g6 THE LARCH. 



plantations in this district, the soil is too clayey for 

 producing good quality of Scotch pine, and unless 

 drained, and even ridged, is no better adapted for 

 larch; but the herbage being rank in places where 

 the trees have decayed, renders the plantation good for 

 grazing, for which it is let at ^8 per annum. 



Ko. 8 is a young and promising plantation, com- 

 posed of larch and Scotch pine, at the rate of 496 

 larch and 1249 Scotch pine per acre. The larch are 

 on an average fully 4J feet high, while the Scotch 

 pine are scarcely yet two feet, a circumstance quite 

 common at an altitude of about 800 feet, thoroughly 

 exposed to the sea, and inland only about three miles. 



No. 9 is a narrow belt of old plantation, extending 

 along the north-west side of No. 8, and preserved to 

 shelter the latter till the plants become fairly estab- 

 lished. This belt is about fifty-six years old, and 

 comprises a variety of trees, which, though probably 

 not planted with that object, yet fully shows those 

 best and those least adapted for such situations. The 

 following is the order in which they stand in the valua- 

 tion book : — Alder, worth 3d. each ; ash, 4d.; oak, 6d. ; 

 birch, 2d. ; beech, 3d. ; sycamore, 3d. ; spruce, 4d. ; 

 Scotch pine, yd.; and larch, is. It is worthy of 

 remark that the exposure is one of the most severe, 

 while the soil is of the worst description; and all 

 the trees, especially the Scotch pine, are excessively 

 twisted and crooked, and on that account alone are 

 nearly valueless. Many of the larch are also crooked, 

 but for boat-building this is rather an advantage than 



