Vlll PREFACE. 



tical forester. All that is most pressingly wanted to 

 be known respecting the Larch, whether as a tree, 

 forest, domestic, or commercial product, will, he trusts, 

 be found within its pages, and will either constitute 

 the groundwork of nobler and better structures, or 

 suggest new lines of research and inquiry. 



Any one whose spirit is at all in sympathy with 

 nature must often feel sorry, if not distressed, at seeing 

 the Larch-tree so frequently undergoing the process 

 of martyrdom, to which it seems doomed, without an 

 effort being made for its deliverance. 



The writer has endeavoured throughout to make 

 the book as much as possible a practical reference-book 

 and manual; and although there may appear not a 

 few irrelevancies, and perhaps new theories, it must 

 be borne in mind that any practical subject will be 

 rendered all the less so by a too rigid adherence to 

 abstract rules and principles. 



In conclusion, the Author begs leave to return his 

 sincere thanks to the numerous indulgent friends 

 (many of whom he never saw) who have so gener- 

 ously contributed their quota of varied and valuable 

 information, not a little of which, it is to be regretted, 

 is withheld for want of space. 



CuLLEN House, May 18S2. 



