1821. 



On the Cultivation of the Larch. 



528 



panel not to the insphltlng melody of 



tile summer morn. 



O how can they renounce the boundless 



store 

 Of charms which Nature toher votary yields'. 

 The warbling woodland, the resounding' 



shore, 

 The poinp of groves, the garniture of fields ; 

 All that the genial ray of morning gilds, 

 And all that echoes to the song of even ; 

 All that the mountain's sheltering bosom 



shields, 

 And all the dread magnificence of heaven, 

 Oh how can they renounce, and hope to be 



forgiven ! 



( To he continued.) 



For the Monthlij Magazine. 

 On ih£ LARCH, /row Practical Obser- 

 vations wade in SCOTLAND., btj a 

 landed Proprietor and Planter, of 

 Furfurshire ; ivritten originallij in 

 French, at the desire of some Planters 

 of that country, and translated by 



MR. LAWRENCE. 



(Chvcludcd f om No. 352,/). 221. J 



THERE are at this time hi France 

 extensive wastes left entirely un- 

 productive, ■which are capable of beinij 

 converted into plantations of Lirch. It 

 is both the duty and the interest of that 

 government to <i;ive the utmost encou- 

 ragement to tiie plantation of so precious 

 a tree. We have remarked that the 

 larch planted on poor soils, meliorates 

 them in a most remarkable manner; 

 and that lands v.hich had produced 

 nothing but stunted heath and rubbish, 

 in a few years had changed their face, 

 and became covered with green herbage. 

 All the leaves of the larch fall on the 

 approach of winter, and form an en- 

 riching manure to the soil. 



In ornamental plantations, the larch 

 has been mixed with other forest trees, 

 aud being once cut, afterwards attained 

 a useful size. Of all the pine class, it 

 IK that which is least injurious to other 

 ti'ee.s which grow under its protection ; 

 and we have a fine plantation of oak 

 and beech, sheltered by larches, which 

 have been cut with great profit at the 

 age of thirty-five years, leaving the 

 former trees in full vegetation, which 

 seems even to have had a growth more 

 rapid aftei- the shelter of the larches 

 was withdrawn. 



Next to the larch, iu Scotland we 

 esteem the fir or deal tree, piniis abies, 

 as the most profitable for plantation 

 upon waste lands ; it requires a soil of 

 con.siderable humidity and some deptii, 

 however barren, such as the turfy and 

 marshy lands. This kind of soil is com- 



mon in Scotland, and probably in many 

 parts of France, on wet borders at the 

 foot of the mountains. The Norwe- 

 gian fir, if planted in a proper soil, is 

 equally rapid in growtii with the larch. 

 It produces more wood than the larch, 

 its trunk rising less rapidly into cone, 

 but it requires a greater space of land. 

 Thick planting in a particular manner 

 impedes its growth; and while we can 

 plant twelve or fourteen hundred 

 larciies upon a Scotch acre, we cannot 

 safely risk upon the same extent of 

 land mine than nine hundred or a 

 thousand firs. 



There is this great advantage in the 

 larch, that it is seldom warped or 

 crooked in its growth, either from the 

 po^^■er of the wind or other causes ; its 

 lateral branches being very long at the 

 inferior parts, while at the summit 

 they are veiy short. The extremity 

 consists of a strong and elastic upright 

 spri?. The top of the larch also, is 

 more slender and flexible than that of 

 the common pine. Fir wood is most 

 commonly used in Norway, and also 

 universally in England, for flooring, 

 door-pannels and wainscot. It is du- 

 rable, and fetches the same price as 

 the larch, but its bark has not hitherto 

 been used in the tanneries. 



In Scotland there are two varieties 

 of the fir, the branches of the one are 

 arched from the bottom to the top, 

 those of the other, pendant. The last 

 kind is the best, the first being subject 

 to have its terminal shoot injured b,y 

 the frost, which never happens to the 

 other. The first is a slow grower, the 

 other shoots rapidly, and is well re- 

 plenished with the resinous juice. It ne- 

 ver requires pruning or lopping, unless 

 of those branches which are quite dead, 

 for the resin distils freely from the 

 wounds made in cutting a living 

 branch. 



The resinous juice of the larch is 

 the turpentine of commerce. If in 

 France, as in Scotland, this tree should 

 be found to make good firewood, a con- 

 siderable profit might be made by ex- 

 tracting the turpentine through an in- 

 cision before the wood is felled. But 

 this ouglit not to be done in a plantation, 

 tlie timber of wliich is intended for 

 doniestic or maritime buildings ; for 

 in the case of the American pine, we 

 liave thorough experience in England, 

 of the difference between the v.-ood of 

 the red pine cut up iu its full sap, and 

 that from wJiich the tiirpenline had 

 been previously cxtractcid. The first 



