50 ON SELECTING NURSERY PLANTS. 
The selection of larch plants is a matter of great import- 
ance; hardiness is the great desideratum, and the produce of 
Scotch seed should have a decided preference to those grown 
from foreign seeds, of which so many tons are yearly im- 
ported, that during the last few years the seeds of this tree 
saved and sown in Britain did not forma tithe of the quantity 
imported from Hamburg and other Continental ports,—seeds 
which are readily obtained in the planted woods in the 
valleys and warm slopes of Germany, Prussia, and through- 
out the Netherlands. Plants raised from these seeds are very 
subject to frost; this is very apparent in the nursery treat- 
ment, compared to plants from home-grown seed. The leaves 
of both sorts sometimes unfortunately perish on very severe 
occasions of summer frost, but seldom to the same extent. 
The blighted leaves of early summer places the plant in the 
most susceptible condition for the attack of the coccus laricis 
or larch aphis, which lives on the juice. In the absence of 
the leaves in winter the insect may be detected by the plants 
appearing here and there dwarfed, and darkened in the colour 
of their bark, as if subjected to the influence of smoke; such 
plants ought to be avoided.—(See Larcu.) 
In selecting Spruce Fir for forest planting, it is necessary 
to know that the Norway species is the only sort fit for 
becoming a large tree and yielding valuable timber, except 
the Douglas, which is easily known. But the Norway 
species and the White American bear a close resemblance to 
one another; and as the seeds of the latter are often im- 
ported from America, and grown by the hundred thousand, 
eare should be taken to avoid it. The Norway and the 
White American, grown together under the same circum- 
stances, are quite distinct. The Norway is darker in the 
foliage, more vigorous and robust in growth, particularly in 
the leading shoot. The White American is paler in the 
foliage and bark, shorter and more slender in its growth, its 
foliage is closer on the branches, and the leading shoot is 
seldom very vigorous ; it is a dwarf tree, and its timber is of 
little value. Where the Norway species is grown on poor 
