeuble herbage, such as strjw, reeds, r
.•\noihor improvement which hid been tried and found very.
as more compl«cly to exclude the wind."-(i« " Diet, des Kau
tMcdoc
Although the timber is of little value, the
furnishes sufficient occupation for the inhabila
the efforts of man to control the elements ar
from the desolation of the <lesert
the sea.
Mr Brown Icoasts
from that followed
' nreste
the nature of the soil on
and uncertain sand-wav'C!-
mtltled
nanufac^ure of tar, turpentine, and other resinous products
its, who are thinly scattered over large spaces, i\mong
:1 alter the face of nature, the conquest of the Landes
pl.ace beside the recovery of Holland from the empire of
ssfully in the Lam
recommends hi
.•hich he
reated b^
J all along the length .
IB dyke if possible, in
5r local .
>f fent a bold c( x bend in tlie
all over with Norwtty Maples and Sycamores, of c
loamy nature, aii<l adapted to the growth of those t
plants of the Piiuishf, till the ground all over hav
will in all prob.ibility die down to the ground the s
account, for it is quite natural tliat the young plan
a nurseo' to I'le ground upon the sea-coast. '
remained one year upon the forett ground, have
young .shoots, which will bear the climate they ris
.1 little shelter over the ground. If the ground int
or Sycamores upon it: therefore, in such a case it >
nds a different mode of planting the Pimstcr along sea-
.les by M. de Oiemontier. It is evident, however, that
s procedure is something very different from the shifty
. Mr Browns plan is this;
be planted, not less than 200 yards in breadth; and as a fence to this, upon
.re readily to bring away the trees, by having a little shelter from the sea.
turf dyke of abmit 4 feet in height. The funce inside may be a hedge or
. Can. mtist be taketi, upon all juttings of land bending out inlo the sea, to make in the
1, ihis being in addition lo the general width. 1 laving the fence erected, plant the ground
, an equal number, al about 12 feet apart; tliat istosaj, if the Und be of anything like
spaces between them with good strong
Tlie hardwood pl.mts will not come away rapidly, and
ihe proprietor must not be al all ducouraged upon this
lusl suffer a verj- severe check by being at once transplanted from
young Maples and Sycamores as much as possible, when they have
.way
tmber,apart
he hardwood planted, make
s averaging 4 feet apai
ifter being planted. I
by tl
,d Sycan re both «and
any good, but w
ft-ell. 51
.urface of the ground, and the year ftillowing they will
: in. the more so as by this time ihe Pimilters will be beginning tt> grow rapidly, and caus<
ndcd for the Pi^ms/m bc of a sandy nature, il would not be advisable to plant either Mapir'
rill be much better to plant the ground all over with PifuisKrs alone; for, although the Maph
if the soil upon which tliey are planted bc not of a loamy nature, ihe> have not much chanc<
„sightly
What g<io
do not see. It
nurse should h;
to be the peim
to be treated a:
Broom or a ho
The Pin,
those in th
with doubl
Christchur.
on the CO
ly planting Maples
to the Pinaster, s
I foH.ige with rapid
-ter to ser\'e as nurs
purpcise is to be sen-ed 1;
annot be to sen-e as nursi
e. such as thick evergreer
manent erop. and the Pinas
IS secondarx- to the P/nastcr,
omogeneous plantation of P^
laster has been used in thi
Lande.s. Mr Brt.mficld m.
O this species) has heen ir
nd Sycamores along with the Pinasters we
eing that they want all the properties that a
Towth ; nor can it be intended that they are
; to them, for throughout they are directed
We prefer either Bremontier's
md sacrificed to it throughout.
asters, without any admixture at all.
country' under similar circumstances, and with like results to
itions iPhytologist, 1S50, p. 888) that a Pine (which he refers
roduced in England near Bournemouth. l)etween Poole and
1 is spreading by its own seeds, and has already imprinted
, that of the Pine barrens of the United States. Large
>n the sandy soil of Norfolk, and as an ornamental tree it is
varieties being less dependent on proximity to the sea than
,1 planted near the sea and in sandy soil. But, although
10 means equally suited for what would generally be
" p. 247) tells us that d.
itr>- a character analogous
,f Pinaster have heen made
y ilistributed, .some of its many vat
as a rule, it thrives best when pi
; bu
well adapted for sand>' sea-dunes, it is by no m
better situations. Mr Brown (" Forester," p.
has fretiuently ha<l occasion tt) remark that, li
sea-bree; :es. It
ivcs the folh
[ 35 ]
5 but a tender plant wh.
i<r illustrati.-.n of the fad
ly as the Pinaste
planted in a high
rlered
ig his experience as a forester he
ster is in withstanding the influence of
ilevated part of the country inland; and
" Upon
t i i ^