LARCH TREE. 205 



is supposed that, were it cultivated in sufficient quantities, 

 it would supersede the necessity of sending to Norway at 

 an annual expense of many thousand pounds for timber. 



In the year 1796, one nurseryman in Edinburgh 

 raised above five millions of Larches, and the Duke of 

 Athole for some years planted two hundred thousand 

 annually. 



Venice turpentine is obtained from the Larch by 

 boring a hole with an augur about two feet above the 

 ground, till it reaches half way to the centre of the tree ; 

 into this hole is inserted a small pipe, through which the 

 turpentine flows into vessels placed for its reception. 

 This process is continued from the end of May to the 

 end of September, when the turpentine is pressed 

 through a cloth to purify it. It is not thought worth 

 while to begin to collect the turpentine from a tree until 

 it has attained the size of a foot in diameter ; and from 

 that time, for forty or fifty years, if the tree continues in 

 vigour, it will yield seven or eight pounds of turpentine 

 annually. This turpentine is not now known in England, 

 a composition made by dissolving vellow rosin in oil of 

 turpentine being sold in its stead. 



Old Larches produce a fungus, which is called Agaric ; 

 this is in some places used medicinally ; and, with the 

 roots of Gallium, for dying the hair of rein-deer red. 

 It has a saponaceous quality, and women in Siberia 

 often wash themselves and their linen with it. 



The Siberian ermine-hunters carry about with them a 

 kind of yeast or ferment for preparing the acid liquor 

 which they call quass ; this is often spoiled by the cold, 

 in which case, they scrape off the albumen, or half- 

 formed wood, between the wood and the bark of the Larch, 

 which is very juicy and sweet, put it in water over the 



