THE LARCH. 207 
known; and as none of the tribe, after having begun to 
yield cones, seeds more abundantly, the tree spread rapidly. 
The fertile plains of England, however, were not adapted for 
its full development, as the elements most conducive to its 
prosperity were wanting, namely, an elevated, open subsoil, 
affording a ready discharge of moisture, and a clear and open 
atmosphere. Generally speaking, all the trees of the species 
in Britain, remarkable for their size, are produced in the 
vicinity of high mountains and running streams. 
From the accounts we have of the introduction of the larch 
into Scotland, some state that it was first planted in 1725 at 
Dalwick in Tweeddale, and several years afterwards at Dun- 
keld, Monzie, and Blair; but the dates of the various reports 
do not exactly correspond. 
According to a report by the Rev. James Headrick, mini- 
ster of the parish of Dunnichen, published in 1813, the larch 
first reached Scotland shortly after the middle of the seven- 
teenth century. In his General View of the Agriculture of the 
County of Angus or Forfarshire, drawn up for the consideration 
of the Board of Agriculture, he says, “It is generally supposed 
that larches were first brought to this country by one of the 
Dukes of Atholl about eighty or ninety years ago. ButI saw 
three larch trees of extraordinary size and age, in the garden 
near the mansion-house of Lockhart of Lee, on the northern 
banks of the Clyde, a few miles below Lanark. The stems 
and branches were so much covered with lichens that they 
hardly exhibited any signs of life or vegetation. The account 
I had of them was, that they had been brought there by the 
celebrated Lockhart of Lee, who had been ambassador to 
Oliver Cromwell at the Court of France, soon after the restor- 
ation of Charles u. After Cromwell’s death, thinking him- 
self unsafe on account of having served a usurper, he retired 
some time into the territories of Venice. He there observed 
the great use the Venetians made of larches in shipbuilding, 
in piles for buildings, and other purposes, and when he re- 
turned home he brought a number of larch plants in pots, 
with a view to try if they could gradually be made to endure 
