IJRITISII FOREST TREES 147 



but later on its inability to protect the soil is equally apparent, 

 as at an advanced age its canopy is interrupted even more 

 than in the case of Scots pine ; and where whortleberry and 

 heather are in the neighbourhood they soon effect an 

 entrance, unless the larch woods are underplanted, as they 

 invariably should be if the stems are of good development, 

 with some good shade-bearing and soil-improving species 

 like spruce, Douglas fir, or silver fir. 



Its demand for light is so great that it is on the whole 

 less suited for the formation of pure forests (to be under- 

 planted later on) than for admixture as a subordinate species 

 along with other kinds of trees better able to protect the 

 soil, and it also seems to thrive best when it grows well in 

 advance of the ruling species. In its light foliage lies the 

 explanation of the value of larch as nurses or protective 

 standards, whilst to its rapid growth is due the good service 

 it can yield in stimulating to a more energetic growth in 

 height such clumps of young oak and beech poles as are 

 somewhat backward in development. 



The characteristic crooked growth of the larch, which 

 often seriously affects the utilisation of the stems, has not 

 yet been satisfactorily explained ; some assert that it is 

 caused by the wind, others that it is due to unsuitable soil 

 and situation, others again that it is the outcome of inferior 

 seed. That soil and situation have influence in determin- 

 ing the shape of the bole is as indisputable as that constant 

 winds can and do also affect its shape; but sheltered 

 localities often show the same sabre-like form of the lower 

 end of the bole, whilst even in windy exposures straight 

 growth can frequently be noted. Without doubt a better 

 form of stem may in general be expected when, along with 

 < an-ful selection of seed from good parent trees, the larch 

 is cultivated as a subordinate species in mixed forests, than 

 when it is grown in pure woods, or as the ruling species. 



L 2 



