156 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



appear they are in tufts, arranged alternately, as shown in our 

 figure, but as the season advances each tuft lengthens into a 

 twig and the leaves become scattered along it as the wood 

 grows the tree not gaining in good looks thereby. The tree 

 has a wonderfully slender pyramidal form, due to the downward 

 growth of all the branches. It is greatly appreciated as a 

 timber-producing tree, its useful wood being fit to use when the 

 tree is only forty years of age, in which respect it has distinct 

 advantage over the Scotch-pine, which requires eighty years in 

 order to produce serviceable timber. In its early years its 

 annual growth exceeds two feet. At ten years of age from the 

 sowing of the seed it has reached the height of twenty or 

 twenty-five feet, and at fifty years it is eighty feet high. Its 

 natural life is from one hundred and fifty to two hundred years. 

 The Larch and the Spruce-fir have to a great extent 

 supplanted the Scotch-pine in this country, owing to their more 

 rapid growth and development of wood. 



In its native countries the bark of the Larch is used for 

 tanning, and the young shoots as fodder for cattle, whilst its 

 resin is an article of commerce under the title of Venice 

 turpentine. 



