518 CONIFERS. 



years in the seed-bed, they may either be transplanted 

 from thence at once, into the plantations where they are 

 to remain, or run into nursery rows for one or more years, 

 in order to meet the views and purposes of the various 

 buyers. 



As usually seen in plantations or when drawn up in thick 

 masses for the sake of its timber, divested of its lower 

 branches, and presenting nothing but a naked stem with 

 a small conical top composed of branches diminutive as 

 compared with the bulk of the trunk, the Larch has few 

 pretensions even in summer and when clothed with foliage, 

 to the title of an ornamental tree, much less so in winter, 

 when, denuded of foliage, it wears a death-like aspect, 

 rendered still more striking from its contrast with the ever- 

 green coniferse, whose foliage, deep and sombre though it be, 

 always indicates that freshness and vitality of which the 

 other seems deprived. To render it an ornamental ap- 

 pendage to the lawn, the Larch requires a management 

 different from what it receives when planted in mass or 

 in thick plantations ; ample room must be given it on every 

 side, in order that the branches may have their full 

 scope, and suffer no impediment in their growth. Under 

 such treatment the lower branches increase in size and 

 length, retaining their vitality as long as the tree itself, 

 which then presents the appearance of a regular and of- 

 ten beautiful cone, refreshing the eye in earliest spring 

 with the lively pea-green tint of its young and tender 

 foliage. It is, however, in Alpine situations, and in its 

 native steeps that we must look for the Larch in its cha- 

 racteristic beauty, as well as its finest and boldest form, 

 where, uncontrolled and unimpeded in its growth, it as- 

 sumes a vigour and strength of character rarely seen in 

 our plantation Larch, except it be in some choice locality, 



