THE SCOTCH FIR.

PINUS SYLVESTRIS.

"And higher yet the pine-tree hung

His shatter'd trunk, and frequent flung,
Where seem'd the cliffs to meet on high,
His boughs athwart the narrow'd sky."

THE exact adaptation of every object in nature to the situation and circumstances in which it is placed is beautifully exemplified in the pine tribe. The texture of their timber, the abundant supply of resinous juices both in the main stem and the branches, and, above all, the rigid, needle-shaped leaf, bespeak at once their destiny,—to dwell aloft amidst the awful palaces of nature,' to endure the severities of an alpine winter, and to war with the elements on the mountain and the rock. The acerose leaf (to use a botanical term), common, with few exceptions, to those evergreens which usually grow in northern climates, or on alpine heights, fits them in a peculiar manner for braving the difficulties to which their habitat exposes them, as it allows the snow and

wind free passage through the interstices, securing them alike from an overpowering accumulation of the one, and from the resistless fury of the other. It is also chiefly owing to this peculiar form of the leaves, which do not admit the reflection of much light, that trees of this description wear such a dark, lugubrious appearance; and that, furthermore, by presenting so many points and edges, the wind makes amongst them that "wintry music," so powerfully affecting to the imaginative wanderer, soothing or rousing him, according to the part it sustains in the grand chorus of nature. Burns, with all a poet's feeling, speaks of the enjoyment he experienced from this wild minstrelsy. Whilst listening to its varied cadences on a cloudy winter day, he remarks, “It is my best season for devotion; my mind is wrapt up in a kind of enthusiasm to Him who, in the pompous language of the Hebrew bard, walketh on the wings of the wind.''

The Scotch fir, taking all things into consideration, is esteemed the most valuable of the pines. "It is the only one indigenous in the north and west of Europe, and grows abundantly in all the countries north of the Baltic, to the seventieth degree of latitude."

But it does not confine itself to these parts: it is found on the Carpathian mountains, the Pyrenees, and the

Alps; yielding to none of the tribe in the elevation it attains, except to the Pinus uncinata on the Pyrenees, and the Pinus cembra on the Alps.

The testimony of Cæsar goes to disprove its being a native of Britain; but its right to be considered such is now placed beyond dispute; the reasons for which are ingeniously and satisfactorily stated in Whitaker's History of Manchester, but are too long to be quoted at large in such a mere sketch as this.

The same desire of brevity will preclude the enumeration of the various species of this extensive genus: but we must single out from the mass the Abies picea, or Norway spruce, as it is considered by some as "the great tree of the Alps;"-" and so far," says Sir Thomas Dick Lauder," as our opinion on its effect in landscape may go, we can only say, that with us it is so mentally associated with the grandeur of Swiss scenery, that the sight of it never fails to touch chords in our bosom which awaken the most pleasing recollections... What can be more truly sublime," he continues, "than to behold, opposed to the intensely blue ether, the glazed white summits of Mont Blanc or the Jungfrau, rising over interminable forests of spruce firs, which clothe the bases of the mountains; while some gigantic specimens rise in groups among the rocks before us, shivered, maimed,

and broken by tempests; their dark forms opposed to all the brilliant hues of some immense glacier." This is a truly Alpine picture; we all but see

"those blasted pines,

Wrecks of a single winter, barkless, branchless,"

with all the savage, but grand, accompaniments which he has so vividly sketched.

The Norway spruce, which is but a cultivated tree in our island, is indigenous in the northern climates of Europe and Asia; and also, as has been observed, in the mountain valleys of Switzerland, France, Spain, and Italy. It is said to attain a greater altitude than any other European tree, sometimes shooting up to the height of one hundred and fifty feet. This brings to mind Milton's sublime description of Satan and his warlike habiliments. After likening his shield to

"the moon, whose orb

Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views

At evening from the top of Fesolé,"

he continues in the same elevated strain to describe

"His spear, to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some great ammiral, were but a wand."

And again, how finely he borrows the same image, when speaking of the fallen angels:

"faithful how they stood,

Their glory wither'd; as when heaven's fire

Hath scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pines,

With singed top their stately growth, though bare
Stands on the blasted heath."

Both pines and firs, between which there is a very close alliance, are valuable for a vast variety of purposes. “Sea and land,” says Evelyn, " may contend for their many and universal use." The true pine, he adds, was very highly commended for naval architecture: hence the title which Virgil gives it," the useful pine for ships;" and also the many references by our earlier poets to its applicability to marine purposes.

Spenser denominates it

"The sayling pine;"

and Browne speaks of

"The pine with whom men through the ocean venture.'

"

They both also share much classical fame; being dedicated, one or both, perhaps indiscriminately, by the ancients to several of their rural deities: they also composed the crown of the victors in the Isthmian games.