1056 ARBORETUM ET FKUTJCETUM BRITANNICUM. 



which are neither too young nor too old ; and auger holes are made in dif- 

 ferent parts of the trunk, from which the turpentine flows through slender 

 tubes or gutters to a bucket at the bottom of the tree. The manna is collected 

 from the young shoots and leaves. The larch will grow rapidly upon almost 

 any soil, and in any situation, for the first 20 or 30 years ; but it is only in a 

 clear dry atmosphere, on a cold-bottomed soil, somewhat moist on the surface, 

 that its timber is brought to perfection. In plains, and near the sea, it grows 

 rapidly for 30 or 35 years ; but, when felled in such situations, the wood is 

 found rotten at the heart, and unfit for any purpose except fuel. This decay 

 of the wood is much aggravated when the larches are planted thick, so as to 

 expose but a small portion of their foliage to the sun, and to retain among 

 their lower branches an atmosphere surcharged with moisture. The larch will 

 grow, and become valuable timber, at a much greater elevation above the sea 

 than the Scotch pine, thriving at the height of 1800ft. in the Highlands, 

 where the Scotch pine does not attain a timber size at a greater elevation 

 than 900 ft. In Switzerland, Kasthoffer inform us, it is found in the highest 

 perfection in soil composed of the debris of calcareous rocks, as well as in 

 granitic, argillaceous, and schistose soils. An immense mass of valuable 

 matter on the culture and uses of the larch, with a detailed account of the 

 Duke of Athol's plantations in the Highlands of Scotland, will be found in 

 our 1st edition, vol. iv. p. 2353. to 2399. 



* 2. L. AMERICANA Michx. The American Larch. 



Identification. Michx. N. Amer Syl., 3. p. 213 



Synonymes. Pinus /aricina Du RoiHarbk. ed. Pott. 2. p. 117. ; P. microcSrpa Willd. Baum. p. 275. ; 



vl x bies tnicrocarpa Pair. ; Hackmatack, Amer. \ Tamarack, by the Dutch in New Jersey ; E'pi- 



nette rouge, in Canada. 

 Engravings. Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 3. t. 153. ; Lamb. Pin., ed. 2., t. 50. ; the plate of this tree in 



Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. viii. ; and our fig. 1973. 



Spec. Char. y S/-c. Leaves short. Cones small, ovate-roundish, with few scales. 

 Leaves from ^ in. to f in. long. Cones from | in. to f in. long, and from 

 in. to in. broad. A deciduous tree, with a slender trunk. North Ame- 

 rica, Newfoundland to Virginia. Height 80 ft. to 100 ft. Introduced in 1739. 

 Flowers red or yellow. Cones small, brown, or brownish red ; May. 



Varieties. None of the forms of this species can be at all compared with the 

 European larch, in point of utility, or even ornament. 



$ L. a. 1 rubra. L. microcarpa Laws. Man. p. 388. ; Pinus microcarpa 

 Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept. p. 645., Lodd. Cat. ; E'pinette rouge, Canada. 

 Tree medium-sized, upright, of a slender, conical, or pyramidal 

 habit of growth, but not so much so as in L. a. pendula. Branches 

 horizontal, or slightly pendulous, except the upper, which are rather 

 aspiring ; branchlets also pendulous, and, together with the branches, 

 more numerous and dense than those of L. a. pendula. The wood 

 is so ponderous that it will scarcely swim in water. 



I L. a. 2 pendula. L. pendula Laws. Man. p. 387. ; Pinus pendula Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. ed. 1. iii. p. 369.; P. intermedia Du Roi Harbk. ii. 

 p. 1 15. ; P. .Larix nigra Marsh. Arb. Amer. p. 203. ; ^'bies pendula 

 Poir. Diet. p. 514.; Tamarack, Amer. A tree of medium size, 

 slender, and generally bending towards the top. Branches verti-. 

 cillate, few, remote, and pendulous ; branchlets also thin, and more 

 pendulous than the branches. Bark smooth, and very dark-coloured ; 

 that on the youngest twigs of a dark purplish colour, inclining to 

 grey. Leaves like those of the common larch in shape, but rather 

 longer, darker in colour, and arising from shorter and much darker- 

 coloured buds or sheaths. 



3t L. a. 3 prolifera. L. prolifera Malcolm. In this variety, the axis of 



the cones is prolonged in the form of a shoot ; a kind of monstrosity 



or morphology which is found in all the varieties of L. americana, 



and also, occasionally, in some species of A^bies and Picea. 



Michaux describes the American larch as a tall slender tree, with a trunk 



