39-4 REPORT ON LARCH FORESTS. 



per acre, 60 ; average contents, 30 feet ; 1800 feet at lOd. per 

 foot=L.75,. 



The following is an example given of the value of a crop of 

 larch in the county of Huntingtonshire, the property of His 

 Grace the Duke of Bedford. This plantation was originally a 

 very large one, and the first planted upon the estate, but the 

 part to which the following statements apply composed the last 

 part of the clearing, twelve acres, at fifty years old. The plan- 

 tation was sold in 1864, and realised the following amount, 

 stated thus : — 



1300 trees, containing altogether 10,000 cubic 



feet, at Is. 2d. per foot, . . . . £583 6 8 

 And 43 tons larch bark, at 40s. per ton, . 86 



£669 6 8 

 Or thus : — L.669, 6s. 8d-r-12 acres = L.55, 15s. 6|d. per acre. 



The following is a statement of some interest upon the culti- 

 vation of larch, upon the Duke of Bedford's estate in Northamp- 

 tonshire, parish of Thornhaugh : — 



The plantation comprises an area of 55 acres, upon rather 

 stiff but dry soil, resting upon limestone rock. 



This enclosure, previous to cropping with larch, bore a crop of 

 oak and ash, which was cut down, and the ground trenched. 



It was planted with larch at the rate of 4000 trees 

 per acre, and thinned at twenty-three years old, 

 yielding to the amount of . . . . £10 14 



The expense of thinning was 18s. per acre, — deduct 18 



£9 16 

 Standing upon the ground after thinning, 1000 at 



Is. 6d., 75 



Net value of crop, at twenty-four years planted, £84 16 



Expense of trenching the above, per acre, . . £16 



Plants and planting cost 5 8 



Incidental expenses, 10 



Total cost per acre, . . . £22 8 



To those interested in the growth of larch, an account of His 

 Grace the Duke of Athole's will be gladly received. Various 

 statements regarding the Duke of Athole's larch forests are 

 already before the public. A very full account of them is pub- 

 lished in the " Transactions of the Highland Society" for 1832, 

 from which the writer has taken some extracts. Thirty-five 



