SOILS FOR THE LARCH. 115 



above the Tay, and 130 above the level of the sea. 

 Three out of the five were cut down, two of which 

 were felled in 1809; one measured 147 cubical feet, 

 and the other 168 cubical feet. The last was sold on 

 the spot to a ship-building company at Leith for three 

 shillings a foot, or ^25 45-. the tree. The other two 

 larches at the time the account was written were of 

 immense size, and still continued to grow on the 

 lawn at Dunkeld. 



The larch flourishes in soils of very opposite 

 qualities, from dry and sandy to that which is wet and 

 clayey, but when near to springs it is necessary for its 

 health and growth that the water have free exit. But 

 it is on the slopes of ravines and declivities, and on 

 shattered debris, that the tree luxuriates in the greatest 

 vigour, in cool situations, where there is a free circula- 

 tion of air. No degree of cold injures the larch during 

 the winter, but its foliage is sensible to the least touch 

 of frost, the leaves being remarkably fine and tender, 

 which causes it to be unfit for planting on southern 

 exposures, along the warm slopes of steep mountains ; 

 for the warmth which is frequently brought by the 

 months of March and April stimulates the growth of 

 the leaves, which are blighted by a succeeding frost, 

 which, if it does not kill the trees, inflicts so much 

 damage that they are long in recovering from it. 



In Aberdeenshire there are many very fine speci- 

 mens of the larch to be seen, especially on the banks 

 of the Don. 



In planting larches, the distance at which the trees 

 are to stand must be regulated by the situation. In 

 bleak and exposed moorland in the Highlands of 

 Scotland it is usual to allow 4,000 plants to the 



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