ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 63 



Larix Americana — American Larch. 



The larch delights in low, damp, and even marshy- 

 places. The seed ripens in autumn, and is preserved, 

 like the seed of other conifers, in moist sand. About 

 thirty thousand pickjes go to the pound. This tree, 

 which grows rapidly, is seventy feet high at maturity, 

 and, twenty years from sowing, furnishes dimension 

 timber from forty to fifty feet in length. Sow in spring, 



38.— Leaves, cone, and seed of black-spruce, 



and in two years time, when the plant will be about a 

 foot high, transplant it into the nursery. Its final trans- 

 plantation should be done very early in the spring. 

 This is absolutely essential, for the tree starts into growth 

 with the first thaw, and is then very difiicult to trans- 

 plant. As the ground will not be shaded for the first 

 four years, the hoe and grubber must be kept going all 

 the time. Larch- wood is strong and heavy ; hence, it was 

 employed by tha farmer for fence-pegs and harrow-teeth, 

 before iron was used for the one purpose, and wire for 



