532 LXXVI. CONIFERS. [Larix. 



have in many instances been found to give most satisfactory results ; beyond 

 that age, however, its progress is not satisfactory on a large scale, and a 

 disease has shown itself of late years which has in many cases seriously in- 

 jured plantations of much younger age. Considerable quantities of Larch 

 seed have at different times, by well-meaning persons, been imported to the 

 N.W. Himalaya, but as yet without any result. Except on the borders of 

 the arid tract, beyond the range of the Deodar e.g., in Lahoul, Piti, and 

 Ladak there seems no inducement to repeat these experiments, as the 

 Deodar is at home in the N.W. Himalaya, and is fully equal in value and 

 in rapidity of growth to the best mountain Larch. The wood of the Larch 

 yields large quantities of turpentine, which is used medicinally under the name 

 of Venetian turpentine. A number of holes, about 1 in. diam., and somewhat 

 inclined towards the circumference, are bored into the trunk, but not quite to 

 the heart of the tree, small channels of wood are inserted in each hole, and the 

 turpentine which runs out during summer is collected in wooden buckets placed 

 underneath. Holes that cease to run are closed, and yield a fresh supply 

 when reopened. In autumn all holes are carefully closed with wooden stop- 

 pers, and if this precaution is duly observed, it is said that a tree will continue 

 to yield during 40-50 years ; but the wood of the trees thus tapped is said to 

 lose its good quality, and can only be used as fuel. This is the practice in 

 the valley St Martin, Pignerolo district of Piedmont, between Mont Cenis and 

 Monte Viso. It is described by Duhamel in his ' Traite des Arbres et Arbustes/ 

 1755, and quoted by Mohl. The editor of the 'Nouveau Duhamel' (1812), 

 states that it is the practice in the Swiss Canton de Vaud, probably a mistake. In 

 South Tyrol one hole only, 1 in. diam., is bored about a foot above the base of the 

 trunk fully to the centre in spring, and is at once firmly closed by a wooden 

 stopper. In autumn the hole is opened and emptied of the turpentine which 

 has collected in it during summer, and is then closed again. It is again opened 

 and emptied in the second autumn, and so on during a number of years. In 

 this way all large trees are tapped in certain forests of South Tyrol, as described 

 by Mohl in ' Botanische Zeitung,' 1859, p. 329, and the wood of the trees thus 

 tapped is said not to deteriorate in any way. Mohl's paper discusses the con- 

 nection between the different modes of tapping coniferous trees for resin and 

 the distribution of the resinous ducts in wood (Larch, Pinaster, and Laricio), 

 and bark (Spruce and Silver Fir). The bark of the Larch is used for tanning 

 and for dyeing. 



5. CUPRESSUS, Linn. 



Evergreen aromatic trees, with small closely adpressed scale-like broad- 

 based opposite leaves, imbricate on the younger branchlets, distant, decus- 

 sate, and often less closely adpressed on older branchlets. Male catkins 

 numerous, small, cylindrical, sessile at the ends of branchlets ; scales stipi- 

 tate, peltate, each bearing 2-4 subglobose anther -cells under the edge. 

 Female catkins terminal, fewer than male; scales few, decussate, each 

 bearing at the base 8 or more erect ovules narrowed at the apex. Cone 

 subglobose, requiring somewhat longer than a year to ripen, consisting of 

 thick woody peltate, angular scales, with numerous seeds, attached to 

 the stalk of the scales. Cotyledons 2-3. 



Crown narrow-cylindrical ; branches erect ; cones few, 1 in. 



diam ., 1. C. sempervirens. 



Crown broad-pyramidal ; branches spreading ; cones numer- 

 ous, clustered, in. diam 2. C. torulosa. 



