The Larches 



Larches are cultivated as timber trees in Europe and to some 

 extent in America. Tiie European species is chosen for this pur- 

 pose. Larch wood is very durable, heavy and hard. Rich in 

 resin, yet not easily ignited. It does not splinter, and hence was 

 preferred for the building of battleships before the day when 

 steel came in to replace wood. Larch timbers built into the old- 

 est of French castles are sound when the stones that support 

 them are crumbling. It is believed that larch will outlast oak. 

 The wood of L. occidentalis ranks higher than any other coni- 

 ferous kind. 



Larches are readily grown from seed and easily transplanted, 

 even when quite large, if the work is done while the trees are 

 dormant. They are admirable for windbreaks and shelter belts, 

 to which uses they are put in the Middle West and along the 

 coast in Massachusetts. They grow rapidly and profitably for 

 posts, railroad ties and telegraph poles, as they are straight and 

 free from large knots, being pruned by close contact with neigh- 

 bours in the plantation rows. 



In the fine arts larch wood has had its place. Raphael 

 painted many of his earliest pictures on larch boards. Other 

 painters of his time followed his example. Canvas had not then 

 been generally adopted as a safe foundation for a painting. Old, 

 dry larch wood from trees growing on the high Alps and 

 Apennines looked almost transparent when polished. It was 

 made into tables and cabinets of rare workmanship, and brought 

 extravagant prices. From those superb larch forests it was not 

 unusual to take out a ship's mast 120 feet high! 



Minor products of larches are turpentine and an extract of 

 tannin obtained from the European species. 



Tamarack {Larix Americana, Michx.) — A slender, pyra- 

 midal tree, 50 to 60 feet high, with feeble horizontal branches, 

 becoming pendulous. Bark thin, broken into reddish scales. 

 Wood heavy, hard, light brown, strong, coarse grained, resin- 

 ous, durable in wet soil. Buds small, globular, red, shining. 

 Leaves soft, deciduous, fascicled on side spurs, scattered on 

 terminal shoots ; linear, triangular, J to i inch long ; autumn 

 color, yellow. Flowers: moncEcious, sessile, borne on short 

 branchlets ; pistillate rosy, ovate, with conspicuous finger-like 

 points on bracts ; staminate yellow, squat. Fruit small cones 

 with concave, plain scales, bearing winged seeds ; annual. Pre- 



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