294 TREES TO BE LEFT AS STANDARDS 



No. 3. — The larch is in many parts of the country rather a 

 precarious crop, but where it does thrive there is no tree with 

 which the writer is acquainted better suited to be left as 

 standards to assist in the development of our natural grasses. 

 The larch, when it sheds its foliage in autumn, deposits a rich 

 fertilising coat over the surface in as regular a manner as a 

 thin coating of snow, the small needle-shaped leaves settle down 

 among the grass and are permanently fixed, and are not liable to 

 be blown off by the wind, as is the case with the leaves of 

 deciduous trees, and when the trees are properly thinned to 

 admit air and light, the whole surface soon gets clothed with 

 a close, rich, green sward of the finer natural grasses, such as has 

 already been named, and which we need not repeat here. 



The trees most suitable to be left as standards are such as 

 are clothed with branches for a distance of at least one-half of 

 the height of the tree. Trees that have been drawn up by 

 confinement into long bare poles with a tuft of green branches 

 at the top, are unsuitable for such a purpose, as they are almost 

 sure to be upset by the wind when exposed, and such as are 

 not upset get bark-bound, contract disease, and make no farther 

 progress in the formation of timber. 



On the estate of Churchill, county Armagh, Ireland, where the 

 writer conducted estate improvements for a period of eighteen 

 years, there are some fine old standard larches clothed with 

 branches for a distance of two-thirds the height of the trees, and 

 as they are in perfect health they produce large quantities of 

 fine cones, which contain good plump seeds, free of disease, and 

 are invaluable for propagating the species. In Ireland such a 

 thing as the larch disease is unknown, at least in so far as the 

 writer's experience and observation extends, which covers a 

 period of some twenty years, and has been principally confined 

 to the province of Ulster and Leinster. 



The soils which the writer has found to be most conduciv^e to 

 the healthy development of these trees as standards, as well as 

 the encouragement of a healthy undergrowth of permanent 

 pasture, are as follows : — 



(1) Light sandy loam. 



(2) Gravelly loam. 



(3) Clay loam. 



As the word loam conveys but a loose or vague meaning, and 

 misfht lead to error, we mav briefiv state that the word is 

 meant here to represent such soils as contain from 5 to 10 per 

 cent, of organic matter. 



Soils containing from 10 to 20 per cent, of organic matter, 

 commonly called vegetable mould, produce fine larch, Silver 

 fir, and spruce fir when thoroughly drained, and any or all 

 of these trees may be left as standards according to taste, 



