118 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
more, or whatever seems most likely to prove 
profitable. An excellent opportunity is also 
then offered for planting larch here and there, 
as, in admixture with such a crop, it develops 
into fine stems, and is much less liable to canker 
than when grown in a pure crop by itself. 
Without taking up much space or interfer- 
ing perceptibly with the other trees, except 
the oak itself, larch stems grown thus among 
highwoods of broad-leaved trees yield timber 
of the best quality, and commanding the highest 
price. 
As in other matters of Forestry, the particular 
manner of growing oak and the various kinds of 
trees that can most profitably be raised along with 
it, except in the comparatively few cases where 
it may be advisable to grow oak as a pure crop, 
will of course mainly depend on the local con- 
dition of the timber market. But in whatever 
manner it be grown, it is essential to protect 
the soil against deterioration and consequent 
decrease in capital value as a producer of wood. 
On the better and the moister classes of soil, 
ash, sycamore, and maple will in this respect 
deserve special attention as companions of the 
