32 THE LARCH. 



much injury to the larch, and therefore it is unneces- 

 sary to take any special precautions to prevent it. 



Damp situations, rather than either frosty or windy 

 exposures, are to be avoided. The larch is a tree 

 above all others that dislikes a shady cold damp situa- 

 tion, and when there is any inclination to it, the air 

 and sunshine should be admitted as freely as possible, 

 both by cutting down rank herbage and thinning. For 

 this, if for no other reason, mixing larch amongst 

 spruce or Scotch fir is objectionable, and is often the 

 cause of failure and disappointment. The trees in 

 their young state, from ten to twenty years, are much 

 more easily injured, especially in the bark, than when 

 further advanced, say from thirty to forty, and it is 

 therefore in the young and tender state that injury from 

 damp should be most carefully avoided. 



The conformation and position of the ground should 

 also be looked to. A ravine extending lengthwise from 

 north to south is better adapted for larch than one 

 extending from east to west. One reason is, that in 

 the former case the soil on both sides is usually more 

 nearly of equal quality, whereas in the latter case it 

 is better on the one side than the other, and almost 

 invariably on the side least exposed to the sun. Soils 

 whose temperature varies most in cold and hot sum- 

 mers are least adapted to larch, and therefore such as 

 are of an equal temperature in the growing season are 

 to be preferred where choice can be had. 



Although the larch grows at an altitude at least 

 equal to that at which any other forest tree succeeds. 



