342 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:8— Nov., 1917 



twelve fathoms under water in the Numidian Sea, having lain there 

 fourteen thousand years. The timbers of the ship were of larch 

 and yet these were still hard and sound even after that length of 

 exposure. This tale may seem rather exaggerated, but we must 

 at least agree to the extreme durability of the wood. 



Besides its value as timber-wood, certain minor products of the 

 larch deserve considerable mention. Turpentine and an extract 

 of tannin are the most common of these, while the resinous exuda- 

 tion of the bark has been considered of medicinal value. One such 

 medicinal product is oleoresin, usually spoken of as "Venice 

 turpentine." A certain sweetish substance resembling dextrine 

 is exuded from the bark of the western larch, and this the Indians 

 used as food, having learned how to obtain it by wounding 

 the tree. 



The best place to find this interesting tree in its favorite haunts 

 is in some mucky swamp, for, although the larch can and will grow 

 on hillsides and in yards, it loves best to send its long slender roots 

 far down into the yielding muck of the swamp. For this reason 

 it is an important agent in the reclaiming of land from the water, 

 since earth and vegetable matter become entangled in the roots and 

 are held there, thus permitting the gradual filling up of the swamps 

 and marshy places. It is often possible to push a pole down ten 

 feet or more into the mud in which the larch has so firmly planted 

 its feet. 



Certain species, however, as the woolly larch are often found 

 growing near the timber-line of mountains in Montana, Oregon, 

 Alberta and British Columbia. Here the ' ' tamarack is often found 

 standing, a tiny tree, when its companion, the black spruce, is 

 clinging to the ground, like a creeping plant, to escape being torn 

 away by the force of the wind." This species is also called Lyall's 

 larch, and mountain larch; the wood, which is reddish brown, has 

 not yet become an article of commerce. 



Our commonest form is the American larch or tamarack, also 

 called hackatack, black larch and red larch. It occurs from 

 Newfoundland to Alaska, and south to New York, Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota. This species prefers swamps almost exclusively, and 

 yet makes a very desirable tree for ornament if any larch is to be 

 used, for its growth is rapid and it retains its symmetry of form 

 longer than any other. This tree may attain a height of eighty 

 feet. 



