I 82 THE LAECH. 



sale, which were, to cut all the hardwoods four inches 

 above the surface of the ground. The sums realised 

 for such plantations varied from £/\.o to /^6o per 

 acre, and frequently paid the wood merchant well at 

 the latter sum. In the county of Sussex, in 1854, the 

 prices realised for larch hop-poles were as follows : — 

 lo-feet poles, 20s. per 100; 14-feet poles, 30s.; and 

 i8-feet poles, 40s. per 100. It must not be inferred 

 that all the 8168 larches planted attained hop-pole 

 size, or to any value at all, except as faggot-wood for 

 burning in tile-kilns, &c., but the above prices indicate 

 the value of the larch as a hop-pole product, which is 

 usually twice that of any other description of wood, 

 except Spanish chestnut, which is next in value to 

 larch as a hop-pole. 



Small larch rods are very valuable for a variety of 

 purposes, such as securing thatch on houses, stacks of 

 corn and hay, &c. For garden and nursery purposes it 

 is also much used for training trees, stakes for rasps, 

 hollyhocks, and dahlias; but for these purposes small 

 wood of other descriptions at a cheap rate is generally 

 used, and therefore it is not commendable to grow larch 

 for these minor and subordinate purposes, notwithstand- 

 ing that it answers well in its application. 



As larch, from its durability when young, is found 

 to yield the most profitable description of hop- poles, in 

 rearing plantations exclusively for that purpose, no 

 other tree should be planted amongst it, as it always, 

 when well grown, brings the highest price in the 

 market. 



