246 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
its form in different specimens ; it should therefore be intro- 
duced sparingly, and always for some special purpose . 
This purpose may be, either to give spirit to a group of 
other trees, to strengthen the already picturesque character 
of a scene, or to give life and variety to one naturally tame 
and uninteresting. All these objects can be fully effected 
by the Larch ; and although it is by far the most suited to 
harmonize with, and strengthen the expression of scener y 
naturally grand, or picturesque, with which it most readily 
enters into combination, yet, in the hands of taste, there can 
be no reason why so marked a tree should not be employed 
in giving additional expression to scenery of a tamer 
character. 
The extremely rapid growth of this tree when planted 
upon thin, barren, and dry soils, is another great merit which 
it possesses as an ornamental tree ; and it is also a neces- 
sary one to enable it to thrive well on those very rocky and 
barren soils, where it is most in character with the surround- 
ing objects. It is highly valuable to produce effect or shel- 
ter suddenly, on portions of an estate, too thin or meagre in 
their soil, to afford the sustenance necessary to the growth 
of many other deciduous trees. 
The Larch is the great timber tree of Europe. Its wood 
is remarkably heavy, strong, and durable, exceeding in all 
those qualities the best English oak. To these, it is said to 
add the peculiarity of being almost uninflammable, and 
resisting the influence of heat for a long time. Vitruvius 
relates that when Caesar attacked the castle of Larignum, 
near the Alps, whose gate was commanded by a tower built 
of this wood, from the top of which the besieged annoyed 
him with their stones and darts, he commanded his army to 
surround it with faggots, and set fire to the whole. When 
