146 



SYLVA SCOTICA. 



THE LARCHES AT DUNKELD. 



The Larch is a native of the Alps and Apennine 

 mountains, and has not been introduced into this 

 country more than a century. It is of quick growth, 

 and flourishes best in poor soils and exposed situa- 

 tions, which renders it valuable in those places, 

 where land is of little other value than to afford foot- 

 ing for such hardy mountaineers. 



The Larches represented in the accompanying 

 plate, are the property of his Grace the Duke of 

 Athol, and are supposed to be the largest in Scot- 

 land : they were brought into the country about 

 ninety years since, and w^ere at first placed in a 

 green-house, under the idea that they were tender 

 shrubs. The largest of them was measured in the 

 month of March, 1796, and its dimensions were as 

 follows. At three feet from the ground, ten feet and 

 a half in circumference ; at twenty-four feet from 

 the ground, seven feet seven inches ; its height 

 eighty-five feet. In July 1825, it was measured 

 again, and at the same distances from the ground ; it 

 was found to be thirteen feet, and nine feet five 

 inches in circumference, and had increased in height 

 to ninety-seven feet and a half. These graceful 

 trees are surrounded by objects of the most interest- 

 ing nature, their branches almost touch the vene- 



