EARLY MODES OF CULTUEE. 2 1 



to Oliver Cromwell at tlie court of France, soon after 

 the restoration of Charles II. After Cromwell's death, 

 thinkincf himself unsafe on account of having served 

 an usurper, he retired for some time into the terri- 

 tories of Venice. He there observed the great use the 

 Venetians made of larch in shipbuilding, in piling for 

 buildings, and other purposes, and when he returned 

 home he brought a number of larch plants in pots, 

 with a view to try if they could gradually be made to 

 endure the climate of Scotland. He nursed his plants 

 in hothouses and greenhouses, sheltered from the cold, 

 till they all died, except the three aUuded to. These, 

 in desperation, he planted in the warmest and best- 

 sheltered part of his garden, where they attained an 

 extraordinary height and girth." 



The popular account that the trees at Dunkeld were 

 the first larches introduced into Scotland, and that 

 they were imported from Italy with other exotics and 

 nursed in a hothouse, does not, from the foregoing 

 account, appear to be correct; but as the trees at 

 Dunkeld are now amongst the oldest and largest in 

 the country, it is by no means surprising that, in the 

 absence of the first imported trees, the tradition re- 

 specting their treatment should be engrafted on the 

 celebrated trees on the banks of the Tay at Dunkeld. 



Miller says the larch thrives best when planted 

 upon an elevated situation. He notices the white and 

 red flowering varieties, remarking that the former do 

 not seem to be so vigorous as the latter. It is singular 

 that, in treatincj of their cultivation, he should re- 



