THE LARCH. 233 
broad, there is not the slightest appearance of warping, and the 
joints are all close and perfect—so much so that it is difficult 
to find out the points of junction. Few trees of British 
growth could furnish anything superior. 
Larch bark is sometimes preserved for the purpose of tan- 
ning. It generally sells at half the price of oak bark, the value 
of which is very fluctuating. As larch bark is twice the bulk 
of that of oak, in proportion to its weight, it is seldom pro- 
fitably manufactured. 
The Venice turpentine of commerce is produced by the 
larch. The full-grown tree in its native districts is pierced 
to the centre with an auger. The turpentine is conducted 
by a tube into a trough, and it requires no other preparation 
to render it fit for sale than straining it through a coarse 
haircloth. A healthy tree, when tapped, is said to yield seven 
or eight pounds weight yearly for forty or fifty years. The 
turpentine flows from May to September, but the timber is 
rendered of no value. 
No tree is so valuable as the larch in its fertilizing effects, 
arising from the richness of the foliage, which it sheds annually. 
In a healthy wood the yearly deposit is very great; the 
leaves remain and consume on the spot where they drop, and 
where the influence of the air is admitted, the space becomes 
clothed in a vivid green, with many of the finest kinds of 
natural grasses, the pasture of which is highly reputed in 
dairy management. And in cases where woodland has been 
brought under grain crops, the roots have been found less 
difficult to remove than those of other trees, and the soil 
has been rendered more fertile than that which follows any 
other description of timber. 
The other species of larch sometimes met with in collec- 
tions are less vigorous than the common species, and cannot 
be recommended as timber trees. 
