ADDEND.] THE LARCH. 321 



The Duke of Atholl had planted about a 

 thousand Scotch acres on similar mountains, 

 in 1819, and which has been continued since, 

 placing Scotch fir only in the wet grounds, 

 where larch will not grow, and mixing spruce 

 on the highest points, finding from experi- 

 ence that that tree is next in value to the 

 larch, and thrives in alpine situations almost 

 equally well. 



We are informed by his Grace, that of all 

 the larch he has had cut, he has never met 

 with one instance of decay. But that he has 

 seen larch cut in wet situations and tilly soil, 

 on low moors, which, at forty years of age, 

 were decaying at the heart. The larch is 

 certainly an alpine tree, and does not thrive 

 in wet situations. 



The comparative value of larch and Scotch 

 fir is such, that when the Duke of Atholl sold 

 a larch of fifty years' growth for twelve gui- 

 neas, a fir of the same age, and in the same 

 soil, brought only fifteen shillings. 



The larch, from being a deciduous tree, 

 is never broken by snow, and very seldom 

 torn by the winds ; whilst a heavy fall of 

 snow will destroy, in one night, and break 

 down sometimes more than a third of a fir 

 plantation. 



VOL. II. Y 



