48 TRANSACTIONS OF KOYAL SCOTTISH AHBOKICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



are few larch districts in Germany which show so small a proportion 

 of straight stems as do those at the higher levels in the Alps ; 

 tiiough there the annual shoots are so short, and the stems are 

 so stunted, that the wind has but little effect on them. In such 

 regions it is the failure of the leading shoot to ripen, and the 

 action of the Peziza, which cause the crooked stems. 



With reference to the nature of the localities which are favour- 

 able to the growth of the larch, the author says that whereas 

 Peziza and other enemies of the tree are found everywhere on 

 the poor soil of Klo.^ters (3900 ft.), Davos (5200 ft.), and as far 

 up as the Fliiela Pass (7200 ft.), as well as in the Oberengadin 

 (6000 to 7000 ft.) right up to the Julier Pass (7200 ft.), these 

 pests are altogether wanting in lower, sunny localities, on the rich 

 slates of Tiefencastel (2800 ft.), as far as Thur (1600 ft.), at Land- 

 quart (1700 ft.), Maienfeld, with its great vineyards (1700 ft.), 

 Eugaz. and such places. Only in the dampest and darkest corner 

 of the Via Mala did he find Peziza again. It could not be other- 

 wise because the luxuriant growth of the larch in the low-lying 

 country, with its good soil, renders the existence of the fungus 

 impossible. But on the neighbouring gravels of the Rhine, near 

 Bimaduz, the larch is as sickly as it is on the uncongenial soil of 

 North Germany. In the north, where the amount of sunshine is 

 relatively small, and where, consequently, the larches should have 

 been planted at wider intervals than in the south, and also at high 

 elevations, the density of the stock has been too great. On good 

 soil, and in open, sunny localities, we find noble larches everywhere; 

 but on cold and damp mountain slopes, where silver firs and spruces 

 flourish in their natural habitat, the larch is a failure. 



It is true that certain mountainous districts of this nature pro- 

 duce o^ood larch, but these are so few and far between that they 

 do not controvert the above generalisation. The author is well 

 aware that in valleys with a southern or a south-western exposure, 

 and on a slate formation, larches grow well, not only on low- 

 lying ground, but also on dry, rocky hill-tops. Whether it will 

 pay to grow larches in a fir country is a question which must be 

 answered in the negative. On the other hand, there is, of course, 

 no doubt that the tree grows well in a beech country; but the 

 mountain soil is usually so shallow, that on it the larch does not 

 generally yield sawyer's timber. 



While on the foot-hills of the northern Alps we find good 

 larch plantations, we observe, as we travel northwards (where. 



