CHAP. CXllI. CONJ'FER^E. ZA'rIX. 2387 



branched to the ground, and growing in deep soil free from stagnating water, 

 concludes that there must be " some constitutional tendency to corruption 

 in the larch," which is excited by a combination of circumstances ; and that 

 we must limit our knowledge, for the present, to the fact that certain soils, 

 perhaps slightly modified by other circumstances, produce sound, and others 

 unsound, larch. According to Mr. Munro and a writer in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture, the rot has even made its appearance in the mountain 

 plantations of Dunkeld, in many situations, more especially in those which are 

 moist. 



Canker. It has been found, at Athol and Dunkeld, that, when larch is 

 planted on soil that has borne crops of corn, it cankers; and this is the case, 

 also, when it is planted in wet situations. Among the larch plantations formed 

 since the commencement of the present century, Mr. Munro informs us, a 

 malignant distemper has broken out, which resembles the canker in apple 

 trees. " First a branch gives way; then a black liquid issues from the point 

 of union with the trunk, the regular ascension of the sap seems to be impeded, 

 and the albumen is disposed in rather large quantities on each side of the 

 affected part, which gives the tree a very unsightly and gibbous appearance." 

 {GnrcL Mag., vol. ix. p. 553.) Any attempt to cure this disease by external 

 application, Mr. Munro holds to be ineffectual ; but he thinks it may be pre- 

 vented by using transplanted plants, and carefully planting them. This dis- 

 ease is not mentioned by any other writer, unless it be the blister mentioned 

 by the editor of the Quai-terli/ Journal of Agi-iculture, and in the editor's letter 

 to Professor DeCandoUe (Bibliotheque Universelle, February, 1835, p. 115.), as 

 " another disease incidental to the larch, which threatens to involve larch plant- 

 ations in serious consequences." (Quart. Joiirn. Agr., vol. v. p. 404.) 



Culture and Management of the Larch on the Edates of Athol and Dunkeld. 

 We have thought it better to give the mode of culture practised on these 

 estates in a connected relation, than to separate it into fragments, and place it 

 under the different heads already given ; because the practices employed, and 

 the results obtained, will in this manner be better understood, and more likely 

 to lead to useful deductions by the reader. John Duke of Athol gave a short 

 notice of his plantations to the Commissioners of Naval Revision in May, 1807, 

 which was published in the General KejJort of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 498. ; but by 

 far the most complete account is that published in the Highland Societi/'s 

 Transactions, drawn up from papers and documents communicated by His 

 Grace's trustees to the Highland Society of Scotland ; from which we have 

 already quoted the history of the Athol and Dunkeld plantations. The fol- 

 lowing abridged quotations will describe the mode of culture pursued, and 

 the results obtained or anticipated. 



It is observed by the editor of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, that the 

 practical sagacity of the late Duke of Athol confirms in a most remarkable man- 

 ner the theory of M. De Candolle, on the proper soil, situation, and culture of 

 the larch. The duke began without much experience ; but, in the course of prac- 

 tice, he found that " elevated situations were better for the larch than low 

 ones; that declivities were better than flats ; that 15 ft. or 16ft. was the best 

 distance at which larch plants could be planted asunder; and that they 

 should be planted in autumn, in preference to spring." This, in short, may be 

 considered the essence of the duke's experience. As introductory to the 

 observations which are to follow, we cannot help noticing the great pleasure 

 which the duke seems to have taken in his different plantations ; some extracts 

 from his memorandum-book reminding us of Evelyn's Diary, and of passages 

 in the letters of the Earl of Fife, the greatest planter in Scotland in his time, 

 published in the early volumes of the Transactions of the Society of Arts. For 

 example : " Drove up to Loch Ordie, and home by the back of Craig-y-barns 

 everyway much gratified with the growth of the larch and the spruce; a 

 very fine, grand, picturesque drive, not to be equalled in Britain ! The extent 

 of the drive through the woods of my own planting, from 1 to 40 vears old, is 



7p 3 



