On the Cultivation of the Larch. 



1821.] 



U is a point yet undetermined, whe- 

 ther the larch ought to be felled in the 

 winter or in the summer season. The 

 fojlowing remarks of a Scotch lady of 

 great experience in rural economics, 

 inay perhaps serve to decide the ques- 

 tion. She had remarked that the root 

 of the larch cut in winter, burned with 

 a brilliant flame, and emitted a very 

 powerful odour of resin ; but that when 

 cut in the summer, it burned in a weak 

 and languishing manner, scarcely emit- 

 ting any scent ; she thence concluded 

 that the resin descended to the root in 

 the winter, and beiiifjcut iu that season 

 that the larch would be deficient in 

 that resinous quality so necessary to 

 durability in all trees of the coniferous 

 class. This reasoning appeared to 

 carry conviction to our friend the agri- 

 cultural Professor in Edinburgh. 



The larch is replenished both with 

 its peculiar resin and with the common 

 sap, which are extremely apt to distil 

 and run out whenever the wood is cut 

 or sawed, a circumstance which has 

 been found extremely disadvantageous, 

 and for which we have essayed various 

 remedies. With this view, we barked 

 twelve bundled trees, ten feet iu height, 

 and left them in that state. These 

 decorticated trees did not perish during 

 the first season, but exhibited a feeble 

 vegetation. In the second year they 

 died and were felled. The sawyers 

 remarked that it was more difficult to 

 cut those than such as had not been 

 deprived of their bark ; that they were 

 more retentive of their resin, of which 

 however they contained less than trees 

 felled iu their natural state. 



Another method adopted was to 

 bark the trees after they had been felled, 

 and to put them into water. Our de- 

 sign was to deprive them of sap, which 

 is supposed to have a greater effect than 

 the resinous juice, in occasioning the 

 tree to warp and become crooked. But 

 the best means, according to our fur- 

 tiier experience, is after having left the 

 timber in the shade a number of months 

 in its natural state, to cut it as soon as 

 j)ossible into those dimensions recpiired 

 ibr use ; to raise thick piles one upon 

 the other, of sucii cut timbers, that 

 the weight of e;ich may press and keep 

 tile other in shiipe, taking care to turn 

 the piles monthly. 



In general f lie carpenters make their 

 piles of fir planks and joists, in a square 

 or triangular form: but those of tiie 

 larch ought to be placed as above di- 

 rected, flat, one ujion the other, and 

 witiiout any space between them. Wc 



221 



have ourselves nMwie use of larch tim- 

 ber so prepared, for the beams and 

 planks of a considerable house; and 

 unto the present time, we have every 

 reason to be satisfied with the solidity 

 of the timbers, the beauty of the floor- 

 ing and the closeness of its joints. 

 This wood was of forty years growth; 

 the soil which produced it is thin 

 and dry, covering a stone with a red 

 surface. 



It has been lately discovered that 

 the bark of the larch is well adaptetl 

 to the tanner's use. Although it he not 

 equally astringent witii oak-bark, yet 

 being mixed together, the two give 

 great suppleness to hides used by the 

 shoemakers and for harness ; a quality 

 highly appreciated by those who use 

 the article. 



The larch plantations in Scotland 

 have become so extensive within the 

 last twenty years, that there exists no 

 longer any necessity for the formerly 

 usual importations of timber from Nor- 

 way, Denmark, or Memel ; Scotland 

 has even a surplus for exportation. 

 In France, and it was heretofore the 

 case in England, the oak served for the 

 pine in their rural economy. But the 

 oak, although more durable, is far 

 more expensive to convert to all the 

 builders' purposes; and economy of la- 

 bour iu building is an object of the 

 utmost importance, whether in town 

 or country. The workmanship for an 

 oaken floor in France, would cost ten 

 times the sum required to pay for one 

 of deal in Scotland. 



The larch barked makes excellent 

 firewood ; it burns pleasantly and 

 throws out a great heat. When it in- 

 closes between the wood and the bark, 

 a great quantity of its resinous juice, 

 and the wood is burned with the bark, 

 the dilatation occasioned by the fire, 

 emits sparks extremely dangerous in a 

 house. 



CTo be concluded in our next Number -J 



Various uses aud advantages of the 

 new ACID of WOOD. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magaaine. 



SIB, 



NO modern discover}', or chemical 

 improvement, connected with the 

 arts of life, ever promised, perhaps, so 

 many advantages demonstrably ser 

 viceable to mankind, as the procuring 

 of the wcvV/o/woor/, or pyrolignous acid, 

 and its application to the preservation 

 of animal and vegetable substances 

 while it has proved not less extensively 

 employed in the manufacture of sugar 



of 



