Larix 353 



with the spruce or higher than it. In Moldavia he reports it on the Ceahlaii, where 

 it rises on a southern slope to 5550 feet. The larch in Moldavia and Roumania has 

 been considered to be Larix sibirica ; but Huffel doubts this. 



Herr F. Mack, forest administrator at Azuga in Roumania, states ^ that larch is 

 common at Bucecii above the beech region, at from 1 300 to 1 600 metres, mixed with 

 spruce. It attains 60 to 65 centimetres, or about 2 feet in diameter, and is often 

 clear of branches to a considerable height. The wood is hard, red, and durable, 

 and was used in the construction of the Royal Palace of Sinaia. 



Introduction 



There is little doubt that the larch was introduced into England about the 

 beginning of the seventeenth century, as Parkinson, who published his Paradisus 

 in 1629, speaks of the tree as rare. Evelyn,^ writing in 1664, mentions " a tree of 

 good stature not long since to be seen about Chelmsford in Essex," and urged its 

 cultivation as a useful timber tree. The earliest trees in Scotland are supposed to 

 be those at Dunkeld, the history of which is given below ; but we have no reliable 

 evidence as to the exact date and locality where it was first planted. Loudon's 

 account is very full and should be consulted. The very useful little book by C. Y. 

 Michie on the larch, published in 1885 by Blackwood, must not be overlooked, as it 

 gives a very good r^sumd by a practical forester whose experience in Scotland was 

 considerable. A. H, 



Propagation 



Ever since it was realised by landowners that the larch was the tree which 

 before all others could be looked on as profitable to plant, its propagation has been 

 one of the most important branches of the nurseryman's business, especially in 

 Scotland, where by far the larger part of the trees grown in England are raised ; 

 and until the disease spread all over the country, and it became evident that 

 precautions must be taken, which in the palmy days of larch -growing were not 

 considered necessary, the majority of raisers were not very careful as to the source 

 from which their supplies of seed were obtained. It was generally supposed that 

 Scottish seed was best, though in years when it could not be obtained in sufficient 

 quantity foreign seed was used. 



Sa far as I have been able to ascertain from very numerous inquiries, the reason 

 for this idea was, that foreign seed usually germinated more quickly, and that the 

 seedlings were therefore more liable to be killed by severe spring frost just as they 

 were germinating. But as all the old larches in England and Scotland must 

 necessarily have been raised from foreign seed, it seems obvious that though 

 Scottish seedlings may have been most profitable to the nurseryman, yet that unless 

 the seed was gathered from carefully selected trees, they were liable in after-life to 

 show weakness of constitution, and succumb, as they often did, to the attacks of 

 Peziza Willkommii. 



' Zeil. fiir Forst. und Jagdwesen, Oct. 1904, p. 644. * Silva, Hunter's ed., 1776, p. 297. 



II X 



