THE LARCH 141 



whicli occur do not rot or become loose. No wood 

 remains longer uninjured by water, so that it was 

 once largely used on the Continent for water-pipes ; 

 and when the bark is left on, it is extremely dura- 

 ble, both above and under ground, and therefore 

 suited for use for posts, vine-props, and hop-poles, 

 For these purposes it is planted close, so that the 

 trunks are drawn up in a long and slender form. 

 The closeness of the grain, moreover, renders Larch 

 timber but little liable to splintering, which adapts 

 it for the superstructures of warships. 



Though the bark is of use for tanning, it is inferior 

 to Oak, so that it is not renumerative to sacrifice any 

 of the value of the timber by felling the trees, for the- 

 sake of the bark, at an unsuitable season. 



Its leaves, though they come at a season when 

 grass is generally plentiful, are eaten by sheep and 

 cattle in Switzerland ; and valuable charcoal can be 

 made from the branches. But next to its timber, the 

 most important product of the Larch is undoubtedly 

 Venice turpentine. This is collected in the Valais and 

 Briancon, by tapping fully-grown trees, when the 

 resinous spring sap begins to flow. Holes slanting 

 upwards are then bored with an auger into the trees 

 and fitted with wooden tubes, through which the tur- 

 pentine distils from May to September, a full-grown 

 and healthy Larch yielding, if tapped when at the 

 proper age, from seven to eight pounds of turpentine 

 annually for forty or fifty years. This turpentine 

 takes the name of Venice from being shipped from that 

 port. The wood from which the turpentine has been 

 thus extracted is of no value except as firewood ; but 



