116 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 
ber, and have been handed down from generation to gen- 
eration, and will still be handed down, in an almost per- 
fect state of preservation. M. Brissel de Monville says 
that he has examined trees in the forests of Switzerland 
that have been struck by lightning and badly shattered, 
and yet the heart-wood is still perfectly sound, and the 
uninjured limbs continue to grow in a perfectly healthy 
condition; and even trees that had lain on the ground 
for years and become thoroughly dried out have not 
rotted, but have become brittle with old age and may 
still be scaled off. It is the best timber for rails, fences, 
etc.,and anything that requires to withstand the weather. 
The larch appears to grow best on uplands, and I doubt 
not with a little care and attention some of our own hills 
and prairies could be covered with a luxuriant growth of 
larches. It does not seem to thrive on low, damp plains, 
and I would not recommend any one to try it in such 
places, as a failure might prejudice them against a tree 
that is destined to become one of our most useful and 
ornamental trees. 
Great care should be taken, in the purchase and selec- 
tion of seed, to obtain it from thoroughly reliable parties, 
as large quantities of worthless old stuff are sold for 
good seed that no one could make grow. I would rec- 
ommend seed from the Tyrol in Switzerland, or from the 
Valais of Switzerland, both of which are usually pur- 
chased by the horticulturists of France, Germany, and 
Scotland. 
In closing these remarks about the European larch, I 
would like to call attention to the experience of Mr. 
Thomas Lake, a resident of Winnebago County, Illinois. 
In a recent letter Mr. Lake says: “A few years since I 
saw in the Rural New- Yorker the European larch ad- 
vertised for sale by Robert Douglas & Sons, Waukegan, 
Illinois, and being well acquainted with the fast growth 
and value of those trees in my native home, England, I 
bought and planted nine thousand, and have but to re- 
