The European Pines next deserve our attention. The most common species in the north of Europe is the Scotch Pine (P. sylvestris), a dark, tall, evergreen tree, with bluish foliage, of 80 feet in height, which furnishes most of the deal timber of Europe. It is one of the most rapid of all the Pines in its growth, even on poor soils, and is therefore valuable in new places. The Stone Pine (P. pinea) is a native of the South of Europe, where it is decidedly the most picturesque evergreen tree of that continent. It belongs peculiarly to Italy, and its "vast canopy, supported on a naked column of great height, forms one of the chief and peculiar beauties in Italian scenery, and in the living landscapes of Claude." We regret that it is too tender to bear our winters, but its place may in a great measure be supplied by the Pinaster or Cluster Pine (P. pinaster), which is quite hardy, and succeeds well in the United States. This has much of the same picturesque expression, depressed or rounded head, and tall columnar stem, which mark the Stone Pine; while its thickly massed foliage, clustering cones, and rough bark, render it distinct and strikingly interesting.
