224 THE LARCHES 



per pole, and a Larch grove on the campus, planted in 

 1873, with one hundred and ninety-five trees in one block, 

 shows an average of forty-seven feet in height and a diameter 

 of seven inches." 



The wood is heavy, strong, and very durable in contact 

 with the ground. In its home the wood is flexible, close- 

 grained, and of considerable strength, but it is said to be 

 brittle when grown on the rich prairie soils of our Western 

 States. When grown on moist, fertile soil the heartwood 

 is yellowish white, with nearly white sapwood, but the 

 heartwood is a reddish brown and much harder when grown 

 on less fertile and higher ground. It is largely used for gen- 

 eral construction, poles of all kinds, railroad ties, ship- 

 building, and all other purposes where moderate strength 

 or long exemption from decay is desired. 



The tree is a fairly good seeder, but does not produce 

 seeds in early life. The seeds are in small upright cones 

 and mature the first year. At present seeds must be secured 

 from abroad, for few trees in this country are old enough 

 to produce them. There is no difficulty in propagation. 

 The same treatment should prevail as with White Pine. 

 The seed does not appear to have a high percentage of fer- 

 tility. A production of 20,000 to 25,000 plants to a pound 

 of seed containing quite 70,000 seems to be about the 

 average. 



Seedlings may be transplanted into the forest when two 

 years old, but had better be given another year in the nurs- 

 ery. As they are endowed with a fairly good fibrous root 

 system, transplanting in the nursery is not so essential as 

 with some conifers, although such treatment would give 

 the trees greater strength to overcome their foes in the 

 forest, notwithstanding that they make a more rapid growth 

 in early life than most of the conifers. 



We have much to learn about growing this tree in our 

 forests, and any opinion which may now be ventured is 

 liable to error. This much we know about it in its natural 

 habitat : it does not submit to very close planting, nor does 



