CHAP. CXIII. coni'fer^s. LA V R1X. 2401 



poses, to any of the American pines or firs which grow in the same 

 parts." {Laws. Manual, p. 388.) Mr. Blair, when in Canada, was 

 informed that the wood of this tree is preferred to maple, hickory, 

 or beech, as fuel for the steam-boats on the St. Lawrence. {Blair 

 in Gard. Mag., vol. viii. p. 488.) In Mr. M'Nab's article on the 

 local distribution of different species of trees in the native forests of 

 America, published in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, he states 

 that on a flattened, low, moist meadow, on this line of road, was an 

 extensive forest of the tamarack, or black American larch, which 

 he calls Zarix pendula, tall straggling trees, with stems not exceeding 

 1 ft. 8 in. in circumference. " Through the tract of country which we 

 have passed," he adds, "this tree was by no means plentiful, having 

 only seen four masses of them, and these very distant from each 

 other: all were in similar situations." (Quart. Journ. of Agr., vol. 

 v. p. 601.) 

 f- L. a. 3 prolifera ; L. prolifera Malcolm. The proliferous-branched Larch. — 

 In this variety, the axis of the cones is prolonged in the form of a 

 shoot ; a kind of monstrosity which is found in all the varieties of 

 L. americana, and also occasionally, as Richard has shown, in some 

 species of yTbies and Picea. The plant in the Horticultural Society's 

 Garden, after being 12 years planted, is 15 ft. high. 

 Description, Sfc. Michaux describes the American larch as a tall slender 

 tree, with a trunk 80 ft. or 100 ft. high, and only 2 ft. or 3 ft. in diameter. Its 

 numerous branches, except near the summit, are horizontal or declining. 

 The bark is smooth and shining on the trunk and larger branches, but rugged 

 on the smaller branches. The leaves are flexible, and shorter than those of 

 the European species. The cones are small and erect ; green in spring, and 

 generally brown when ripe, but sometimes they are found of a violet colour. 

 The wood, Michaux says, is equal to that of the European larch, being exceed- 

 ingly strong, and singularly durable. The American larch is most abundant 

 in Vermont, New Hampshire, and the district of Maine ; but, though the 

 soil is well adapted to its growth, it does not form the hundredth part of the 

 ^bietinae in these latitudes. According to the elder Michaux's observations, 

 in his journey to Hudson's Bay, it is only beyond the St. Lawrence, parti- 

 cularly near Lake St. John, and the Great and the Little Lake Misstassin, 

 that it begins to abound, and to form masses of wood, some of which are 

 several miles in extent. It is abundant in Newfoundland, in nearly the same 

 latitude. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the coldest and gloomiest expo- 

 sures in the mountainous tracts of Virginia, are the limits of its appearance 

 towards the south ; but it is rare in these states : and, in Lower Jersey and 

 the vicinity of New York, it is seen only in the swamps of white cedar 

 (Cupressus ^huyoides), with which it is scantily mingled. According to 

 Pursh, the two forms of this species, though united in one by Michaux, are 

 specifically and constantly different. He never saw them both growing in the 

 same place, or even near one another. L. a. pendula was introduced by 

 Peter Collinson, in 1739; and the original tree planted by him at Peck- 

 ham was afterwards removed to Mill Hill ; where it was cut down, says 

 Sir James Edward Smith, "about the year 1800, to make a rail, by its 

 sapient possessor. The abundance of seeds," he adds, " which it annually 

 produced might have been a far more lasting source of profit, as few exotic 

 trees are more worthy of cultivation. It was from this tree that Solander 

 first described L. a. pendula as a distinct species, L. a. rubra not having 

 been introduced till 1760. The original tree of this latter variety was planted 

 by John Duke of Argyll at Whitton, where Sir James Edward Smith and 

 Mr. Lambert saw it early in the present century, and where we examined 

 it on the 21st of July, 1837, and found it between 40 ft. and 50ft. high. The 

 wood, in America, and especially in Canada, according to Michaux, is con- 

 sidered among the most valuable timber, and has no fault except its weight. 

 In the district of Maine, it is more esteemed than any other resinous wood, 



7 q, 2 



