404 REPORT OX LARCH FORESTS. 



at the same time, lie believes that he has seen as good larch plan- 

 tations as are to be found in Scotland, and these, by competent 

 judges, are considered quite successful productions, and pay at 

 least equal to any other crop the soil produces. Very few writers 

 who make a prospective statement of the value of a crop of larch, 

 take into account all the impeding circumstances, hence the many 

 false conclusions. It is only by present observation of what is 

 an existent crop upon the ground that a true knowledge of its 

 value is ascertained. 



The first account of larch disease, of which the writer has a per- 

 sonal remembrance, occurred atThhistane, inEttrick, Selkirkshire. 

 The manner in which it appeared, as described, was by the foliage 

 becoming brown early in summer, and afterwards the branches 

 and tops of the trees died. This occurred about thirty years ago. 

 In the beginning of May 1846, a frost occurred in the south of 

 Scotland which browned many larch plantations, especially those 

 in districts predisposed to frost, such as Chisholm on Borthwick 

 Water, Stobbs on Slitrig Water, Wolfelee on Paile Water, and Sin- 

 ton on Ale, &c, &c. The effects of that frost were seen for several 

 years afterwards in the withered ends of the branches and dead 

 tops of the trees. In after years, when larches were observed to 

 decay, it was considered the manifestation of injuries sustained 

 by the frost of 1846. Many foresters who then believed that 

 frost was the cause of failure still do so at the present day. They 

 can only be justified in their views assuming that they have only 

 taken notice of that form of disease produced by frost. A young 

 larch plantation, then eight years old, situated in a glen upon the 

 Marquis of Lothian's estate near Jedburgh, suffered much from a 

 frost which occurred in April 1859. The trees in the bottom of 

 the glen, which was rather wet, were nearly all killed, and those 

 which escaped were all less or more injured, while those on the 

 tops of the banks on either side, about 60 to 80 feet higher alti- 

 tude, escaped without harm. Experience has proved that it is 

 much safer to plant Norway spruce in damp, low-lying districts 

 liable to late spring frosts. Frost may therefore very properly 

 be classed amongst the agents destructive to larch. The foliage 

 of larch is very tender, especially early in the season ; indeed, 

 not excepting the beech, it is easier injured by severe blasts than 

 any other tree in the forest. Cold easterly winds occurring in 

 May or June frequently render the larch as brown as if it were 

 frosted. So much so is this the case, that some foresters, whose 

 observations have been chiefly confined to larch within the in- 

 fluence of the Frith of Forth, Moray Frith, &c, maintain that 

 larch disease is alone due to severe or maritime exposure. In the 

 past summer a severe easterly wind prevailed in the north of 

 Scotland, between the 15th and 20th of May, which left the larch, 

 where exposed to the north-east or east, quite red, and in some 



