86 



BRITISH FOREST TREES. 



Class II. soils and subsoils where larch 



TAKES DRY ROT. 



Situations {steep slopes excepted) with cold till 

 subsoil f nearly impervious to wa/^r.— The larch 

 succeeds worst when moorish dead sand alone, or 

 with admixture of peat, occupies the surface of 

 these retentive bottoms. Where the whole soil 

 and subsoil is one uniform, retentive, firm till, it 

 vdll often reach considerable size before being at- 

 tacked by the rot. When this heavy till occupies 

 a steep slope, the larch will sometimes succeed well, 

 owing to the more equable supply of moisture, and 

 the water in the soil not stagnating, but gliding 

 domi the declivity. 



In general, soils whose siuface assumes the appear- 

 ance of honeycomb in time of frost, owing to the 

 great quantity of water imbibed by the soil, will not 

 produce large sound larch. More than half the low 

 country of Scotland is soil of this description. 



Soft sand soil and subsoil — Sand is still less 

 adapted for growing larch than the tills, the plants 

 being often destroyed by the summer's drought before 

 they attain size for any usefid purpose : the rot also 

 attacks earlier here than in the tills. It appears that 



