2354 



ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. 



PART III. 



ripened and shed in the plantations. (See Gcnwal Report of Scotland, vol. 

 iv. p. 476.) 



The Rate of Growth of the Larch, in the climate of London, is from 20 ft. to 

 25ft. in 10 years from the seed ; and nearly as great on the declivities of hills 

 and mountains in the Highlands of Scotland. In the course of 50 years, the 

 tree will attain the height of 80 ft. or upwards ; and, in its native habitats, 

 according to Willdenow, it lives from 150 to 200 years. Dr. Bain planted 

 between 500 and 600 acres of larches on his estate at Heffleton in Dorset- 

 shire, between 1798 and 1808. Three of these trees, after being 12 years 

 planted, were respectively 17ft, 18ft., and 20ft. high, and 2ft. 5 in., 2ft. 

 8 in., and 3ft. in circumference at the ground. Three larches, also planted 

 in 1798, and measured in November, 1810, but on land of a better quality, 

 were, respectively, 23 ft. 1 1 in., 23 ft. 9 in.,^nd 24 ft. 6 in. high, and 2 ft. 5 in., 

 2 ft. 6 in. and 3 ft. in circumference. Dr. Bain obtained the gold medal of 

 the Society of Arts for this plantation. (See Transactions, &c., vol. xxix., 

 p. 25.) The increase of a larch 22 years' old, in the New Forest, Hampshire, 

 Mr. Davis of Portway House informs us, was as follows : It was planted in 

 1805; in 1813, the trunk, at 1 ft. from the ground, measured 1 ft. 9iin. in cir- 

 cumference ; in 1816, it measured 2ft. 6in.; in 1820, 3ft. 3|in. ; and in 

 1827,4ft. 2^ in. The increase of timber during the last seven years, of a 

 portion of the trunk 12 ft. in length, is, to the increase in the first seven 

 years, as 1 1 is to 7. The annual increase of the larch, in Scotland, has 

 been ascertained to be at the rate of from 1 in. to IA in. in circumference, 

 at 6 ft. from the ground, on the trunks of trees from 10 to 50 years of age. 

 (Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. i. p. 5.) In Perthshire, 

 larches at 47 years' growth, measured 30 in. in diameter, or 942 in. in cir- 

 cumference, at 5 ft. from the ground ; thus giving rather more than 2 in. of 

 annual increase from the first planting. (Perthshire Report.) A larch at 

 Blair Drummond, near Stirling, at 54 years of age, measured 78 in. in cir- 

 cumference at 6 ft. from the ground ; giving an annual increase from the 

 first planting of near l^in. Being measured again 18 years afterwards, it 

 was found to measure 88 in. at the same height, having gained in that period 

 little more than A in. annually. {Gen. Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 256.) At 

 Athol and Dunk e'ld, the average growth of the larch, at 8 years from the seed, 

 is 1 1 ft. ; and the average annual growth, till the 50th, is 6 in. ; and, after 

 that period, 10 in. per annum for 22 years longer ; so that the average of 

 trees 72 years of age is 93ft. 4 in., which agrees with actual experience. The 

 larch differs from the spruces and silver firs in growing rapidly when it is 

 young, and slowly after it has attained the height of 40 ft. or 50 ft. ; while the 

 spruces and silver firs grow slowly when they are young, and rapidly after 

 they have attained from 15 to 20 years' growth. The growth of the larch 

 has been remarkably rapid at different places in Inverness-shire and Moray- 

 shire. The following tabular view of the progress made by six trees, in the 

 course of 70 years, at Ballindalloch, in the latter county, has been obligingly 

 communicated to us by Macpherson Grant, Esq., the proprietor. 



Girts of Larches at Ballindalloch, planted in 1 767, and measured in 

 August, 1837. 



The rate of growth of the larch, as compared with that of the silver fir, and 

 the platanus, is thus given by the Earl of Fife, in February, 1803: "A 

 silver fir, a larch, and a platanus, were planted in the park at Duff House, 

 near the river, in the year 1758. The larch, which stood in the middle, 

 was overcome by its two powerful neighbours, and was in a declining state. 



