LARCH TREE. 



LARCH TREE. 



Board of Agriculture in February, 1812 (vol. 

 vii. p. 273), the Duke of Atholl, speaking of 

 the advantages to be derived from a more 

 general culture of the larch, says, "The lower 

 range of the Grampian Hills, which extend to 

 Dunkeld, are in altitude from 1000 to 1200 feet 

 above the level of the sea ; they are in general 

 barren, and are composed of mountain schist, 

 slate, and iron-stone. Up to the highest tops 

 of these, larch grow luxuriantly, where the 

 Scotch fir, formerly considered the hardiest tree 

 of the north, cannot rear its head. In consi- 

 derable tracts, where fragments of shivered 

 rocks are strewed so thick that vegetation 

 scarcely meets the eye, the larch puts out as 

 strong and vigorous shoots as are to be found 

 in the valleys below, or in the most sheltered 

 situation." And it further appears from a re- 

 port of that nobleman to the Horticultural So- 

 ciety (Trans, vol. iv. p. 416), that in situations 

 1500 to 1600 feet above the level of the sea, he 

 has felled trees 80 years old that have each 

 yielded six loads of the finest timber. The 

 growth of larch is not, however, confined to 

 Scotland; but much land has been planted in 

 the northern counties of England. The Society 

 in London for the Encouragement of Arts aiul 

 Manufactures, so long ago as 1783, offered pre- 

 miums for the planting of larch. A gold me- 

 dal was offered to those who should plant 

 within any one year 5000 larches from two to 

 four years old at a distance of 5 feet asunder ; 

 and a silver medal to any one who should 

 plant 3000 larches at the same distance. This 

 premium only contemplated making planta- 

 tions solely of the larch. The first claimant 

 for the premium was the Bishop of Llandaff, 

 who had by that time planted 48,500 larches 

 on 18 acres of the high grounds near Amble- 

 side in Westmoreland, at a distance of 4 feet 

 from one another. Immense numbers con- 

 tinued to be planted annually up to the year 

 1805, from which year to 1816, no candidates 

 appeared to claim the premium, in consequence 

 of the severe blight which affected the larch 

 trees in England for some years; and which 

 preventing the formation of the cones, deprived 

 the growers of larch plants of the usual supply 

 of seed. 



There is no account given of the height at 

 which these larches were planted. Had they 

 been placed at a considerable elevation above 

 the level of the sea, they would have probably 

 escaped the contagion of the blight. In the 

 account of the Dunkeld larch plantations, the 

 late Duke of Atholl conceived that he had in- 

 troduced three great improvements in the 

 planting of the larch, when it was to be raised 

 for useful timber. These improvements were 

 the planting it at a high elevation on the 

 mountain side, in a region in which no other 

 kind of timber tree would grow to perfection 

 in this country ; the inserting the tree in the 

 soil at an early age, not exceeding two years 

 old in the seed-bed ; and the notching the small 

 plants into the ground by a peculiar instrument 

 at wide intervals, not nearer than 5 feet to 

 each other; for, if planted close, they exhaust 

 the soil, and prevent its being nourished by the 

 annual deposition of spines, on account of the 

 closeness of the trees. 



In 1820 the gold medal was awarded to the 

 Duke of Devonshire for planting 1,981,065 

 forest trees, 980,128 of which were larch. Be- 

 sides these instances of the planting the larch 

 alone, there are many others in England in 

 which they were planted along with other trees ; 

 but as they would probably be so planted mere- 

 ly as nurses to the hard timber, such planta- 

 tions cannot be considered as interesting ex- 

 periments, in regard to the value of the larch 

 as timber. From the foregoing details, how- 

 ever, we find that, mainly under the auspices 

 of the Society for the encouragement of Arts 

 and Manufactures, 1,407,036 larches were 

 planted in England in 37 years. It is singu- 

 lar that so much elevated barren land in the 

 counties of Hants, Sussex, and Kent should be 

 suffered to remain unplanted with this and 

 other timber, which would find a ready sale in 

 the neighbouring government yards. 



Plantations that are formed exclusively of 

 larch destroy the heath and all other vegeta- 

 bles; but after a few years a fine grass springs 

 up which is so valuable for grazing, that it has 

 been let from 10s. to 5/. per acre for this pur- 

 pose, which, previously to its being planted, 

 would not bring as many pence. 



Three varieties of the common larch are 

 mentioned by botanical writers; one remark- 

 able for the young cones being pale green in- 

 stead of crimson, and erect, not drooping. A 

 second has a weeping habit, with pendulous 

 branches, but is distinct in botanic characters 

 from the black larch (Laryx pendula) of North 

 America; both these varieties are natives of 

 the Tyrol. The third sort is of a slow, stunted 

 growth, and an inelegant appearance, leafing 

 early, and very subject to injury from spring 

 frosts. The bark is cinereous, not yellowish 

 brown. It was raised by the Duke of Atholl 

 from seed, procured at Archangel in 1806. Both 

 in its appearance as a tree, and its value as 

 timber, this Russian larch is much inferior to 

 the common larch. From the boiled inner 

 bark, mixed with rye flour, and afterwards 

 buried a few hours in the snow, the hardy Si- 

 berian hunters prepare a sort of leaven, with 

 which they supply the place of common leaven 

 when the latter is destroyed, as it frequently is 

 by the intense cold to which hunters are sub- 

 ject in the pursuit of game. The bark of the 

 larch is nearly as valuable to the tanner as 

 oak bark ; this valuable property was first dis- 

 covered by Mr. T. White in 1812. (Com. to Board 

 ofAgr. vol. vii. p. 278.) The larch also produces 

 the substance called Venice turpentine, which 

 is of considerable use in medicine, and flows in 

 abundance when the lower part of the trunk 

 of old trees is wounded or tapped between the 

 months of March and September. When fo- 

 rests of larch in Russia take fire, which some- 

 times happens, a gum issues from the medul- 

 lary part of the trunks, during the combustion, 

 I which is called Orenburgh gum. A saccharine 

 1 matter, also, resembling manna, and called 

 I manna of Briangon, exudes from the larch in 

 j June ; and another sort of manna is exuded 

 from its leaves in the form of a white, floccu- 

 lent substance, which finally becomes con- 

 creted into small lumps. From the inner rind 

 i or bark of the larch the Russians manufacture 



