226 THE LARCH. 
at the opening of the season, when the tree is most likely to 
suffer; and although the top of the plant, an important part, 
is least sheltered, yet it least requires shelter, for the leaves of 
a healthy young plant are always first expanded near to the 
surface of the ground, and some time before the higher ones 
become exposed to the influence of the weather. Thus a wise 
economy in nature develops the top bud at a time when shelter 
is least required and safety is most certain. But the benefit 
of shelter is not the only advantage which arises from close 
planting. It is found that a close cover of young plants of any 
kind, with their branches and foliage in direct contact with 
the surface, destroys the native herbage, converts the decayed 
stems and roots into a manure, and directs the whole energies 
of the soil to the growth of wood. The progress of a planta- 
tion is always marked by a rapid growth immediately after 
the trees have formed a cover, and suppressed the surface 
vegetation. It is at this stage of growth that thinning is 
absolutely necessary, but much neglected, in larch plantations. 
The tree should have space in proportion to its growth. 
Numerous instances are met with of broad-leaved trees having 
been neglected, and rendered unshapely by confinement, which 
have yet, by care, been restored to health and to a proper 
figure; but there is no instance in which the larch, after 
having been stinted by confinement, or reduced to a scanty 
supply of foliage, has ever regained its vigour, or become a 
healthy, well-proportioned tree. This neglect is so general 
in larch plantations in some quarters, that it has given rise to 
the idea that it is a tree of slow growth after the age of forty. 
The larch is subject to many casualties. Of the insects 
which infest it, the Coccus laricis is the chief. It was observed 
in the end of last century throughout the larch plantations of 
Scotland andEngland. It is rarely met with extensively on trees 
of vigorous growth ; but in confined woods and low situations, 
where there exists a great humidity of the atmosphere, it often 
prevails to a great extent. Wet seasons, or whatever tends 
to decrease the vigour of the tree, favour this insect. But 
its effects are most fatal immediately after frost late in spring, 
