CHAPTEE XIII. 



USES AND VALUE OF WOOD. 



Though larch was at one time considered of almost no 

 value, either for rural or domestic purposes, it is now 

 found to be one of the most useful and accommodating 

 products of the forest. Indeed, I am not aware of any 

 species of timber tree that can with advantage be 

 turned to so many different purposes. It can be used 

 for outdoor and indoor work alike in a manner that no 

 other timber can. There is scarcely an agricultural 

 implement, machine, or tool of any kind in which 

 wood is used but larch can be employed. Furniture 

 of all kinds, the choicest and the best, is made from 

 it, and its applications are constantly on the increase. 

 Ships of every tonnage, and destined for every clime, 

 have been successfully built of larch. The first vessel 

 constructed of larch in this country was a frigate of 

 thirty-six guns, named the Athole, built at Woolwich, 

 and launched in 1820. About the time the Athole 

 frigate was building at Woolwich, the well-known 

 firm of Messrs. Sime & Co., shipbuilders, Leith, pur- 

 chased from His Grace the Duke of Athole one of the 

 five original " mothers " grown at Dunkeld, containing 



