270 THE 3IAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



obviously in their manner of growth, but may still be distin- 

 guished by some important differences. The latter has a 

 graceful hanging foliage, like that of some of the spruces, 

 drooping perpendicularly from its horizontal branches, and 

 moving, like silken fringe, with every stirring breeze. The 

 American larch has a shorter foliage, of a less brilliant ver- 

 dure, and bears it more stiffly upon its branches, resembling 

 in this respect the firs, rather than the spruces. The Euro- 

 pean species has more of that sort of beauty which springs 

 from graceful and flowing lines; the American species more 

 of that sort which consists in the indications of firmness. I 

 have seen no European larches of great size : but the Amer- 

 ican tree, as it increases in height, loses its formality, and, 

 after having attained the height of thirty feet, seldom exhib- 

 its that tapering summit which is always observed in the fir 

 and in the majority of spruces. It differs in another important 

 respect from these two species, inasmuch as it increases in 

 beauty when it departs from its normal shape, while the loss 

 of a single limb is fatal to the beauty of the firs. When it 

 loses a branch, it bears the loss like any other deciduous tree, 

 and it accommodates its future growth to the accident, which 

 often improves its appearance. Of the full grown American 

 larches which I have seen, the majority had lost their spiry 

 form, and sent out lateral branches nearly as large as the 

 trunk, and exhibited a great deal of the sturdy appearance of 

 the oak. 



This tree is intimately associated with our ideas of roman- 

 tic and mountain scenery. Gilpin remarks of the European 

 species: "It claims the Alps and the Appenines for its native 

 country, where it thrives in higher regions of the air than 

 any tree of its consequence is known to do, hanging over 

 rocks and precipices which have never been visited by human 

 feet. Often it is felled by some Alpine peasant, and thrown 

 athwart some yawning chasm, where it affords a tremendous 

 passage from cliff to cliff; while the cataract, roaring many 

 fathoms below, is seen only in surges of rising vapor." 



Mr. Downing remarks of the American larch that its form, 

 though " peculiar" and "striking," is " not so finely pic^wr- 



