138 FAMILIAR TREES 



was demonstrated not only that the Larch would 

 flourish in very poor soil, at an altitude of 1,800 feet, 

 in the Scottish Highlands, where the Pine will only 

 flourish up to 900 feet, but also that this species 

 does better in plantations by itself, and, when so 

 planted, has a marked effect in improving the char- 

 acter of the soil in which it grows. The example of 

 Scotland was soon followed in England and Wales ; 

 but it is found that in plains, or near the sea, though 

 it will make rapid growth for thirty years or more, its 

 timber is very liable to heart-rot. It seems to require 

 a clear and dry atmosphere, a moist surface soil, and 

 a moderately but habitually damp subsoil. It wants, 

 in fact, plenty of light and air, and will not grow on 

 stiff' clay or in peat, nor form much wood when 

 crowded together, as the trees are in our hop-pole 

 plantations in the South of England. 



The Larch is essentially a mountain tree. It 

 abounds on the Alps up to an altitude of 5,000 feet, 

 and occurs on the Apennines and Carpathians, but is 

 unknown in a wild state on the Pyrenees, or in the 

 Spanish or Scandinavian peninsulas. It forms large 

 woods in Kussia, but is represented in Northern Asia 

 by a variety (Larix sibi'rica) with smooth, grey barlf, 

 sometimes considered a distinct species. 



Though it grows well on a limestone subsoil, it 

 is on sloping mountain sides that the Larch is seen 

 in its greatest beauty. The regularly-tapering stem, 

 with its scaly, , reddish grey bark, so prone to be- 

 come covered with the shaggy tufts of hoary lichen, 

 then loses its stiff, erect posture. 



The genus Larix, to which the Larch (i. 



