THE LAECH. 361 



Hence it is protaljle that it was not abundant in the for- 

 ests of the southern part of Europe in the days of Homer 

 and Virgil. Even its importance in furnishing the most 

 durable wood for naval purposes is a discovery of modem 

 times, and not until a very late period was it employed 

 as an ornamental tree. The Larch is reputed in Europe 

 to surpass all other trees as a fertilizer of the soil by the 

 decomposition of its foliage. Another of its advantages, 

 when used for plantations, is its thrifty habit on lofty 

 sites, having a more elevated range than any other tree 

 of equal importance. Gilpin remarks of the European 

 tree : " It claims the Alps and the Apennines for its native 

 country, where it thrives ia higher regions of the air than 

 any other tree of its consequence is known to do, hanging 

 over rocks and precipices which have never been visited 

 by human feet. Often it is felled by some Alpine peasant 

 and thrown athwart some yawning chasm, where it affords 

 a tremendous passage from cliff to cUff, while the cataract, 

 roaring many fathoms below, is seen only in surges of ris- 

 ing vapor." 



The American Larch tends to uniformity of shape when 

 young and to variety when old. Yet the fine pyrami- 

 dal forms of the young trees, and the fantastic and ir- 

 regular shapes of those of older growth, are equally char- 

 acteristic. The foliage is of a light green with a bluish 

 tinge, turning to a deep orange in liTovember, just before it 

 falls. The bright crimson cones of the Larch, that appear 

 in June, may be reckoned among its minor beauties. This 

 tree is more abundant in Maine and New Hampshire than 

 in any other part of the United States, though even there 

 it is scarce compared with other conifers. Above the St. 

 Lawrence, however, as far as Hudson's Bay, it forms as- 

 semblages of several miles in extent. 



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