2 2 THE LARCH. 



commend that if any of them incline their heads 

 downwards, to thrust a small stake into the ground, 

 and fasten their heads upright thereto; for if they 

 are suffered to grow on one side while young, they are 

 rarely to be reduced to an upright figure again, " And 

 further," he says, " you must observe to train their 

 heads upright, and not suffer them to grow awry, which 

 they are naturally too much inclined to do." Various 

 conjectures are formed as to the drooping description 

 given, but the most likely is that the plants referred 

 to drooped because of their vigorous and succulent 

 growth, the result of plump, full seed, and forcing, 

 stimulating soils. I have seen young larches hang 

 their top shoots considerably when growing very 

 rapidly, and the foliage rich and long. The descrip- 

 tion given is more applicable to the Cedrus Deodar a 

 than the larch, and it is just within the bounds of 

 possibility that some of the latter might have found 

 their way to this country and been mistaken for the 

 larch, to which they bear a considerable resemblance. 

 The old accounts, however, w^ere not in all cases fully 

 to be relied on, not only respecting the larch, but 

 many other things as well; and the drooping might not, 

 after all, amount to much, and need not greatly perplex 

 the cultivator of the present day, or influence him in 

 his modus ojoerandi of cultivation. 



Evelyn says an old operose method of extracting the 

 seeds was to cut off the scales of the cones singly and 

 let the seeds drop out. Another and so considered 

 improved method was to split or tear the cones into 



