CHAP. CXIII. CONl'FERiE. LA^RIX, 2383 



taking good heed that no cart-wheel, in passing, or feet of large quadruped, 

 wound the bared roots. In exposed situations, the earth may be gradually 

 removed from the roots. 



" The rot in larch taking place in the part appropriate to knees, the forester 

 cannot be too wary in selecting the situations where there is no risk of its 

 attack, for planting those destined for this purpose. It is also desirable, if 

 possible, to have the knee timber in ground free of stones or gravel, as the 

 grubbing in stony ground is expensive, and the roots often embrace stones 

 which, by the future swelling of the bulb, are completely embedded and shut 

 up in the wood, particularly in those places between the spurs where the saw 

 section has to divide them for knees. Were the roots carefully bared at an 

 early period, it would tend to prevent the gravel from becoming embedded 

 in the bulb. Nothing can be more annoying to the shipwright, when he has 

 bestowed his money, ingenuity, and labour, upon an unwieldy root, and 

 brought his knees into figure at the cost of the destruction of his tools by 

 the enveloped gravel, to discover stains of incipient rot, which render the 

 intended knee mere lumber. 



" As the larch, unlike the oak, affords few or no crooks naturally, excepting 

 knees, the artificial formation of larch crooks is of the utmost consequence to 

 the interest of the holders of larch plantations now growing. In order to 

 obtain a good market for their straight timber, it is absolutely necessary to 

 have a supply of crooks ready as soon as possible to work the straight 

 up. This would increase the demand, and then enhance the price of the 

 straight more than any one not belonging to the craft could believe. In good 

 soil many of the crooks would be of sufficient size in 20 years to begin the 

 supply, if properly thinned out. In a forest of larch, containing many thou- 

 sand loads, and which had been untouched by any builder, we have seen the 

 greatest difficulty in procuring crooks for one small brig. It is only on very 

 steep ground, and where the tree has been a little upset after planting, that 

 any good crooks are found. From the rather greater diameter required of 

 larch timbers, and also from the nature of the fibre of the wood, we should 

 suppose that steam-bending of larch timbers would scarcely be followed, even 

 as a dernier ressort." 



Felling. The larch is a remarkably easy tree to fell, from having no large 

 boughs to interfere with the adjoining trees. The best season for performing 

 the operation is winter, and the trunk may either be severed from the root, 

 or otherwise, according to the object in view. If the ground among the re- 

 maining trees is to be kept as grass, root-felling is obviously to be preferred ; 

 as will generally be the case when the roots are of any value as fuel. In 

 order to season the wood of the larch, as we have already seen, p. 2365., Mr. 

 Monteath recommends barking the trees standing, and leaving them in that 

 state for one, or even two, summers, before they are cut down. A number 

 of larch trees on Dunnipace estate, in Stirlingshire, were barked by Mr. 

 Monteath, and stood in the peeled state two summers, before they were cut 

 up, and the wood made into paneled doors; which stood perfectly without 

 warping or twisting. He has since frequently himself used, and seen used 

 b"y others, the timber of larch trees, after having stood twelve months with 

 the bark taken offj then cut down, and immediately cut up into battens for 

 flooring; and also made into paneled doors and window frames, for the better 

 sort of houses, with equal success. (Forest. Guide > ed. 2., p. 240.) It has been 

 remarked, that the roots of the larch, when left in the ground, decay much 

 sooner than those of the Scotch pine ; the former being liable to the attacks 

 of an insect which does not prey upon the latter. 



Accidents, Sj-c. From the larch having only small branches, and from its 

 leaves being deciduous, it is liable to few accidents, either from wind or 

 snow. A fall of snow, the Duke of Athol observes, " will destroy in one 

 night, and break and tear down, sometimes more than one third of a Scotch pine 

 plantation, at all ages. High winds also destroy pines in numbers ; but the 



7 P 



