212 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



the former was consumed, he was astonished to find the 

 Larch tower uninjured.* The wood is also recommended 

 for the decks of vessels, and the masts of ships, as it is little 

 liable either to fly in splinters in an engagement, or to catch 

 fire readily. 



In Great Britain, immense plantations of this tree are made 

 with a view to profit ; and although as yet nothing like rear- 

 ing trees for timber has been attempted here, nevertheless, 

 the time must come when our attention will necessarily be 

 turned in this direction. When such is the case, it is proba- 

 ble that the Larch will be found to be as much an object 

 of profit, on this side of the Atlantic, as on the other. 

 Indeed, we are much inclined to believe, that thousands of 

 acres of our sterile soils in some districts, might now be pro- 

 fitably planted with this tree. 



In Scotland, the Larch was first introduced in the year 

 1738, when eleven plants were given to the Duke of Athol, 

 who afterwards, struck by the rapidity of their growth, and 

 the excellency of their timber, planted thousands of acres with 

 them. As a specimen of what is done in timber growing 

 abroad, and the peculiar capacity of the Larch for thriving on 

 poor soils, we shall make some extracts from the account 

 given of its growth in Scotland, by Sir T. D, Lauder. 



" The late Duke of Athol planted large districts with this 

 tree, and thereby converted the heathy wastes into valuable 

 forests ; but this was not the whole of the improvement he 

 thus created. The Larch being a deciduous tree, sheds upon 

 the earth so great a shower of decayed spines every succeed- 

 ing autumn, that the annual addition which is made to the 

 soil, cannot be less, than from a third of an inch to half an 

 inch, according to the magnitude of the trees. This we have 

 often had opportunities of proving, by our remarks made on 

 the surfaces of newly cleaned pleasure walks. The result of 



* IS'ewton's Vitruvius, p. 40. 



