THE COMMON LARCH. 493 



Larch. These Scotch Pines, in a period of nearly forty 

 years, had only attained a height of five or six feet, while 

 the Larches, which had been planted among them ten years 

 after, were from forty to fifty feet high.'" After so decisive 

 a proof of the superiority and hardier constitution of the 

 Larch, the Duke no longer hesitated in carrying his plan- 

 tations, consisting entirely of this tree, to the summits of 

 the hills, and he forthwith commenced those extensive 

 operations which now clothe a wide extent of the moun- 

 tainous district around Blair and Dunkeld with a forest of 

 Larch. 



Of the importance and prospective value of this forest 

 some idea may be formed, from the calculation that at 

 the age of seventy years it ought, as timber for naval 

 purposes, to produce the enormous sum of six million five 

 hundred thousand pounds sterling, and this exclusive of 

 a return, during the above period, of seven pounds per 

 acre for thinnings, after deducting all the original outlay 

 of planting and other expenses. Further we may here 

 remark, that the improvement of the pasturage beneath 

 the Larch, produced by the fertilizing effects of the fallen 

 and decayed spicula of this tree, and other causes, is such, 

 that in the course of twenty-five or thirty years, it has 

 been found, that land which previously to its being planted 

 with Larch was covered with heath, and not worth one 

 shilling an acre, at the end of that period, and after all 

 the thinnings of Larch had been completed, was covered 

 with a beautiful sward, worth from eight to ten shillings 

 an acre, and forming an excellent pasturage for cattle and 

 sheep. A conversion, in fact, of barren waste into a fertile 

 and valuable soil. 



While the Duke of Athol was thus engaged in ex- 

 tending the cultivation of the Larch, and clothing the 



