I40 THE LARCH. 



No. I was a post -and -rail fence on the roadside 

 leading from Keith to Cullen in Banffshire. It served 

 as a roadside and plantation fence combined, and was 

 erected in 1 839. It was recently taken down, and the 

 posts, which were six inches square, were in many cases 

 perfectly fresh and sound, except a little decayed on the 

 outer surface. The rails, which were 4 inches by 3, 

 were in still better preservation than the posts. The 

 trees from which this fence was procured were, when 

 cut down, fifty-six years old, and grew on the highest 

 part of a hill about 800 feet altitude, and distant from 

 the sea about four miles. The larch was very red and 

 hard, and the trees contained only about 7 cubic feet 

 of timber. The fence, it will be observed, stood forty- 

 one years, and to all appearance with some slight 

 repairs might have been a useful and serviceable fence 

 for at least ten or fifteen years longer. 



There are at the present time some of the same class 

 of trees from which the above paling was constructed 

 still remaining in the plantation, which exhibit approxi- 

 mately some of the characteristics described by Evelyn 

 and some other old authorities, which younger men 

 are inclined to repudiate. 



The wood is so hard as to resist almost any axe, is 

 as red as mahogany, and almost absolutely refuses to 

 burn in the fire. Had the wood of this fence been 

 carefully selected, and only the best of it used, it is 

 evident the fence would have stood, without almost 

 any repairs, full fifty years. 



No. 2 is a plantation wood-and-wire fence, taken 



