INTRODUCTIOX INTO GREAT BRITAIN. I I 



for its truthfulness or practical value, as its antiquity 

 and curiosity, and knowing that comparatively few 

 possess the work from which I quote (fourth edition 

 of Evelyn's " Silva," 1706).* 



The merits of the larch are said to have been known 

 as early as the time of Julius Ceesar, who was born 

 about 1 00 B.C., who calls it Lignum imijenetrcibile ; 

 but it is to His Grace the Duke of Athole that the 

 credit of its practical introduction into Great Britain 

 is mainly due. 



In the " Transactions " of the Highland and Agricul- 

 tural Society for 1861, Mr. Thomson, late of Dalkeith 

 Palace, also shows to some extent the antecedents of 

 the larch, as follows : — 



" Native Country. — The common larch is a native of 

 a great part of Central Europe, and forms forests in 

 the upper regions of the Alps of France and Switzer- 

 land, at elevations of from 3000 to 6000 feet above 

 the sea-level ; when found above the latter height it is 

 but a dwarfy scrubby bush ; it is less common on the 

 northern than on the southern slopes of the Alps ; it is 

 found on the Carpathian Mountains, and on the Tyrol 



* Captain S. E. Cook says that it is spread from the South Alps to 

 Siberia, but never grows naturally at a low level, excepting far to the 

 north. The most southern site known to him is in the high Apennines, 

 near their junction with the Alps in Piedmont, where there are vast and 

 almost inaccessible forests of trees of the largest dimensions. It is 

 common in the highest Piedmontese Alps, around Mont Rosa and Mont 

 Blanc, and in ascending the great St. Bernard is seen far above every 

 other tree. Authors tell us that a certain elevation of surface, coldness 

 of climate, and inferiority of soil are necessary to produce its timber in 

 perfection. 



