6o THE LARCH. 



each individual tree, which in modern operations is 

 but too seldom the case. 



According to the Duke's practice, as gathered from 

 the report to the Highland and Agricultural Society, 

 " 536,208 larches, instead of covering g^i acres, even 

 at 5 J feet apart, which gives 1440 trees to the acre, 

 and which is the nearest distance his Lordship allowed 

 them to be planted, would have covered 372^ acres, 

 which gives an excess of 277 acres. The g^i acres 

 will yield at the end of seventy-two years 302 trees 

 per imperial acre, and taking each tree at one load of 

 timber, which is the most it will supply when planted 

 so thick, we have 28,765 trees or loads, which, at 50s. 

 per load, will give a money value of ;^7i,9i2, los.; 

 whereas, had the 536,208 larches been planted over 

 372i acres, they would have furnished 1 1 2,4 1 9 trees at 

 seventy-two years of age, and each would have yielded 

 sixty cubic feet of timber. The number of loads of 

 timber would have been 134,903, which, at 50s. per 

 load, would be worth ^337,257, los. To this may 

 be added the expense of thinning, and the advantages 

 derived from the value of the grass under the trees. 

 The magnitude of the difference in the result, arising 

 from using the same number of larch plants in these 

 different ways, is well worth the serious attention of 

 the planters of larch by themselves for naval and other 

 purposes." 



In 1738 six larches were planted at Monzie Castle, 

 in Perthshire, said to be of the same sample as those 

 first planted at Dunkeld and Blair- Athole. Tradition 



