232 THE LARCH. 
Favourably situated, no tree’ becomes so valuable in so 
short a time as the larch. In many districts the first thin- 
nings are useful for rustic paling, props for plants, sheep- 
flakes, and for similar purposes. It is much esteemed for hop 
poles, and it is in constant demand for coal props at all 
shipping ports, at from 2s. to 3s. per dozen, of seventy-two 
lineal feet, where it usually forms the return cargoes in coal 
vessels. As an agricultural timber it is particularly valuable, 
being durable as posts in building, in palings, and in all struc- 
tures where it comes in contact with the ground. Healthy 
trees at the age of fifty years have been sawn into half-inch 
laths, and employed in cladding fences, gates, etc., where it 
has been known to remain sound for twenty years without 
paint. It is adapted for lintels, rafters, joists, and the main 
timbers in buildings ; but from its propensity to warp, and 
from its being more difficult to plane than common deal, it is 
seldom employed in flooring or in the lighter purposes of 
finishing. In some districts it is manufactured into carts, 
which are found to be very durable. 
It is constantly employed for railway sleepers, for mill 
axles, and in shipbuilding. For the last-mentioned purpose 
the main roots, in connexion with part of the timber of the 
trunk, form knees of great toughness, strength, and durability. 
Since the late reduction of the duty on timber, larch has 
sold at from 1s. to 1s. 4d. per cubical foot. I am induced to 
believe that the value of larch wood in the manufacture of 
furniture is not yet fully appreciated. In thinning a larch 
plantation, of thirty-two years of age, of my own planting, I 
had a tree felled and cut up into plank and deal, and after the 
timber was well seasoned, it was sent to a cabinetmaker, who 
was instructed to make it into a writing-table, with drawers. 
The table was produced purely from the timber furnished. 
It was varnished, had a fine polish, and a beautiful, clean, 
yellow colour. It has now been upwards of four years in use, 
and has become darker in colour, being now of a rich brownish 
yellow, retaining its fine polished silky gloss. Although the 
timber was rapidly grown, and some of the deals about a foot 
