C0NIFERJ3, THE LA1UX, Oil LARCH TREE. 
345 
be a favourite with many on account of its 
tender green verdure in April and May, and 
the beauty of its catkins. It is one of the first 
to awake at the call of spring ; and that cir- 
cumstance alone will always ensure for it a 
favourable notice. The whole sum of it is 
this : — could it be removed, out of sight in 
June, it would form during the two preceding 
months a most lovely lawn ornament ; but, 
taken altogether, it is much more useful than 
ornamental, and fit only for far-off scenes, in 
poor soils, where alone it can be profitably 
employed. 
The rearing of the Larch is in many re- 
spects similar to that of the common Scotch 
pine. The cones are fit to be gathered in the 
month of December, and many are the plans 
adopted to get at the seeds which they con- 
tain. Boring them with a gimlet, and split- 
ting them with an awl, practices which are 
adopted by some, are tedious and tiresome 
operations scarcely worthy of notice. The 
proper way is to lay them upon wood in a 
kiln, for twelve or fifteen hours, turning them 
over three times during the day, and subject- 
ing them to heat, not exceeding 110 degrees 
Fahr. The cones will not expand so as to let 
the seeds fall out, as in the case of the Scotch 
pine, but the heat will render them much 
easier to break. They should then be laid in 
a thick ridge upon an uneven stone floor, 
resembling causeway, and beat to pieces with 
a flail. All those who know any thing of the 
operation of threshing these cones, will readily 
sanction the statement that it forms the 
hardest of all manual labour. Care should be 
taken to keep the cones thick enough upon 
the floor to protect the seeds from the stroke 
of the flail ; and when this is done, it is sur- 
prising how few of them are bruised. Every 
two or three hours the cones should be sifted, 
and laid down afresh to undergo the operation 
as before ; and so on till all the seeds are ex- 
tracted. It will be found impossible to sepa- 
rate the seeds from the broken pieces of cones 
by any process of winnowing, the latter being 
of the same size and weight as the former : 
hence it is, that pure and unmixed seed, in 
any large quantity, cannot be procured. 
The time for sowing the seed is about the 
end of April : in Scotland, where spring frosts 
might prove hurtful, it is deferred till the 
second week in May ; and the operation is in 
all respects the same as that adopted for the 
common pine. The soil should, if possible, be 
light and friable, such as will not get crusted 
after rain ; and, for the convenience of weed- 
ing the beds, they should not exceed 4| feet 
in width. In those beds, the plants may re- 
main either one or two years according to 
their size : a luxuriant crop, or such of the 
plants as have made a good growth, will be fit 
for transplanting into nursery lines at the end 
of the first season ; but in many cases, they 
are allowed to remain till they have completed 
their second season. When two years ^old, 
the plants are fit to take their station where- 
ever they are to remain, if the heath or 
herbage should be short and meagre ; but in 
all cases where the surface is matted, or much 
shaded, plants from nursery lines, of a larger 
size, should be used. In the event of a good 
close crop, the plan which is generally adopted 
is to weed out all the largest of the plants the 
first autumn or spring after sowing, leaving 
the remainder for a crop of two years' seed- 
lings ; and the advantages of this process are, 
that the plants may be sold or used twelve 
months sooner than those which remain ; and 
that those which are yet in the beds run no 
risk of being drawn up or choked by being too 
thick. 
There are two ways of planting the Larch, 
namely, by pitting them, and planting them 
with the hand iron. The former plan is 
adopted in plantations of limited extent, where 
large, and consequently, bushy-rooted plants 
are required ; and consists simply of small 
pits, eighteen inches deep, being made with 
the common garden spade. The other is the 
most expeditious yet in practice, and is but in- 
differently understood in England. It is appli- 
cable to all waste lands where the surface is 
bare, or partially so, and is performed by 
making a cut in the ground with a small spade 
worked by the right hand ; whilst the left is 
employed in inserting the plant, which is 
firmly fastened in its position by treading 
with the heel. (See Annals of Horticulture, 
1845, p. 188.) 
Strictly speaking, this tree requires no 
pruning : the stem should of course be cleared 
of all the under branches as they become de- 
cayed, but not until they are so useless as sap 
agents, that there can be no fear of the tree 
bleeding at the parts where the branches are 
detached. The time for felling is winter ; 
and as the roots make excellent fuel, it is re- 
commended that they should be either removed 
with the stem, or afterwards dug up. 
By far the most important point connected 
with the treatment of the Larch is the defect 
or disease, known as the rot, which, as Loudon 
truly observes, " has baffled every attempt of 
physiologists and planters to ascertain its 
cause." He therefore leaves the subject as he 
found it. The details which have been written 
concerning the supposed causes of this disease 
would fill a goodly octavo volume ; and as it 
would be useless to repeat even an abstract of 
them here (for they lead to no good end), 
the writer will simply detail the real cause 
and cure of this most serious evil. Amongst 
all the opinions delivered, the nearest approach 
