110 \V TO GROW GOOD TIMBER. 317 



poorest soils. Its upright, tapering mode of growth 

 renders it a good nurse, with beech, larch, and other 

 Coii/ferce. It may be planted thickly ; the first thin- 

 ning being used for hop-poles, the next for spars, masts, 

 &c. ; and ultimately a few may be left to attain size 

 and height as shelter and for effect. 



The Scotch Pine {Finns sylvesMs) is a native of 

 North Britain, where its fine trees in large forests or 

 in great clumps, form a peculiar and at times magni- 

 ficent appearance. It is much used in planting in 

 this country, principally as a nurse ; but its young 

 sticks are not so durable as those of the spruce, and 

 much inferior to the larch. Its larger wood forms 

 the red deal — a timber so much used in all kinds of 

 carpentry as to give this tree a high value among 

 timber trees. 



The Larch (Larlv Europcea) is a deciduous tree of 

 the order, and though it has not been introduced 

 into general use for very many years, yet its value is 

 daily becoming more fully developed ; and as a tree 

 for general plantation, either as a nurse or in belts, it 

 has few, if any, equals. As a curious tree, it appears 

 to have been grown early in the eighteenth century, 

 and some fine trees are noticed by Selby at Dalwick 

 in Peeblesshire, and at Monzie in Argyleshire. The 

 largest larch which we have noticed was one which 

 was felled in Oakley Park. 



It had previously been injured by being struck with 

 lightning, by which large pieces of the bark had been 

 torn away. We examined it at Lord Bathurst's 

 desire, when it was found to be bored into from the 

 base of the trunk to as high as we could see, by that 

 curious insect the Sirex gigas, whose hornet-like 

 appearance causes so much consternation in the pine 



