DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 215 



while you may fell a Scotch fir of thirty years old, and find 

 no red wood in it, you can hardly cut down a young Larch 

 large enough to be a walking stick, without finding just such 

 a proportion of red wood compared to its diameter as a tree, 

 as you will find in the largest Larch tree in the forest, com- 

 pared to its diameter. To prove the value of the Larch as a 

 timber tree, several experiments were made in the river 

 Thames. Posts of equal thickness and strength, some of 

 Larch and others of oak, were driven down facing the river 

 wall, where they were alternately covered with water by the 

 effect of the tide, and then left dry by its fall. This species 

 of alternation is the most trying of all circumstances for the 

 endurance of timber ; and accordingly the oaken posts de- 

 cayed, and were twice renewed in the course of a very few 

 years, while those that were made of the Larch, remained al- 

 together unchanged." 



Besides the foregoing species, [Larix Europea,) we have 

 two native sorts much resembling it ; which are chiefly found 

 in the states of Maine, Vermont, and New-Hampshire. These 

 are known by the names of the Red Larch, [L. microcar- 

 pa,) and the Black Larch, (L. pendiila) ; which latter is 

 often called Hackmatack. In the coldest parts of the Union, 

 these often grow to 80 and 100 feet high ; but in the middle 

 states, they are only seen in the swamps, and appear not to 

 thrive so well except in such situations. For this reason 

 the European Larch is of course greatly preferable when 

 plantations are to be made, either for profit or ornament. 

 The latter is generally increased from seed in the nurseries. 



The American larches are well worthy a place where suf- 

 ficient moisture can be commanded, as their peculiar forms 

 are striking and picturesque. 



In the upper part of Massachusetts, we have observed 

 them in their native soils growing 70 or 80 feet high, and 

 assuming a highly elegant appearance. Their foliage is 

 bluish-green, and more delicate ; yet altogether the Ameri- 

 can Larch appears to be less picturesque, (except far north,) 

 than the foreign species. 



