REPORT ON LARCH FORESTS. 383 



sixty feet of the river Tay, upon a piece of table land elevated 

 six feet above the water. Its lower branches are 23 feet in 

 length, situated upon the trunk forty feet from the ground, at 

 which height the trunk diminishes comparatively little in girth. 

 Its girth at the surface of the ground is 13 feet, and at four feet 

 up it girths 9 feet 7 inches. It is 110 feet in height, and 

 contains the estimated quantity of 225 cubic feet of timber ; 

 soil, light gravelly loam ; subsoil, gravel and sand. 



Some very fine specimens of larch are growing at Darnawav, 

 in Morayshire, also at Altyre in the same county. Some of the 

 hitter contain as much as 208 cubic feet of timber. On both 

 properties the trees are upon light, dry, gravelly loam, mixed 

 with stones ; subsoils, gravel and sand. 



Many more trees of interest might have been added to the 

 preceding list, but for want of space. It will be found by those 

 who may examine the preceding list of trees, that they are all 

 grown under the conditions set forth as favourable in the pre- 

 ceding pages, viz. : — 1st, Dry loose soil, and open subsoil ; 2d, 

 Open, but not severe exposure ; 3d, Elevated above the frost 

 line ; 4th, Ample room, with branches all preserved vital till at 

 least twenty-five years old; 5th, If planted on moss or flat ground, 

 planted either upon the margins of ditches or upon hillocks of 

 earth, so that the roots have been kept near the surface. 



Having briefly examined and described, as far as space will 

 allow, the state and condition of the first planted, and now the 

 oldest larches in Britain, the writer will next endeavour to give 

 some particulars of those plantations planted more recently, 

 premising by assuming any one extensive plantation to represent 

 (nearly) all the plantations in Britain. 



In giving, therefore, a statement of a large plantation, it may 

 be assumed that an account is given of all upon an estate, or 

 even the country at large. In order to continue the historical 

 chain of the larch unbroken, the following subjects are selected, 

 beginning with No. 1, a plantation comprising about 900 acres, 

 including groups of Scots pine, and also some parts mixed (Scots 

 pine and larch.) It was situated in the county of Inverness, and 

 planted about 1785. It was sold standing, and cut in 1865, being 

 eighty years old. The planting and early history of this plantation 

 are little known, save that the trees had been planted about five 

 feet apart, and the plantation enclosed with a turf dyke. Judging 

 from the nature of the soil, and other circumstances, and a know- 

 ledge of the cost of other similar work, the dyke would cost in 

 erecting about 3d. per lineal yard, 2s. 6d. per acre, or L.112, 10s. 

 for the whole fence. The cost of plants, labour of planting, &c, 

 would be about 30s. per acre, or for the whole enclosure, includ- 

 ing fencing, about L.1462, 10s. 



The object of planting being partly for shelter and partly for 



