12 
ing a rapid growth, contains more sap-wood in proportion to heart- 
wood than old, large timber, and hence, in estimating the durability 
of different kinds of wood, or of the same kind of wood grown in 
different soils and localities, and under different conditions of culti- 
vation, regard must be paid to the age of the timber. The durability 
of the Larch is subject in these respects to the same conditions as ap- 
ply to the wood of other kinds of trees. 
The sap of the Larch tree being resinous, the durability of the wood 
is increased by stripping off the bark, and seasoning before subjecting 
the wood to the conditions of wet and dry. This fact is worthy of 
special attention when the wood is intended for stakes, hop-poles, 
telegraph-poles, and fence-posts, the timber for these purposes being 
usually made from young trees, which contain a large proporfion of 
sap wood, and is subject to earlier decay if the proper conditions of 
the preparation of the wood before using are not complied with. 
The growth of the Larch is rapid in all.dry soils, but the rapidity 
of growth is dependent upon the quality of soil, system of plant- 
ing, culture, climatic conditions and the system adopted in making 
the’thinnings necessary to insure a healthful growth and profitable 
returns, whether the plantations be made in the form of groups or 
belts. The first year’s growth of the Larch from seed planted in seed- 
beds varies from two to six inches. At the end of the second year the 
seedlings in the seed-bed usually attain the height of six to eighteen 
inches. At the age of two years the seedlings are usually removed from 
the seed-beds and transplanted into nursery-row, or into permanent 
plantations. The growth of the trees for one or two seasons after trans- 
planting is mainly confined to the development and extension of the 
side branches and roots; after the second season’s growth from the 
time of transplanting— the trees being now well established— the 
growth of the trees is very rapid, the upward extension of growth 
ranging from eigtheen to thirty-six inches a year, for a period of 
thirty or forty years ; after this time until the tree attains the age of 
seventy years, the growth is slower, and the accumulation of heart- 
wood is in larger proportion to the white or sap-wood, than during 
the first thirty to forty years of growth, at which period of time it is 
estimated the growth of the Larch has arrived at the maximum of 
profit for ordinary use, although the growth of the wood does not at- 
tain the maximum until the trees attain the age of seventy years. 
The life of the Larch, as stated by Louden, “ in the natural forest, is 
150 to 200 years.” 
Reference as to the rate of growth of the Larch in Western soils is 
made to the following data, as stated by the planters of the trees: 
D C. Schofield, of Elgin, 111., “has a plantation of 50,000 trees 
composed of twenty-five kinds, including the European Larch, nine- 
teen years planted. The height of the Larch tree is 35 to 40^ feet ; 
the diameter three feet from the ground is 8 to 14 inches. These 
trees were planted in dry, rich, prairie soil, underlaid with gravel at 
the depth of 6 to 8 feet, and have had the best cultivation.” 
