92 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
land, in the latitude of nearly 57° north. Between 1740 and 
1750, James, Duke of Athol, planted more than twelve hundred 
larch trees in various situations and elevations, for the purpose 
of trying a species of tree then new in Scotland. In 1759, he 
‘planted seven hundred larches over a space of twenty-nine 
Scotch acres, intermixed with other kinds of forest trees, with 
the view of trying the value of the larch asa timber tree. This 
plantation extended up the face of a hill from two hundred to 
four hundred feet above the level of the sea. The rocky ground 
of which it was composed, was covered with loose and crumb- 
ling masses of mica slate, and was not worth above £3 a year 
altogether.”’ Before he died, in 1764, he was satisfied of the 
superiority of the larch as timber, over the other firs, even in 
trees of only eighteen or nineteen years old. His successor, 
John, Duke of Athol, “first conceived the idea of planting larch 
by itself as a forest tree, and of planting the sides of the hills 
about Dunkeld.’”’ He planted three acres with larches alone, 
at an elevation of five or six hundred feet above the level of the 
sea, on soil not worth a shilling an acre. He also planted over 
four hundred acres on the sides of hills, before his death in 
1774. His son, Duke John, continuing the execution of his 
father’s plans, had planted, in 1783, two hundred and seventy- 
nine thousand trees. Observing the rapid growth and hardy 
nature of the larch, he determined to cover with it the steep 
acclivities of mountains of greater altitude than any that had yet 
been tried. He therefore enclosed a space of twenty-nine acres, 
‘‘on the rugged summit of Craig-y-barns, and planted a strip 
entirely with larches, among the crevices and hollows of the 
rocks, where the least soil could be found. At this elevation, 
none of the larger kinds of natural plants grew, so that the 
grounds required no previous preparation of clearing.” This 
plantation was formed in 1785 and 1786. Between that year 
and 1791, he planted six hundred and eighty acres with five 
hundred thousand larches, the greater part only sprinkled over 
the surface, on account of the difficulty of procuring a sufficient 
number of plants. Besides a plantation of seventy acres for 
the purpose of embellishment, he had, in 1799, extended his 
plantations of larches over an additional space of eight hundred 
