THE LARCH. 
149 
of wild honey, John the Baptist supported himself in the wilder- 
ness. It is also known as Silver Chain, in contradistinction to 
the Gold Chain or Laburnum ; also as White Laburnum. 
The Larch {Larix europm). 
An enormous number of exotic Coniferous trees are at the 
present time commonly grown in our parks and pleasure grounds, 
and even our woods show a considerable variety beyond the 
Scots Pine and Yew that Nature has alone given us as timber 
trees in this order. To attempt to give even a very brief 
account of all these in a pocket volume, in addition to almost 
the entire woody Flora indigenous to these islands, would be 
manifestly absurd. We can, however, deal with a few repre- 
sentative species of these exotics, and we give the Larch the 
first place by reason of its present plentifulness in extensive 
unmixed woods and plantations. 
The Larch is naturally a tree of the mountains, and ascends 
to a greater elevation even than the Spruce Fir. Unmixed 
forests of Larch in the Bavarian Alps occur between 3000 and 
6000 feet above sea-level, and on the central Swiss Alps it 
ascends to ne-arly 7000 feet. A long winter of real cold is 
necessary for its full development and the ripening of its wood, 
and for that reason the timber of Larch grown m England is 
inferior to that grown in its native countries, because our 
winters are either short or mild, and neither gives the tree the 
full rest it needs. It is a European tree, and was introduced — 
though not in any numbers — to England at some date prior to 
1629. For 150 years it appears to have been cultivated here 
merely as an ornamental garden tree. Then attention was 
called to its value as a timber tree, and the Society of Arts 
offered gold medals for Larch planting and essays upon its 
economic importance. Already (1728) the second Duke of 
Atholl had begun those experiments in Larch growing for 
