USES AND VALUE OF WOOD. I 3 5 



than the sapwood. At forty years old the sapwood 

 of a larch post will stand five years, and the heart- 

 wood would stand for ten years, hence the heart- 

 wood is twice as durable as the sapwood. There is 

 considerable difference in the quality of sapwood, but 

 not nearly so much as in the quality of the heart- wood. 



The returns from larch plantations, are very variable ; 

 in some cases they have paid well, in others they have 

 proved a great loss. The districts where larch have 

 paid best are upon dry, porous land, precipitous rather 

 than fiat, but generally thin and poor. Some have 

 concluded that the north country is better adapted 

 for larch than the south. In this there is no great 

 difference, save what soil and situation produce. 

 There are equally as good larches in the counties 

 of Sussex, Surrey, and Kent, as there are in Inverness- 

 shire, Eoss, or Sutherland ; but in the latter counties 

 good larches and larch plantations are more numerous 

 and extensive. 



In Wales there are many fine larches of all ages, not 

 exceeding one hundred years, and disease is little 

 known, save upon slate rock, and even there only 

 on wet and cold clays. Throughout North Wales, 

 wherever larch has been planted on dry soils and 

 duly thinned, the crops have proved remunerative. 

 The accounts from Ireland are also favourable, and 

 disease is all but unknown ; the exceptional cases are 

 upon soft, boggy ground, where the roots decay, just 

 as in Scotland upon certain mosses, cold clays, &c. 



No proprietor in Scotland has suffered so much 



