100 gili'in's forest sceneet. 



Many of RapTiael's pictures are painted on boards 

 of Larct. 



The Larcli we have in England compared witli 

 the Larcli of the Alps is a diminutive plant. It 

 is little more than the puny inhabitant of a 

 garden, or the embellishment of some trifling 

 artificial scene. The characters of grand and 

 noble seldom belong to it. It is, however, an 

 elegant tree, though, in our soil at least, too 

 formal in its growth. Among its native steeps 

 its form, no doubt, is fully picturesque, when the 

 storms of many a century have shattered its equal 

 sides and given contrast and variety to its boughs. 



Sinco Gilpin's time the Larch has been much more 

 extensively cultivated than it used to be, and its timber, 

 also, has come to be held in much greater estimation than 

 it formerly was. It is no longer 'the puny inhabitant of 

 a garden ;' and though in England we have not, perhaps^ 

 very many large specimens, it is far otherwise in Scot- 

 land, upon whose mountains Larix europma grows to grand 

 dimensions. What our Author says of the quality of its 

 timber is fully justified by the results of modern expe- 

 rience. Another reason, however, than that which he 

 appears to suggest, would probably have accounted for 

 the apparent disinclination of the French naval contractors 

 to use Larch for masts — namely the difficulty of transport- 



