CHAP. CXIII. CONI'fERJE. LA*fcIX. 2379 



resembling that of a common winnowing-machine. The cones are let into 

 the mill through a hopper. This instrument is very difficult to work, and 

 bruises the seeds very much, many of which are, of course, destroyed. We 

 have several times made use of the improved bark mill, for separating the 

 seeds from larch cones; but the cones are thus so much compressed and 

 bruised, that the seeds suffer exceedingly ; and we would by no means advise 

 its use. Indeed, among all the methods which we have known adopted, to 

 perform the painful and laborious work of extracting the seeds of the larch, 

 the plan of splitting the cones singly, as above described, is infinitely the best 

 and safest for the seeds, and ought to be adopted by every one who has 

 occasion to use only small quantities of seed." {Plant. Kal., p. 827.) 



Nursery Culture. The seeds may be sown in April, on finely prepared 

 soil, and so as to rise about the same thickness as the Scotch pine, that is, 

 at about a quarter of an inch distant from each other. Mr. Sang recom- 

 mends sowing the larch on ground from which a crop of two years old seed- 

 ling Scotch pines has been removed. No preparation of the soil, he says, 

 can equal that of the roots of seedling Scotch pines ; and the next best pre- 

 paration is a crop of two years' seedling larch. In either case, the seedlings 

 are supposed to be removed in September, and the soil dug over several 

 times between that month and the April following, so as to expose it 

 thoroughly to the winter's frost. When the soil is manured, new dung from 

 the stable or cow-house must be carefully avoided, as proving highly per- 

 nicious to the young plants ; but old rotten dung may be used with advan- 

 tage. After the seeds are sown, previously to covering them, a light roller 

 should be drawn over the bed, to press the seeds firmly into the earth. The 

 covering should be from \'m. to |in. in thickness, according as the soil is 

 sandy or loamy. The plants may remain two years in the seed-bed, and 

 afterwards be planted out into nursery lines, or in plantations where they are 

 finally to remain. The season for transplanting is the autumn, or very 

 early in spring, because the larch vegetates earlier than most other trees, and 

 suffers more than any other when removed after it has begun to grow. 



Culture in Plantations. In general, very little preparation of the soil, 

 except draining, is required for a larch plantation ; partly, because the larch 

 is generally planted on declivities, the soil of which, if loosened by digging or 

 trenching, would be washed away by rains; and partly because such declivi- 

 ties are generally so rocky, or covered with large stones, as to render digging 

 or trenching impracticable. In all the extensive plantations of the larch 

 made in Scotland, two years' seedlings, or strong one year's seedlings, one 

 year transplanted, are made use of; and the mode of planting adopted is the 

 slit manner, already recommended for the Scotch pine. (See p. 2179.) The 

 larch, where the object is clean straight timber, should be planted in masses 

 by itself, at the rate of from 3000 to 4000 plants to the acre ; to be thinned 

 out to 400 or 500 trees per acre, which is supposed to be the number that 

 that portion of surface will bring to perfection. The larch is also very com- 

 monly introduced in mixed plantations, to be thinned out as these advance 

 to maturity ; young larches being more valuable for country purposes than 

 any other young tree whatever. From what has been already said on the 

 influence which soil and situation have on the wood of the larch (see 

 p. 2376.), the propriety or impropriety of allowing larches in mixed planta- 

 tions, or, indeed, in any other, to attain their full size, may be determined. 

 In general, there are few situations, in the plains either of England or Scot- 

 land, where full-grown larches will be found sound at the heart; but, at the 

 same time, perhaps none where any tree will prove so valuable as the larch, 

 when it is to be cut down just as the rot is beginning to appear. The larch 

 is also sometimes planted as a nurse; though for this purpose it is found far 

 inferior to the Scotch pine and the spruce fir, as already mentioned (p. 2305.). 

 It has, however, the advantage of being more valuable than the Scotch pine 

 when cut down. The great value of the larch is as a mountain tree ; and on 



