509 
ago, are still found as fresh as when first put in. Stakes of it have been tried in the decoys of Lin¬ 
colnshire, which between wind and water, have already worn out two or three sets of oak stakes, 
and do not yet discover any symptoms of decay. It is also known to possess the valuable quality 
of neither shrinking or warping when put into work, nor is it liable to be pierced by worms in our 
climate. 
It is found to be one of the quickest growing trees, remarkably hardy, and extremely beautiful. 
It is much more easily reared than the Oak, and could be spread over a great extent of mountains, 
if sufficiently bare of herbage, at little or no expense, by the natural shedding of its seeds. It would 
be valuable not only for ship-plank; but even crooked timbers might be obtained, by using a little 
art to bend it when young. For flood-gates in navigable canals and wet docks it would exceed 
every thing that can be obtained in this climate. For barrel staves it would be inimitable; and in 
building it would answer all the purposes to which Fir is now applied, being much stronger and 
more durable than that wood. When it is also adverted to, that it is next to incombustible, it deserves 
to be strongly recommended to planters in the country, particularly in the most rugged and barren 
districts; where, at a very trifling charge, estates might be brought to a hundred times their 
present value.* 
The same valuable author, in the third volume of his Essays relating to Agriculture and Rural 
Affairs, has one entire long chapter on the value and uses of the Larch tree; in which he says, 
that it is so much more valuable than the Scotch Fir, that it is now universally preferred to it, for 
plantations of large extent, in almost every situation. That as it has only been of late introduced 
into Britain, the qualities of the wood are not sufficiently understood: for before the last thirty 
years it was cultivated rather as an ornamental tree, than with a view to profit. But wherever it 
has been introduced it grows so freely; is so beautiful when in leaf; so highly ornamental when 
covered with its abundant pink blossoms in the spring; and is so elegant in its form, that it is sure 
to become a favourite with the planter. 
Dr. Anderson is so full in his collections upon this subject, that I shall take the liberty of 
abstracting such parts of his memoir as have not been already given from their primary sources. 
Among the Romans the Larch was employed, in preference to every other kind of wood, in 
building, where strength and durability were required; and Vitruvius attributes the sudden decay 
of buildings erected in his time, in a great measure to the want of Larch in the neighbourhood of 
Rome; it having been exhausted before his time, and the expense of bringing it from a distance 
being so high, as greatly to circumscribe the use of it. 
Dr. Pallas, in his Survey of the Russian Dominions in Asia, observed several tumuli at Kamt- 
shatka reared at a period so remote, that none of the present inhabitants had any tradition respect¬ 
ing their origin. The platform was covered by Larch wood, over which the mound of earth was 
raised; and the wood was found to be uncorrupted. 
I have in my garden, says Mons. le President de la Tour d’Aigues, in the year \7S7, some rails, 
part of which are Oak, and part of them Larch wood; they were made in 1 / 43 , and only once 
painted. The Oak has yielded to time, but the Larch is still sound. They make casks of it in 
Provence: the fineness of the grain retains the spirit of the liquor perfectly, and does not alter its 
qualities: it has been used for that purpose for time immemorial in the higher Dauphine. I have in 
my castle of Tour d’Aigues beams of twenty inches square, which are sound, though upwards of two 
hundred years old; but trees of this size are now to be found only in places whence they cannot 
* Report on the present State of the Hebrides, p. 238. 
ON 
