PART VIII. PICTURESQUE PLANTING. 4?9 



well as common observation, prove, that the circumstance of 

 bending, especially in an open exposure, would produce a much 

 thicker trunk and a larger quantity of timber, in a given time, 

 than a straight tree. These circumstances, in connexion with 

 the valuable qualities of this tree as ship timber*, and the 

 scarcity of that article in this country, lead me to suggest 



* " The larch does not fly in splinters by the impulse of a ball in any engage- 

 ment ; no force of heat makes it flame ; but when thrown into a strong fire it con- 

 sumes imperceptibly. How many accidents then might be prevented by a greater 

 use of this timber, if applied in ships. Many lives are lost by the splinters of oak 

 in naval warfare: all these would be save/1 to the state by having the planks of war 

 ships made of it. Decks of the same materials would resist fire, either accidental or 

 designed ; for, although burning materials in time will force their way through a* 

 plank of larch, yet it never would spread to the adjoining plank. To be in a ship 

 on fire at sea, is certainly the most dreadful situation in which any person can be 

 placed ; every exertion, therefore, to prevent such calamity, is the duty of all well- 

 wishers of their country. Beside these advantages arising from* the use of the 

 larch, there is another of no small importance to a warlike and commercial nation, 

 the saving of expense in ship-building ; as by experience it is found that it lasts 

 longer than oak under water, and worms will not touch it*. In place of renewing 

 ships of war every twenty or thirty years, their existence may be lengthened to 

 thrice that time." 



See Anderson's Catalogue of Trees, page 6. 



The following quotation from Vitruvius demands the particular attention of 

 those concerned in naval as well as in civil architecture : 



" The larch tree, which is unknown except to the inhabitants about the Po, and 

 the shore of the Adriatic sea, is not only preserved from the rot and worms by an 

 excessively bitter juice, but is also secure from fire ; for it will not flame, but will 



* Sailors put larch chips among their clothes ; which has been found by experience to pre- 

 vent vermin, mould, &c 



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