2376 ARBOKElUiM AND FRUTICETU M. PART III. 



general, if these be low ; and, where oak, chestnut, ehii, and ash have produced 

 wood perfectly sound, the larches in the same soil and situation have had 

 their trunks quite hollow a good way upwards." {Plant. Kal., p. 93.) At 

 Raith, at Leslie, and at other places in Fifeshire, the larch had, in 1812, 

 attained a great size on rich banks and in warm situations ; but, in nearly 

 1000 trees which were cut down at that time, there was scarcely one in which 

 the trunk was not beginning to decay at the heart. {Ibid., p. 59.) The fitness 

 of soil for larch, Matthew observes, " seems to depend chiefly upon the abi- 

 lity the soil possesses of affording an equable supply of moisture ; that is, 

 upon its mechanical division, or on its powers of absorption or retention of 

 moisture ; and its chemical composition would seem only efficacious as con- 

 ducive to this." Throughout Scotland, he says, wherever he has observed 

 the decay of larch wood, it has resulted almost solely from unsuitableness of 

 soil. " We have witnessed," he continues, "the tree as much diseased on 

 our highest trap hills, 1000 ft. in altitude, as on a similar soil at their base. " 

 {Ibid., p. 78.) " The larch," Sir W. Jardine observes, " is very soon lost 

 ■when planted above a substratum of red sandstone. In the vale of the 

 Annan, wherever the sloping banks have a substratum of this rock, or one 

 composed of a sort of red sandstone, shingle, or gravel, the outward decay of 

 the tree is visible at from 15 to 25 years of age. The internal decay com- 

 mences sooner, according to the depth of the upper soil, in the centre of the 

 trunk at the root, in the wood being of a darker colour, extending by degrees 

 in circumference, and up the stem, until the lower part of it becomes entirely 

 deprived of vegetation, and assumes a tough and corky appearance. This 

 extends to the whole plant, which gradually decays and dies. On the same 

 soil, the oak grows and thrives well." {Sir W. Jardine, in his notes to White's 

 Nat. Hist, of Selborne.) Mr. Matthew divides soils and subsoils into two 

 classes : the first, where larch will acquire a size of from 30 to 300 solid feet, 

 and will generally be found free of rot; the second, where it reaches only 

 from 6 to 20 solid feet, and, in most cases, becomes tainted with rot before it is 

 80 years old. As this subject is of great importance to the [)lanter of the 

 larch, and as Jlr. Matthew is an author whose science and practical knowledge 

 may be relied on, we quote his observations on the subject at length : — 



" Class I. Soils aiid Subsoils proj)er for the Larch. — 1. Sound Rock, with a 

 covering of firm loam, particularly when the rock is jagged or cleft, or much 

 broken, and mixed with the earth. In such cases, a very slight covering or 

 admixture of earth will suffice. We would give the preference to primitive 

 rock, especially micaceous schist and mountain limestone. Larch seldom 

 succeeds well on sandstone or on trap, except on steep slopes, where the rock 

 is quite sound, and the soil firm. We have had no experience of larch, 

 except very young, growing on chalk and its affinities. Primary strata are 

 generally well adapted for larch, except where the surface has acquired a 

 covering of peat moss, or received a flat diluvial bed of close wet till, or soft 

 moorish sand, or occupies too elevated or exposed a situation ; the two latter 

 exceptions only preventing the growth, not inducing rot. 



" 2. Gravel, not too ferruginous, and in which water does not stagnate in 

 winter, even though nearly bare of vegetable mould, especially on steep slopes, 

 and where the air is not too arid, is favourable to the growth of the larch. 

 The tree seems to prefer the coarser gravel, though many of the stones exceed 

 a solid yard in contents. The straths, or valleys, of our large rivers, in their 

 passage through the alpine country, are generally occupied, for several hundred 

 feet of perpendicular altitude up the slope, by gravel ; which covers the pri- 

 mitive strata to a considerable depth, especially in the eddies of the salient 

 angles of the hill. Every description of tree grows more luxuriantly here than 

 in any other situation in the country. The causes of this are : 1. the open 

 bottou) allowing the roots to penetrate deeply, without benig injured by stag- 

 nant moisture ; 2. the percolation of water down through the gravel from the 

 neighbouring hill ; 3. the dryness of the suri'ace not producing cold by eva- 

 poration, and the ground, on this account, soon heating in spring; 4. the moist 



