THE JAPANESE LARCH. 259 



although this has become a recognised thing in the timber trade, 

 in reality all trees should be measured over bark and no 

 allowance made. 



25. The Japanese Larch (Larix leptolepis). 



By Gko. Leven. 



" Will the Japanese larch ever have the same value as the 

 European larch ?" This question is often asked by people who 

 profess to know little or nothing about forestry matters, and as 

 often they get an answer that leaves the matter in doubt. 



The above question prompts another of a speculative nature : 

 "What is meant by 'value' as used above?" In a commercial 

 sense. 60 cubic feet of the timber of the Japanese larch may, or 

 may not, be of the same value as 60 cubic feet of the timber of 

 the European larch, while, in a silvicultural sense, the former 

 may be many times the value of the latter. The " value," in the 

 popular sense, of the timber of the European larch has been 

 estimated per cubic foot, in comparison with, say, spruce and 

 Scots pine, or, according to the point of view, as regards 

 durability, forgetful of the restricted area on which it can be 

 grown well and with profit. The fact that spruce may yield 

 three times as many cubic feet as the European larch on an 

 equal area is also often lost sight of. 



It is not intended here to give a definite answer to the first 

 question above, even if that could be done at the present stage 

 in the growth of the Japanese larch in Britain, but rather to 

 consider the far more important point as to what position the 

 Japanese larch is likely to hold in British silviculture in the near 

 future. Within recent years the demand for the seed of this 

 species has increased to a great extent, notwithstanding 

 uncertainty as to the tree's ultimate value as timber. This in 

 itself points to the direction in which opinion is veering, but 

 probably, as in all other things, there is a fashion in things 

 silvicultural. Considerable disappointment is felt in years when 

 " crop failed " describes, in the seed lists, the result of a bad seed 

 year. It is to be hoped that the uncertain supply will not lead 

 to the introduction of seed from other sources to the detriment 

 of the character of the true leptolepis as imported here from 

 Japan, for, undoubtedly, it has suffered enough already through 



