500 CONIFERS. 



made of good sound Larch, are now found to be stronger, 

 more durable, and at the same time lighter, than those 

 made of the woods formerly employed. 



Although the wood of the Larch had been used for vari- 

 ous purposes, and its valuable qualities ascertained by the 

 late Duke of Athol, previously to the publication of Pon- 

 tey's " Forest Primer," in 1805, that author has the 

 merit of being the first who, from his own experience, 

 treats of the value of British-grown Larch. In that work 

 he contrasts the wood of this tree with that of foreign 

 Fir, and states that he found it to excel the latter in many 

 important particulars, the principal of which were its dura- 

 bility under trying circumstances, its toughness, which 

 prevents it from cracking or splitting, even when sawn 

 into thin boards, and its being much less liable to shrink, 

 when once dried, than foreign deal. 



During the period which elapsed between the publi- 

 cation of Pontey's work and Mr. Matthew's valuable 

 " Treatise on Naval Timber," which appeared in 1831, 

 and who is the next British author who treats of the 

 Larch from his own experience, the wood of this tree had 

 come largely into use, those trees first planted having now 

 acquired a large scantling and maturity fitting them for im- 

 portant works ; whilst the extensive plantations that had been 

 and still continued to be made in almost every direction, 

 afforded a constant succession and supply of thinnings 

 applicable to a variety of minor purposes. But the most 

 important trial to which the Larch was subjected during 

 this period was its application to ship-building, upon its 

 adaptation to which depended in a great measure much 

 of its future value, not only to those who had planted it 

 like the Duke of Athol upon an extensive scale, in the 

 hope of its answering such a purpose, but to the kingdom 



