On the Cultivation of the Larch, 



218 



verinp, the cloth they wear by day ge- 

 nerally answers every puipose; and 

 thus au expense which lies so heavy on 

 a man in Ent^land, is scarcely known 

 among the Hindoos. Moreover, (he 

 mildness of tlie climate, induces them 

 lo sit without doors ratlier than within, 

 by far tlie greater part of the year. But 

 a shed out of doors, or the shade of a 

 large tive embowering thciriiabitations, 

 is not a place wliich requires to be de- 

 corated with chairs and tables : hence 

 the absence of tbese articles of furni- 

 ture forms another saving, for which 

 they are indebted to the mildness of 

 the climate, which thus eases them of 

 all tlie labour through which those ar- 

 ticles are procured in Europe. In these 

 and various other ways does the climate 

 contribute to diniinisli the wants of the 

 native of India, n^spectiug his habita- 

 tion, his furniture, and the dotliingof 

 both himself and his family, the care of 

 providing wliicli presses so heavily from 

 year to year on the British peasant and 

 artizan. 



From this state of things certain ef- 

 fects necessarily follow. The indefati- 

 gable habit of industry and that ro- 

 bustness of mind which are created in 

 the inhabitants of Britain, by their 

 being compelled to meet the wants oc- 

 casioned by tlie inclemencies of the 

 climate, and to guard themselves and 

 those they hold dear against its seve- 

 rity, can never be created in the inha- 

 bhants of India. These habits are tbe 

 resultof continued exertion, occasioned 

 by waists perpetually recurring, which 

 are unknown to the inhabitants of In- 

 dia. Hence they have always fallen a 

 prey to their northern and western 

 neigiibours ; and been subjected, in a 

 greater or less degree, to some nation or 

 other almost from the earliest ages. 



Whatever may be the case hereafter, 

 India, in the course of three thousand 

 years, has not arrived at that state 

 wherein its overflowing population de- 

 prives the inhabitants of employment. 

 In theabseuce of ail these conveniences, 

 there is a greater fulness of employment 

 in India than in Britain, where it is 

 demanded by all ranks of people. — 

 As long as none, therefore, suffer for 

 want of labour ];y whioh to support 

 themselves and tlieir families, it cannot 

 be felt as a raisei7 by the natives of 

 India, that in addition to the care of 

 providing food, they have not that dis- 

 tressing anxiety relative to providing 

 accommodations for those dear to them, 

 without which they would be exposed 



[April 1, 



to the utmost distress, and possibly 

 have their lives endangered from the 

 natural inclemencies of the various 

 seasons, wliicii is so constantly experi- 

 enced throughout Britain, and indeed 

 in most of the different countries of 

 Europe. This salubrity of the air by 

 night as well as by day, removes all 

 the apprehensions of parents relative 

 to the sudden exposure of their child- 

 ren thereto, and all that distress on 

 this head which relatives so often feel 

 in Europe. 



For the Monthly Magazine. 

 On the LARCH,/ra>w Practical Obser- 

 vations made in SCOTLAND, by a 

 landed Proprietor and Planter., of 

 Forfarshire ; written originally in 

 French, at the desire of some Planters 

 of that country, and translated by 



MR. LAWRENCE. 



THE fact has been long since es- 

 tablished by rural economists and 

 practical planters in Scotland, that 

 poor soils cannot by any other means 

 be so advantageously applied, as to 

 timber plantation: nor is there a coun- 

 try in Europe, where within the last 

 forty years, the experiment has been 

 so extensively made as in Scotland. 

 Scarcely is there in that country, a 

 propiietor with lands adapted to the 

 growth of timber, who whether from 

 motives of shelter and general utility, 

 or the ambition of ornament, has not 

 plantf^d a part of his poorest soil with 

 wood. 



By poor soils, we mean those gene- 

 rally, which from their nature require 

 great expense to put them into a regu- 

 lar course of agriculture, and with 

 which tlierisk is equally great, whether 

 their expected products will ever repay 

 the necessary outgoings of the medi- 

 tated improvement. Those lands are 

 especially alluded to, which are thin 

 stapled and moist, with a gravelly or 

 marshy subsoil, and which produce a 

 moderate or stunted growth of heath, 

 erica vulgaris. There are, however, 

 in Scotland, extensive districts, of 

 which heath or heather, is the principal 

 production ; but the soil is deep, and 

 the other mountain plants which it 

 produces are particularly useful in 

 feeding sheep ; those lands without any 

 expense return a good rent from the 

 sheep husbandry, and consequently 

 haA'e not hitherto been planted with 

 timber. 



Almost all the extensive plantations 

 in Scotland are^ of the pim class, be- 

 cause 



