510 
be transported. There are in some parts of Dauphine, and in the forests of Baye in Provence, 
Larch trees, which two men could not grasp, and about seventy-two feet in height. This account 
is printed in Memoirs of the Royal Society of Agriculture, Paris 1787- 
The Larch must stand to be of a sufficient age before the timber acquires its best qualities of 
strength and durability. We have not yet had an opportunity of using any of it in perfection in 
Great Britain; its introduction into this country having been at a period too late to admit of it. 
The two first trees that were planted in Britain, by the best accounts I can find, are at Dunkeld in 
Perthshire, the seat of the Duke of Athole. They were planted in 1741: consequently Dr. Ander¬ 
son should have confined his remark to North Britain, for we have many trees in England prior to 
these: and some even in Scotland, belonging to Mr. Drummond, were planted in 1734. 
It appears from Parkinson's Paradisus, that the Larch tree was cultivated here so long since as 
1629: it was then however, as he says, “ rare, and nursed up but with a few, and those only lovers 
of rarities/' 
The largest of the Larch trees on the Duke of A thole's lawn at Dunkeld was measured in the 
month of March 1796, and the following are its dimensions: 
F. In. F. In. 
At the height of 1 8 from the ground, the circumference is 1111 
3 0 ............. 10 CR 
60 ............. 90 
90 ............. 86 
12 0 ............ . 82 
18 0 ............ . 7 11 
24 0 ............ . 77 
The whole height was eighty-five feet. There are several Larches upwards of one hundred feet in 
height, which are five or six years younger, but none of so great a girt. The largest of Mr. Drum¬ 
mond's was ninety-seven feet high, but less in circumference. 
For a trial, the Duke of Athole has applied Larch to a variety of purposes, such as mill-axles, 
flooring in houses, window-frames and doors, posts and rails, and boat-building: for all of which it 
appeared to answer so well, that it is the greatest acquisition of wood ever introduced into Great 
Britain; especially as it attains a considerable size, on high grounds and bleak exposures, where 
even Scotch Firs either die or become stinted. Fishing boats made of Larch under forty years 
growth, last nearly three times as long as those built of Norway Fir. 
The late violent winds blew down a Larch in the Duke's lawn of fifty years of age, eighty-six 
feet six inches in height, containing eighty-two feet of solid wood; for which four pounds sterling 
was offered as it lay on the ground. 
Dr. Anderson has adduced a variety of satisfactory instances and experiments, from which the 
durability of this wood is established beyond a doubt, even in the early periods of its growth. Nor 
is this its only good quality; for, when made into planks, there are incontestible proofs of its neither 
shrinking nor warping, and of its not being liable to be attacked by the worm, during the course of 
several ages. 
It is not yet known whether Larch wood is capable of resisting the sea-worm. Dr. Anderson 
proposes to ascertain this, by sinking a piece of sound, well-ripened Larch wood, with another 
piece of sound Oak wood in the river Medway at Rochester bridge, where it is well known that 
every other kind of wood is very soon perforated by the sea-worm. 
Larch wood is in a manner incombustible; that is, though it may be consumed by fire, yet 
where the masses are large, even if a fire be placed on the bare wood, though it will be slowly 
