CHAPTEE VI. 



PROPAGATION IN THE NURSERY, 



As formerly stated, a London physician of tlie name 

 of Gerard published a catalogue in i 596, in which he 

 gives an accurate description of the culture of the 

 larch; and Parkinson, a London apothecary, writing 

 of it in 1629, describes it as a rare tree, and nursed 

 amongst other fine varieties as an object of beauty 

 rather than utility. Evelyn, in 1664, mentions its 

 culture, and complains of his gardener throwing it out 

 as dead when it lost its leaves, and regrets that it 

 is not more cultivated. Miller, in 1731, states that 

 the tree was common in English gardens, and the same 

 author, in 1759, says that the larch had become 

 plentiful and common in most of the English nurseries. 

 His Grace, John, third Duke of Athole, previous to his 

 death in 1774, raised about a thousand plants annually 

 from trees grown upon the estate by his father, Duke 

 James, and at that time all the plants he purchased 

 from nurserymen cost sixpence each. The prices of 

 plants have varied very greatly within the last fifty 

 years, according to abundance or scarcity of seed, 

 demand, &c., but the usual prices at the present time 

 are as follows : — 



