136 THE LAECH. 



from diseased larch as His Grace the Duke of Buc- 

 cleuch, and the reason is that extensive tracts of 

 damp clay land have been planted. In Liddesdale, 

 and the southern parts of Teviotdale and Tweeddale, 

 larch in general grows indifferently, owing doubtless 

 to the cold and clayey soils that prevail. It is also 

 owing to the cold clays in Eoxburghshire, Selkirkshire, 

 Peeblesshire, and Dumfriesshire that so much disease 

 has occurred amongst the larch. In the above-named 

 counties, where the soil is sufficiently dry to maintain 

 life, the trees frequently survive to forty years old, 

 and contain from 8 to i o cubic feet of red, hard, and 

 most durable wood, which, though not of large dimen- 

 sions, pays well to grow for fencing purposes and 

 common farm buildings, including cottage roofs. 



It appears that the quality of larch timber does not 

 depend so much upon the maturity of the tree and the 

 slowness of its growth as that of the pine tribe. A fish- 

 ing-boat built of larch only forty years' growth has been 

 found to last three times as long as one built of the best 

 Norway pine. It is not so buoyant, however, nor so 

 elastic, and as it does not dry so completely as pine, 

 boards of it are more apt to warp. It is, however, much 

 more tough and compact ; and, what are very valuable 

 properties, it approaches nearly to being proof, not only 

 against water, but against fire. If the external timber 

 and the principal beams of houses were made of larch, 

 fires would not only be less frequent, but they would 

 be far less destructive ; for before a larch beam be even 

 completely charred on the surface, one of pine or of 



