54 



P. Larix Is of quick growth, and will rise to the height of fifty feet or more. The hranches are 



slender, and their extremities generally hang downwards. They are adorned wdth long, narrow, soft 



leaves, which spring in tufts from a point, and spread open like the hairs of a painter's brush. Their 



colour is a hght green, and they arc deciduous. The cones are about one inch in length, obtuse at the 



apex, where they generally assume a purplish colour, and have imbricated scales, smooth on their 



surfaces, but of a lacerated appearance on the edges. Larches are now become extremely common in 



our nurseries, and it has been remarked that those which have been planted in the worst soils and most 



exposed situations have thriven best, circumstances w^hich are peculiarly favourable to the increase of 



their number in this country. They should always be planted in clumps, and at the time of their 



removal from the nursery, if they be intended for a luxuriancy of growth, should not be more than 



three or four years old. I am informed that great quantities are now planted in Scotland, where this 



species Is preferred to P. sylvestris, on account both of the goodness of the timber, and the quickness 

 of its growth.^ 



The wood of P. Larix is used in Switzerland for covering the roofs of houses, being cut into shingles 

 of about one foot square, and half an inch in thickness, which are nailed to the rafters. At first the 

 roofs appear white, but in the course of two or three years become perfectly black, and the joints arc 

 stopped by the resin which the sun extracts from the pores of the wood, and which renders the j'oof 

 impenetrable to rain. The tree is sufiiciently frequent in that country to render the covering a cheap 

 one. In Siberia the timber seems to have been used very generally for subterraneous, and even sub- 

 aquatic purposes, such as the support of vaults, and the repair of canals. Pallas states that some 



burying places of an unknown nation, and of remote antiquity, still remain with beams and supporters 

 of Larch entire. 



X - ■ * " t I ■ 



w 



. By observation made on the strength of timber, it appears, that a beam of Larch, clear and free 



from knots, and every other imperfection, especially at or near the middle, eleven Inches square and six 



feet and a half long, can bear. If placed horizontally on Its two extremities, a Aveight of two hundred 



thousand pounds, suspended to the middle of It; and that it can bear a still greater weight In an 

 oblique position. 





It is from P. Larix that the true Venetian turpentine is extracted. This substance has been procured 

 in the greatest abundance near Lyons In France, and In the valley of St. Martin, near Lucerne In Switzer- 

 land. But what is very remarkable, the inner part of the wood of this tree yields a pure gum, scarcely 

 inferior in its qualities to the Arabian gum. In the Russian empire this has been received into the 

 shops, and sold under the name of Orenburgh gum, an appellation extremely improper, as Pallas justly 

 observes, Orenburgh being very distant from the Uralensian forests, where the gum is collected. The 

 largest and handsomest Larch I have ever seen is at Stratfieldsay, the seat of Lord Elvers. The trunk 

 of this tree is six feet in circumference, at the height of four feet and a half from the ground, and in 

 proportion quite to the top. Its branches rest on the ground, extending over a space forty feet in 

 diameter. It was planted between forty and fifty years ago by Mr. Malcolm, nurseryman, of Ken- 

 nington Common. A peculiar Boleizis draws its nourishment from P. Larix, and hence has acquired the 

 trivial name of laricinus. 



Miller mentions three varieties of P. Larix. The first of which he says is a natiye of America a,>d 

 must be our P. pendula, and the second, which is said to be brought from Siberia, is probably the variety 

 growmg at Sion House alluded to in my description of P. pcndrda. It is difficult to determine what is 

 meant by his third variety, called Larix CUnensis, all the trees being now dead. , 



Since the above was written, that part of Professor Martyn's new edition of Miller's Dictionary in 

 which the genus Vmu. is described, has been published, and I find the learned Professor's collections on 

 the subject of the Larch so full and valuable that I beg leave to refer the reader to that work. 



-A pa„,phlet has lately been published, en.itled, " A Treatise on the Cultivation of the Lareh, and Scotch Tir Timber &e " by Mr 

 Pontey, octavo, which places the advantages attending the culture of this tree in a stronp- noint nf ■ T ^ Tt ^ 



the perusal of those who wish for further inforn,ation on this subject. ^ "^ "' '"' "'''* ^ -^"■""''"d '° 



