8 



LARCH. — PINUS LARIX. 



Natural order, Coniferce. A genus of the 

 Moncecia Monadelphia class. 



" The swain, in barren deserts, with surprise 

 Sees larch trees spring, and sudden verdure rise.' 



The face of our country has, within the last 

 thirty years, been completely changed by the 

 numerous plantations of larch that have 

 sprung up on every barren spot of these king- 

 doms, from the southern shores to the ex- 

 tremity of the north, and from the Land's 

 End to the mouth of the Thames. So great 

 has been the demand for young trees of this 

 species of pine, that one nurseryman in Edin- 

 burgh raised above five millions of these 

 trees in the year 1796. We have introduced 

 no exotic tree that has so greatly embellished 

 the country in general. Its pale and delicate 

 green, so cheerfully enlivening the dark hue 

 of the fir and pine, and its elegant spiral 

 shape, contrasting with the broad spreading 

 oak, is a no less happy contrast ; whilst its 

 stars of fasciculate foliage are displayed to 



