REPORT ON LARCH FORESTS. 395 



years have elapsed since the account referred to was given, 

 hence great and important changes have taken place since then. 

 To give anything like a detailed account of the above forests 

 would occupy space far beyond the limits of this paper. No- 

 thing, however, will be withheld that is considered sufficiently 

 important to prove of practical use to those interested in the 

 culture of larch. 



As already stated in a foregoing part of this paper, the first 

 larches known authoritatively to have been planted in Scot- 

 land are the two now growing at Dunkeld, and six at Blair 

 Athole, planted in 1738. Those at Dunkeld are very fine speci- 

 mens. Those at Blair are neither so tall, so thick, nor contain 

 so much timber as those at Dunkeld. Of the five planted at 

 Dunkeld in 1738, two were cut in 1809 ; one of them contained 

 147 cubic feet of timber, and the other 168 feet, and were sold 

 at 3s. per cubic foot. One of the remaining three was cut some 

 years afterwards by Mr M'Crostie, the gardener and superintend- 

 ent of planting, by misapprehension, to make an axle for a mill 

 wheel, but was never applied to the purpose for which it was cut. 



The two remaining ones of the five are still in a growing con- 

 dition, and though they have begun to show signs of decay, 

 they might yet survive many years. The largest, in 1831, was 

 estimated to contain 350 cubic feet of timber, and now contains 

 altogether, of measurable wood, about 470 cubic feet, the other 

 about 50 feet less. In 1831 the largest tree at four feet from the 

 ground girthed 12 feet, the other at same date girthed 11 feet. 

 In 1867 the largest tree girthed at four feet from the ground, 

 16 feet 10 inches, and the smaller one at same height girthed 

 14 feet 10 inches. 



Of the eleven larches planted at Blair, six only now remain, 

 the others having been cut or blown down. They are by no 

 means either so large or so handsome as those at Dunkeld of 

 the same age, but are equally healthy, and, in the writer's 

 opinion, will continue to grow when the latter have ceased. In 

 1867 their circumferences were as follows, measured at three feet 

 from the ground: — No. 1, 12 feet 9 inches; No. 2, 11 feet 6-| 

 inches ; No. 3, 10 feet 10 inches ; No. 4, 10 feet 8 inches; No. 

 5, 10 feet ; No. 6, 10 feet 8 inches. 



The average estimated contents of the above are 180 cubic 

 feet of measurable timber. One reason, and probably the prin- 

 cipal one, why the larches at Blair are both of smaller size, and 

 less handsome than those at Dunkeld, is in consequence of severe 

 exposure ; they had evidently all lost their leading top at a 

 comparatively early age, and large branches have at different 

 times been broken off — a common result of severe exposure. 

 They are also much bent and crooked, like those at Dawick 

 House, Peeblesshire. 



