408 THE LAECH. 



fit for the building of the largest class of ships in his 

 Majesty's navy. Before it is cut down for this purpose, 

 it will have been thinned out to about four hundred trees 

 per acre. Each tree will contain at the least fifty cubic 

 feet, or one load of timber, which at the low price of one 

 shilling per cubic foot (only half of its present value) will 

 give a thousands pounds per acre ; or, in all, a sum of 

 8,500,0001. sterling. Besides this, there will have been a 

 return of seven pounds per acre from the thinnings, after 

 deducting all expense of thinning and the original outlay 

 of planting. Further still, the land on which the Larch is 

 planted is not worth above from ninepence to a shilling 

 per acre. After the thinnings of the first thirty years, the 

 Larch will make it worth at least ten shillings an acre, by 

 the improvement of the pasturage, upon which cattle can 

 be kept both summer and winter." 1 



Mr. Gorrie, who admits that the above statement of the 

 probable value of the Larch timber is over-estimated, 

 remarks that Larch is by far the best improver of heath 

 or moor pasturage known in this country. If planted 

 thick, it will in a few years choke the heath and coarser 

 grasses; and these plants will be succeeded by finer 

 grasses, with a foliage possessing a softness and luxuriance 

 never acquired in open situations. The Larch ripens its 

 seeds freely in Britain, and is now raised by the Scotch 

 nurserymen in larger quantities than any other timber-tree. 



Larch timber is said to be superior to foreign Fir in the 

 following respects : it is clearer of knots, more durable, 

 the dead branches even being never found to be rotten; 

 it is much less liable to shrink or split ; it may be sea- 

 soned in a much shorter time ; it is more tough ; it is of 

 a better colour, and susceptible of a pol.ish superior to 

 that of the finest mahogany; and more durable, bearing 

 exposure to changes of climate and moisture for many 

 years without undergoing any change. 



" Transactions of the Highland Society.*' 



