156 THE LARCH. 



bark is considerably lower in price now than it was 

 some years ago, yet I know by experience that it still 

 pays something considerable after clearing all expenses 

 of peeling and delivery at the tanworks." 



Mr. J. Fingland, Carronfoot, Drumlanrig Castle, 

 says : " Peeling has been long practised, and our best 

 sheepskin leather is tanned by larch bark. Com- 

 mercially considered, barking the wood may not pay 

 the proprietor a very high percentage, but it is a good 

 and useful department of labour, and circulates money 

 at home, which is an important matter for our national 

 prosperity." 



Mr. Eobert M'Cutcheon, Whittinghame, Prestonkirk, 

 says : " In regard to peeling young, healthy trees, say 

 from twenty-five to forty-five years old, where hands 

 are plentiful, I am of opinion that about two-thirds of 

 recent years' market value may be a clear profit, 

 besides about one-fourth of weight on the carriage of 

 wood saved. The peeling of the wood causes it to 

 rend or crack, unless it be covered from the sun, but 

 as this description of wood is generally used for out- 

 door purposes, it is, in my opinion, the better of 

 peeling, as it allows the natural sap more freely to 

 escape." 



" The bark of the larch," says Mr. T. Wilkie, Ard- 

 kinglas, " when properly cured and delivered at the 

 tanyard where it is to be used, realises from £;^, 1 7s. 6d. 

 to £4 or £4, 5s. when of first-class quality, and costs 

 about 30s. for peeling, curing, chopping, and bagging. 

 The real profit arising from so doing is either greater 



