LARCH TREE. 309 



cause, in rich soils and sheltered situations, the wood, 

 though it thrives fast, is full of sap, and of little value ; 

 and is, likewise, very subject to ravage from the attacks 

 of insects, and from blight *." 



Again, he says, " It must be acknowledged that the 

 Larch, till it has outgrown the size of a shrub, shows, 

 when looked at singly, some elegance in form and ap- 

 pearance, especially in spring, decorated, as it then is, by 

 the pink tassels of its blossoms ; but, as a tree, it is less 

 than any other pleasing ; its branches (for boughs it has 

 none), have no variety in the youth of the tree, and little 

 dignity even when it attains its full growth ; leaves it can- 

 not be said to have, consequently it affords neither shade 

 nor shelter. In spring, the Larch becomes green long 

 before the native trees, and its green is so peculiar and 

 vivid, that finding nothing to harmonize with it, where- 

 ever it comes forth, a disagreeable speck is produced. 

 In summer, when all other trees are in their pride, it is of 

 a dingy lifeless hue ; in autumn, of a spiritless unvaried 

 yellow, and in winter it is still more lamentably distin- 

 guished from every other deciduous tree of the forest, for 

 they seem only to sleep, but the Larch appears absolutely 

 dead f." 



He still goes on for another page to make objections 

 against the unhappy Larch tree, which is, indeed, to 

 be pitied in having, for its enemy, a pen so powerful. 



* Wordsworth's Description of the Scenery of the Lakes, p. 86. 

 t Ibid. p. 93. 



