LARCH. 



83 



Fully the one half of Scotland, comprehendmg 

 nearly all the alpine part, consists of primary rock, 

 chiefly micaceous schist and gneiss. These rocks 

 are generally less decayed at the surface, better 

 drained, and fuller of clefts and fissures contain- 

 ing excellent earth (especially on slopes), into which 

 the roots of trees penetrate and receive healthy 

 nourishment, than the other primitive and transition 

 rocks, granite, porphyiy, trap, or the secondary and 

 tertiary formations of nearly horizontal strata, red 

 and white sandstone, &c. Primary strata are gene- 

 rally well adapted for larch, except where the sur- 

 face has acquired a covering of peat-moss, or received 

 a flat diluvial bed of close wet till or soft moorish 

 sand, or occupies a too elevated or exposed situa- 

 tion — the two latter exceptions only preventing the 

 growth, not inducing rot. 



Gravel, not too ferruginous, and in which water 

 does not stagnate in winter, even though nearly 

 bare of vegetable mould, especially on steep slopes, 

 and where the air is not too arid, is favourable to 

 the growth of larch. It seems to prefer the coarser 

 gravel, though many of the stones exceed a yard 

 solid. 



The straths or valleys of our larger rivers, in their 

 passage through the alpine country, are generally 



F ^ 



