LARCH FIR PLANTATIONS. 193 



by a natural law, which restricts it to particular 

 states of soil, in order to develope itself fully and 

 perfectly; and it is upon this point that the cause 

 of the disease now so prevalent in the larch rests. 

 It is well known that, in many instances, whole 

 plantations of larch trees have died, I may say almost 

 suddenly ; and, in many instances, plantations of it 

 have failed in making a return of the expected 

 advantages, far inferior even to the Scots fir. 



For some years past, much has been said and 

 written relative to the nature and cause of that dis- 

 ease, now so prevalent among our larch planta- 

 tions, generally termed the heart-rot, or, as some 

 writers term it, dry-rot {merulius destructor) ; but, 

 for all that has been written upon the subject, 

 I am not aware that any thing as yet really satis- 

 factory has been the result, at least in so far as to 

 cause any likelihood of a really permanent improve- 

 ment in the cultivation of the tree for the future : 

 therefore, in consideration of this, I may here be 

 allowed to give my opinion, as a practical forester, 

 of the cause of a disease which appears still to pre- 

 vail extensively among the most useful of our tim- 

 ber trees. Many who have written upon this most 

 important subject assert that, from the circum- 

 stance of the larch not being a native, it is fast 

 degenerating in our country ; and, in illustration of 

 their argument, they point out the healthy develop- 

 ment of many old original specimens yet remaining 



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