TREES FOR WATER CATCHMENT AREAS 141 



such are invariably attacked by the fungus. It is advisable 

 also to raise larch seedlings in the home nursery ; and thus 

 avoid the chance of importing diseased plants from a distance. 



It is probable also that the choice of seed is of great 

 importance, as bad seed produces feeble seedlings, which 

 readily succumb to disease when planted out. The question 

 of home-grown versus Swiss seed is not decided. The 

 foreign seed shows, as a rule, higher germinating power, but 

 this is probably due to more care having been taken in 

 the gathering and cleaning of the seed. Scott-Elliot found 

 Scottish seed to be lighter and smaller on an average than 

 Swiss seed. If seed were gathered from the best Scottish 

 trees, it might be as good or even surpass in quality the 

 Swiss seed. One thing can be done, namely, to discard and 

 burn all feeble seedlings, and only plant out strong, 

 vigorous, and well-rooted plants. 



Selected plots of larch (Fig. 25) often show very heavy 

 yields of timber. In the Galtee Mountains, Ireland, plots 

 measured by Mr. Waddingham gave the following results 

 (quarter-girth measurement) : 



In the Forest of Dean, on good sandy loam at 700 feet, 

 three plots of one acre each, 65 years old, gave yields 

 of 4014, 4081, and 4893 cubic feet, being 61, 63, and 

 7 6 cubic feet of annual increment per acre. At Madresfield 

 a plantation 21 years old measured 2408 cubic feet, or an 

 annual increment of 115 cubic feet per acre. 



A large grove of 2|- acres at Walcot, Shropshire, which, 

 judging from the rings, was 124 years old, had 86 



