2 20 THE LAECH. 



shire, there are some excellent larches of various de- 

 scriptions, but one in particular (shown in frontispiece), 

 planted by Dr. Stewart upwards of lOO years ago, de- 

 serves special notice. It was planted along with three 

 others, but all except itself have been cut down. This, 

 though by no means the largest, is certainly one of the 

 handsomest and most symmetrical trees to be found any- 

 where, as all admit who have seen it. At i foot from 

 the ground it girths 1 2 feet, at 4 feet it girths 9 feet, and 

 at 1 2 feet from the ground 8 feet 9 inches ; it is 97 feet 

 in height, and contains 1 89 cubic feet of timber. Seve- 

 ral other larches on the estate are considerably over 1 00 

 feet in height, and perfect as timber trees, but cannot 

 be compared with it in form and symmetry. A tree at 

 Glenlyon, 9 miles from Aberfeldy, was said to be one of 

 the first planted in Scotland, but now that it has been 

 cut, and the years' growths counted, it is found that the 

 tree had been planted about 1760, and not 1738, as 

 <^enerally alleged. The reason for cutting it was in con- 

 sequence of its having died suddenly and unaccount- 

 ably two years ago, probably a result of the unfavour- 

 able season of 1879. The wood of the tree, when cut 

 down, was found to be perfectly sound in every respect, 

 with the exception, as may be supposed, of the liber ' 

 and the few layers of sapwood. At 7 feet from the 

 ground it girthed 1 2 feet, and at 1 4 feet nearly the 

 same ; it measured 90 feet in length, and the trunk 

 alone contained 3 1 5 cubic feet of timber, and the 

 limbs, some of which were large enough to make rail- 

 way sleepers, contained an additional 40- cubic feet. 



