2 42 THE LARCH. 



respect to situation and depth, appears to be insisted 

 upon as a sine qua non for the healthy progress of the 

 larch ; but the Duke of Portland distinctly says that 

 it is in a dry soil particularly that he has found the 

 tree to decay at the heart when it had attained the 

 age of thirty or forty years ! How are these anomalies 

 to be reconciled ? I proposed to His Grace to analyse 

 by chemical tests any small portions of the soil which 

 he would cause to be forwarded to me, hoping that, 

 by a bare possibility, some deleterious matter might 

 be detected in portions of that soil in which the trees 

 were found to decay, which did not exist in those 

 portions of soil which carried sound timber. With 

 that promptitude which characterises this nobleman, 

 His Grace honoured me with an immediate reply. 

 The Noble Duke observed, that he could doubtless 

 jDrocure the specimens I requested, but that the analysis 

 of such small portions could scarcely yield any satis- 

 factory result, as no one could be certain that the 

 parcels selected contained the causes of the decay of 

 the trees. Such had been the extent of the malady 

 upon the property of one gentleman (half his trees 

 having exhibited symptoms of sickness), that he had 

 determined to cut down the whole of his extensive 

 plantations. But as these trees had flourished for 

 many years, it is evident that the roots, as long as the 

 trees flourished, had not been attacked with the disease, 

 which in the end proved fatal to them. * I see,' 

 concludes the Noble Duke, ' larches grow luxuriantly 

 where all the good soil has been taken away ; and I 



