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Exotic Pines

We are all European immigrants, once or twice removed. Our craving for things imported is an appetite inherited from our Colonial ancestors. Our horticulture owns its European parentage. The early settlers brought trees and flowers from the old country. They transplanted the old home, as far as could be, to the New World. European evergreens came in as a matter of course. Even species native to our west coast were brought into Eastern gardens first by way of European nurseries.

Oriental pines are coming in, making valuable contributions to the list in cultivation from Europe. Our native pines are being "discovered," horticulturally, and dissemination of species is widening the range of all. It is a small and unpretentious park indeed that does not show pines from every northern continent. The European pines most widely planted in the eastern United States are the Scotch and Austrian pines. They are dependable trees, hardy, vigorous, not particular as to soil and exposure--good for protective and ornamental planting even on the prairies where hot, dry winds blow and for weeks no rain may fall.

The Austrian Pine is a hardy variety, Austriaca, of the Corsican pine (P. Laricio, Poir.), of southern Europe. It is a sombre tree, darker green than any other evergreen except the red cedar. In youth it is a compact cone or globe, resting on the ground. The leaves, two in a sheath, are 6 inches long, and inclined to twist stiffly. They persist several years. Cones ripen in the second autumn, and do not open until another crop is ripe. Large trees are transplanted safely, even in the height of the growing season.

The Scotch Pine (P. sylvestris, Linn.) is one of the most important timber trees of Europe. In this country it was frequently planted about homes, where it has grown to great size. By no means as handsome a tree as our own white pine, it has certain advantages over its companion, the Austrian variety. Its habit is less compact and formal, and its foliage (also in bundles of twos) is shorter, looser and more cheerful looking in spite of its blue tinge. It grows more rapidly, and neatly sheds its cones as soon as ripe, while the Austrian pine shows its bare limbs laden for years with empty cones.

The Swiss Pines (P. Cembra and montana) are all picturesque and hardy, as if they crouched under Alpine blasts, even in the most comfortable situations. Any flat-topped, irregular ever-green growing wild is attractive to the eye of the nurseryman who has a landscape-gardening department and facilities for moving large trees. He is able to get the tree at a bargain from the farmer in whose woodlot or pasture it stands. There is very little cordwood in it. The new owner cuts a big circle around the tree the depth of a spade, severing the roots outside this boundary. A year later a thick mat of rootlets has resulted from this root pruning, and in the winter the tree is easily taken up and planted in just the right place on Mr.------'s new country place. He points out to his friends the striking "Swiss-pine effect" of this tree etched against the sky. It is a good thing, and worth the price, even if he never heard of a Swiss pine before in his life.

The Mugho Pine has a shrubby habit, spreading twice its height. It is one of several dwarf varieties of the Swiss mountain pine (P. montana, Mill.), and is very effective as a specimen tree or grouped with others to cover rocky hillsides.

The Stone Pine (P. Pinea) and the Aleppo Pine (P. Halepensis) are natives of southern Europe and so not hardy. The Macedonian Pine (P. Peuce) and the Cluster Pine (P. Pinaster) have the same climatic limitations in this country, though hardy in England, where the Aleppo and cluster pines are much used for seaside planting.

China and Japan and Korea have furnished some exceptionally handsome pines that are hardy and vigorous in American parks and gardens. The Korean Pine (P. Koraiensis), is a handsome, narrowly pyramidal tree when young, becoming very picturesque when old. It is a slow-growing pine, well adapted to small gardens. The foliage is thick, and dark green with pale linings. From China comes the Lacebark Pine (P. Bungeana), with light-green foliage and white, intricately netted bark, slow of growth and hardy north.

From Japan we have three species. The little P. parviflora, often dwarfed by potting at home, is charming in its abundance of red cones in the dense pyramid of bluish-green leaves. It is one of Japan's forest trees, growing to 80 feet in height. The Red Pine (P. densiflora), also a great tree at home, attains a goodly size in cultivation, grows rapidly, with long branches spreading into a broad head. The foliage is bluish green. Many forms with variegated leaves have been derived from this species. The Black Pine (P. Thunbergi), another large tree from Japan, has bright green foliage, and grows in a handsome broad pyramid.