DISEASES. 237 



Wet clay soils are admitted to be fatal to larch, and 

 yet upon such soils larch is not only planted, but 

 promises to do well for a time, and then speedily 

 dies off. 



Larch is not exempted from the general natural 

 law to which every other species of tree is subject — 

 that certain limited conditions of soil and situation are 

 requisite for the perfect development of its parts, and 

 for the healthy and vigorous progress of its growth to 

 maturity ; yet it far excels most other trees in the 

 wide range of these conditions, and sometimes de- 

 velops and grows with equal fulness and force in 

 soils and situations of almost opposite character. It 

 seems, on the whole, to prefer alluvial earths, or deep, 

 rich, gravelly lands ; yet it grows well in almost every 

 description of very poor soil, and may sometimes be 

 seen \agorous and luxuriant on a shallow moor, or 

 even on the naked rock. 



An interesting article, comprehending a correspon- 

 dence between the Duke of Portland and G-. I. T., will 

 be found in vol. xxii., 1833, of the Highland and Agri- 

 cultural Society's " Transactions," which I give in eo> 

 tenso, being much to the point : — " It has been found in 

 many soils, both icet and dry — to the latter I speak most 

 particularly — that the larch, when between thirty and 

 forty years old, decays in the heart. My plantations, 

 and those of my father, have hardly suffered at all 

 yet, wliile others in my neighbourhood have suffered 

 so much as to be ruined by the distemper. When I 

 use this word, I must guard against your supposing it 



