The £^ii}'opeau Zarcfi — Its Diirabilify. 49 



f 



decays sooner than almost any other tree. We might cite cases almost without 

 number, leading one to the same conclusion, so we are led to believe that the Pro- 

 fessor's resinous theory has but little weight. Then to show him that the assertion 

 of Gr. B. B., that it does not burn readily in Europe is not a " mistake," and that it 

 is not, by any means, a recent discovery, but has been long known on both continents, 

 I take the following quotation from A. J. Downing's Landscape Gardeni7ig, fourth 

 edition, published in New York, and also in London, in 1849 : 



" Vitruvius relates that when Ca?sar attacked the Castle of Larignum, near the 

 Alps, whose gate was commanded by a tower built of this wood, from the top of 

 which the besieged annoyed him with their stones and darts, he commanded his army 

 to surround it with fagots, and set fire to the whole, when, however, all the former were 

 consumed, he was astonished to find the larch tower uninjured,* The wood is also 

 recommended for the decks of vessels, and the masts of ships, as it is little liable 

 either to fly in splinters during an engagement, or to catch fire readily." 



Having endeavored to show that the larch is disinclined to burn in Europe, where 

 the Professor admits it to be a resinous tree, we will proceed to discuss its resinous 

 properties in this country. 



I have a European Larch tree standing near a walk remote from t'le house where 

 it is desirable to have a seat, so a few years ago I trimmed it up eight feet, and cut 

 off the top about twenty feet from the ground, thinking this would cause it to extend 

 its upper branches, and make more shade. We had to remove the seat owing to the 

 resin (or Venice turpentine, or Manna of Brian on, all of which are said to be pro- 

 ducts of the larch tree). This resinous substance exudes some yet, so that we have 

 put a back to the seat, to guard visitors from getting resin on their backs. This tree 

 is fourteen or fifteen inches in diameter, two or three feet from the ground. 



Judging from a Norway spruce tree, about the same size, and treated in the same 

 manner, 1 would say that this resinous substance is much more copious in the spruce 

 than in the larch. 



I think the Professor may infer that the resin is not found in great quantity in the 

 larch as grown in Europe, from the fact that although laborers are very poorly paid 

 where the Venice turpentine is manufactured, yet the article is quoted at eight to 

 ten times the price of other turpentine. 



In the Professor's December article he says : " But should there be found at the 

 heart of these trees resin or turpentine, would it not be like owning a tract of land 

 covered by other person's farm?" " How are we going to get at it or make it useful ?" 



To get him out of this dilemma, we would advise him to adopt the method practiced 

 in Europe. There the full grown tree, in its native districts, is pierced to the center 

 with an auger. The turpentine is conducted by a tube into a trough, and it requires 

 no other preparation to fit it for sale, than straining through a coarse hair cloth. The 

 annual product of a healthy, full grown tree, is said to be from seven to eight pounds 

 weight. The turpentine flows from May to September. Under these circumstance, 

 of course no land owner in Britain or in this country, would think of extracting 

 turpentine from his larch trees. 



I do not think that any European writer has ever asserted that larch saplings, or 



• Newton's Vitruvius, p. 40. 



