328 



PIN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



P IN 



14. Pinus Larix ; Common White Larch Tree. Leaves 

 fascicled, soft, bluntish ; bractes standing out beyond the 

 scales of the strobiles. This is a quick-growing tree, and will 

 rise to the height of fifty feet; the branches are slender, 

 and the ends generally hang down. In the month of April 

 the male flowers appear disposed in the form of small cones ; 

 the female flowers are collected into egg-shaped obtuse cones, 

 which in some have bright purple tops, but in others are 

 white : this difference is accidental, for seeds taken from 

 either will produce plants of both sorts : the cones are about 

 an inch long, and the scales are smooth ; under each scale 

 two winged seeds are generally lodged. There are three 

 other varieties of this tree ; one a native of America, another 

 of Siberia, and another of China. Between the two first 

 there is so little difference in their characteristics that they 

 cannot be distinguished as different species, though in the 

 growth of the trees there is a remarkable difference. The 

 other from China seems to be a sort of Pine, and is so 

 hardy that it will thrive in the open air without any protec- 

 tion. Pallas thus distinguishes the European Larch from 

 the American. In the latter, the branches are more slender, 

 with a bark more inclining to yellow, and the scars more 

 slender and clustered; the leaves are more tender, narrower, 

 more glaucous, and the outer ones in each bundle shorter ; 

 cones only one third of the size, blunt, with scales scarcely 

 exceeding twelve in number, thinner, more shining, retuse, 

 emargiaate ; wings of the seeds straight, more oblong, nar- 

 rower, and together with the seed itself of a more diluted 

 gray colour. In the European Larch, the bark of the branches 

 is of an ash-coloured gray ; the leaves a little wider, bright 

 green, all nearly equal, commonly more than forty in a bun- 

 dle ; the cones an inch long, with above thirty woody, stri- 

 ated, rounded, entire scales ; seeds brownish gray, with 

 subtriangular wings somewhat bent in : in both the cones 

 are bent upwards on very short peduncles. Native of the 

 south of Europe, and Siberia, flowering in March and April. 

 No tree is more valuable, or better deserves our attention in 

 planting, than the Larch. It has been long cultivated in Eng- 

 land. The Venetians employ it not only in houses, but in 

 naval architecture. It seems to excel for beams, doors, win- 

 dows, and masts of ships ; it resists the worm ; being driven 

 nitothe ground, it becomes almost petrified; and will support 

 an almost incredible weight. In Switzerland, where these 

 trees abound, and they have a scarcity of other wood, they 

 build most of their houses with it ; and great part of the fur- 

 niture is also made of the wood, some of which is white, and 

 some red, but the latter is most esteemed. The redness of the 

 wood is by some supposed to be from the age of the trees, and 

 not from any difference between them, but is rather owing 

 to the quantity of turpentine contained in them. They fre- 

 quently cut out the boards into shingles of a foot square, 

 with which they cover the houses, instead of tiles or other 

 covering : these are at first very white, but after they have 

 been two or three years exposed, become as black as char- 

 coal, and all the joints are stopped by the resin, which the 

 sun draws out from the pores of the wood, which is hardened 

 by the air, and becomes a smooth shining varnish, which 

 renders the houses so covered impenetrable to wind or rain ; 

 but as this is very combustible, the magistrates have made 

 an order of police, that the houses so covered should be 

 built at a distance from each other, in order to prevent fires, 

 which have done great damage in villages. In most countries 

 where this wood is plentiful, it is preferred to all the kinds 

 of Fir for every purpose: and in many places there are ships 

 built of it which are reckoned durable. Line-of-battle ships 

 are built with it at Archangel, which generally last fifteen 



years. Larch wood, says Dr. Anderson, pessesses so many 

 valuable qualities, that to enumerate the whole would appear 

 extravagant hyperbole. It is known to resist water almost 

 for ever without rotting. The piles of this timber, on which 

 the houses of Venice were built many hundred years ago, are 

 still as fresh as when first put in. Stakes of it have been 

 tried in the decoys of Lincolnshire, which between wind 

 and water have worn out two or three sets of oak stakes, 

 without discovering any symptoms of decay. It is also known 

 to possess the valuable property of neither shrinking nor 

 warping when put into work ; nor is it liable to be pierced 

 by worms in our climate. It is known to be one of the 

 quickest growing trees, remarkably hardy, and extremely 

 beautiful : being much more easily reared than the Oak, it 

 could be spread over a great extent of mountains, if suffici- 

 ently bare of herbage, at little or no expense, by the natural 

 shedding of its seeds. It would be valuable not only for 

 ship planks, but even crooked timbers might be obtained by 

 using a little art to bend it while young. For flood-gates in 

 navigable canals and wet docks, it exceeds every thing that 

 can be obtained in this climate ; and would be inimitable 

 for barrel staves. In building, it would answer all the pur- 

 poses to which Fir is now applied, being much stronger and 

 more durable than that wood. It is next to incombustible ; 

 and deserves to be strongly recommended to planters in this 

 country, particularly in the most rugged and barren districts. 

 It is much more valuable than the Scotch Fir for plantations 

 of larger extent in almost every situation. It was first culti- 

 vated as an ornamental tree, rather than for profit : but 

 wherever it has been introduced, it grows so freely, is so 

 beautiful when in leaf, or covered with its abundant pink 

 blossoms in the spring, and is so elegant also in its form, 

 that it is sure to become a favourite with the planter. Dr. 

 Anderson say's, that the Larch was employed among the 

 Romans, in preference to every other kind of wood, in build- 

 ing, where strength and durability were required: and Vitru- 

 vius attributes the sudden decay of buildings erected in his 

 time, in a great measure to the want of Larch in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Rome ; it having been exhausted before his 

 time, and the expense of bringing it from a distance being 

 so high as to amount to a prohibition. The same author has 

 adduced a variety of satisfactory instances and experiments, 

 from which the durability of this wood is established beyond 

 doubt, even in the early stages of its growth. And there are 

 also incontestable proofs of what has been already observed, 

 that it neither shrinks nor warps, and is not liable to be 

 attacked by the worm during the course of several ages. 

 It is not known whether it will resist the sea-worm : the 

 experiment might however be tried by sinking a sound well- 

 ripened piece of Larch wood with an equally sound piece of 

 Oak on the river Medway at Rochester bridge, where it is 

 well known that every other kind of wood is very soon per- 

 forated by the sea-worm. The assertion above made, that 

 Larch is incombustible, is thus explained : where the masses 

 are large, even if a fire be made upon the bare wood, though 

 it will be slowly corroded by it, yet, unless in particular cir- 

 cumstances, it cannot be made to flame, so as to communicate 

 it to other bodies. On account of its not being liable to 

 warp, or be destroyed by worms, the Italians use it for back- 

 boards to place behind fine drawings, when they frame and 

 glass them ; as also for picture frames, table frames, &c. 

 because no other wood gives gilding such force, brightness, 

 and as it were a sort of natural burnishing; and this is the 

 grand secret reason why Italian gilding- on wood is so greatly 

 preferable to ours, which has often a tarnished spongy cast, 

 ;ind looks like gilt gingerbread. The Italians also prefer it 



