LARCH PLANTATIONS AND THE LARCH DISEASE. 235 



began to attract more attention. As to how this grand planting 

 affair gradually developed during the next half century, I must 

 refer the reader to the original Account, and must content 

 myself with stating here that the Duke in this period planted 

 about 14 millions Larch (13 millions unmixed and about 1 million 

 mixed) on 8017 Scotch acres. At the same time the reader will 

 find in the Account a profound knowledge of the whole planting 

 business, and many proved experiences, which raise this paper on 

 Larch plantations to the first rank as a most exhaustive mono- 

 graph dealing with all possible circumstances. 



[After alluding to an article by De CandoUe of Geneva on the 

 "Native Larch Forests of Switzerland," which appeared in the 

 Quarterly Journal of Agriculture for 1835, and to the chapter on the 

 "Larch Disease" in Professor Hartig's book on Diseases of Trees, 

 the English Arboricultural Society's Report on the same subject, 

 the Reports of the Society's Excursion to Dunkeld in 1884, and 

 to Strathspey in 1894, and to Mr Elis Nilson's letter of December 

 1899, all of which have already appeared in the Transactions, 

 the author goes on to say :] 



The above mentioned highly satisfactory results of the Atholl 

 and other Larch woods, planted very likely in right situations, were 

 passed over in silence in the discussion to which I referred at the 

 beginning of this article ; mention was only made in general 

 terms " of isolated cases in alpine situations, where Larch did 

 well, but in nine cases out of ten the disease was so prevalent that 

 it was unprofitable to plant Larch." . , . 



Ther-eupon I ask. Are all the mountainous regions in Scotland, 

 like those of Atholl, already covered with Larch ? If that is so, 

 it would certainly be of no more use to plant Larch, as it properly 

 belongs only to mountainous regions. 



On page 521 we find another totally incorrect statement : " It 

 was not till 1839 that they had any recoi'd of disease having 

 appeared in the Atholl plantations. Before the introduction of 

 the disease the Larch grew well on any soil." This assertion is 

 in contradiction to the Duke's day-book, where we read that the 

 disease was known to him. 



"Previous to the year 1795," he writes, "a blight . . . affected 

 the Larch, and of those in low situations, many died . . . trees 

 above 30 feet in height, and trees in high situations escaped this 

 affection . . ." (then follows a minute description of this disease). 



And as to the remark that " it grew well on any soil," I can 



