364 



THE PLANTEK S GUIDE. 



wise, is said never to shrink or warp when made up into 

 work ; an opinion which receives sufficient countenance 

 from the fact, that more than three centuries since, before 

 canvass was in use, it was upon boards of Larch-wood 

 that Raphael and other great artists of that day painted 

 some of their most celebrated pictures. But the boards 

 must have been cut from trees of mature age, and of a 

 very different texture from those of this country ; for 

 experience has shown, that British Larch of thirty and 

 even fifty years old, is by no means distinguished for this 

 valuable quality.'"' 



The wood, likewise, in Switzerland, is turned to another 

 useful purpose by the peasants in the neighbourhood of 

 the Alps. They cut it into shingles of about a foot long, 

 and half an inch thick, and use them as a covering for 

 their houses ; which within a short time, by the oozing 

 out of the resin, becomes impenetrable to rain. The bark 

 of the tree, also, possesses the tanning principle in a re- 

 markable degree, more so, as it is believed, than any other 

 except the Oak ; and it has of late years been extensively 

 applied to that object. It is from the Larch and the 

 silver Fir that Venice turpentine is extracted ; a sub- 

 stance, however, which derives nothing but the name from 

 the Venetian territories. 



" The Larch (as Gilpin truly observes) which we have 

 in England, compared with the Larch of the Alps, is a 

 diminutive plant, and little more than the puny inhabitant 

 of a garden. ^^t It is in his estimation too formal in its 

 growth ; it is neither grand nor noble in its character, 

 and has no picturesque beauty in this country ; an opinion 

 in which I entirely agree with him. He admits that it 

 may be called an " elegant tree," which is saying as much 



* Note XXI. 



t Forest Scenery^ vol. i. p. 75. 



