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VOL. XXVI. NO. 12 
WHOLE NO. 1182. 
PRICK SIX CENTS, 
02.50 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1872. by D. I>. T. MooitE, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, nt Washington.] 
Pine, Georgia Yellow Pine, not Southern 
Pine, or Georgia Piue (4), which would be 
too indefinite. 
About one year ago I examiuod a gate 
post, one foot in diameter, of the Pendulous 
Larch species (sometimes called Red Larch), 
set in dry soil in 1844, which was perfectly 
sound, and appeared as though it might do 
good service for many years longer. For 
the last twenty years I have known many 
exoavations made in St. Joseph Co., for 
buildings, fences,watering places, and ditch¬ 
es. In several instances, when getting from 
three to five feet below the surface, Larch 
trees would be found, the trunks quite 
sound, having to all appearances and ac¬ 
cording to the judgment of the oldest set¬ 
tlers, laid there from 50 to 100 years, 
William Crum, Esq., made an excava¬ 
tion on his farm in 1871, and when about 
four feet down found the trunk of a Larch, 
about thirty feet long and eight inches in 
diameter at the large end, which was per¬ 
fectly sound und nearly as hard as horn. 
In attempting to nail it on the fence, 20- 
pennv nails would bend and break before 
half driven in, so he had to bore holes in 
the Larch to get the nails through; and 
many similar cases in St. Joseph Co., Indi¬ 
ana, could be cited, both in moist and dry 
soils. I have been told by several persons 
in this county that Larch fenoe posts that 
wore sot from fifteen to forty years ago are 
yet, to all appearances, quite sound. 
William W. Bates ol Chicago, in an ar¬ 
ticle on ship timber, as published in the re¬ 
port. of the Agricultural Bureau for 18GG, 
says: 
“ Hackmatack, or Tamarack, is the Atner- 
loau Larch. It is a very important wood to 
the ship builder, every way superior to the 
European Larch, and is becoming rare in 
the United States. In the British Prov¬ 
inces it is a flourishing tree, not unfrequent- 
ly found growing on hard and dry soils, and 
of superior quality. But in the United 
States Hackmatack is confined In its growth 
principally to the swampy parts of the piue 
districts of the Northern States. The tim¬ 
ber is not large, but well adapted to the top 
and deck framing of vessels; it is also used 
for ceiling, beams, and stanchions, und the 
roots are excellent for knees, breast-hooks, 
sbarffioora, and fnttooks. For lightness, 
strength, tenacity and durability combined, 
Uacktatack la unequaled. It is cheaper in 
prioe than any other standard timber. Ves¬ 
sels have been built of Haokmataok in every 
port. The extreme stiffness of the planks 
was modulated for bending by the use of 
steam in the customary way, except that a 
moderate quantity of fish oil was supplied 
in the boiler for the purpose of aiding to 
soften the wood. 
“ Hackmatack is more tenacious of spike, 
or square bolt iron Listening, than most 
kinds of oak; and, weight for weight, in 
the green state or half seasoned, is consid¬ 
erably stiller and stronger than White Oak. 
This is duo, no doubt, to the gummy nature 
of the wood, as well as to t he closeness and 
compactness of 11,s fiber. The sapwood 
should bo excluded in building. The heart- 
wood requires no seasoning before use, as 
the shrinkage in weight in seasoning is less 
than two pounds per cubic foot. It affords 
very good treenails for fastening soft wood 
planks.” 
The American Lloyds rate Hackmatack 
(the American Larch) as first-class, or stand¬ 
ard for ship timber. 
Mjcraux & Nuttall, on the Sylva of 
Europe and America, also “ Loudon’s Arbo¬ 
retum, on the Forest Trees of Europe and 
America,” contain lengthy articles on the 
Larch, fifty or more large octavo pages 
each ; and, according to their accounts, the 
uative Laroh found iu thu United States is 
fully equal to that found in liiurope or else¬ 
where, and both speak very highly of Larch 
timber, which was cut iu the State of Maine 
and shipped to Europe at an early day as 
being of excellent quality and very durable 
for ship buildiug and many other uses to 
whioh it was applied, 
As for low and uni'ut lands being the 
poorest places to grow the Larch, 1 think it 
a mistake; for it is oouo*(lcd by most tim¬ 
ber getters and ship builders that timber 
grown within sixty miles ol .1 large body of 
salt water, or within a less distance of a 
large body of fresh water, la the best for 
durability. Only a few years ago France 
had timber getters getting out Pine, Oak 
and Larch ship timber, in the lorthern 
part of Michigan, where the land is .owand 
swampy and surrounded on three sides by 
fresh water. 
There has also been considerable ship 
timber got out, of late years, in Northern 
Indiana and Wisconsin, mostly on low and 
moist lands, and, as nature has located the 
Larch in low and moist soils in these States, 
therefore I should thiuk such lands would 
lie the proper place for its perfect produc¬ 
tion. Or have the annual fires destroyed 
the Larch on the dry soils and left it on the 
low and moist? At all events, r am sorry 
that some of our American writers will per¬ 
sist in extolling the European Larch above 
the American, and then say that their ex¬ 
perience in the mutter and knowledge on 
the subject is quite limited, and that we 
must rely upon European history for a full 
and better description, when, in point of 
fact, the Europeans make very little, if any, 
difference, rating the American Lurch as of 
superior quality aud fully equal to the 
European. Judging from the European 
writers, the A merioan Pendulous Larch and 
the European Pendulous Larch are in all re- 
speots very much the same. 
There is another species of Larch found 
iu the United States—the small or White 
Larch, Larix mlcrooarpa ; this species is 
much smaller, grows only thirty to fifty feet 
high, with limbs well down toward the 
ground, the color of the wood a dirty white, 
and Is quite Inferior, in point of durability 
and usefulness. This species may have been 
confounded with the American Pendulus 
Larch. From what I have seen and learned 
about the American Pendulous Larch, I be¬ 
lieve it to be a valuable, useful and durable 
. timber tree, whether under ground, under 
THE PASHIUBA PALM 
The singular aspect of vegetation in the 
tropics is a theme which travelers seem 
never to tire of describing. Luxuriance of 
growth is seen everywhere, and even the 
mosses, which iu temperate regions are 
very small and insignificant plants, iu the 
tropics assume almost gigantic proportions, 
or at least spread so rapidly that the lerial 
parasitic forms cover and weigh down 
many a lofty denizen of the forest. The 
Brazilian forests arc probably not surpassed 
by any in the world for luxuriance of its 
Palms; undone of the most curious of the 
many species to be found there is the one 
shown in the accompanying illustration. It 
is known as the Pashivha, or Palm of Bra¬ 
zil ( IrUi rtm exorrh tza). At first sight one 
might suppose that stakes had been driven 
around the stem for protection, but upon a 
closer observation these stakes are found 
to be true roots disposed in this strange 
fashion. Every one. who has ever examined 
a corn field must have observed large torial 
roots spring from the stalks near the ground, 
which occasionally reach the earth and 
peuetrate and become true roots, supply¬ 
ing the plant with nutriment the same as 
those produced from the seed. Now theBo 
roots on this species of the Palm are pro¬ 
duced in the same manner, but the first, or 
earlier roots, die and decay, leaving the 
outside row to support the stem, as shown. 
These roots are produced successively, eaoh 
row springing from a point higher up the 
stem; as the fresh ones appear those under¬ 
neath die off until on very old ones they are 
so high above the surface of the soil that a 
man can stand in the center with the stem 
immediately over his head. The roots are 
covered with small, hard prickles, which 
the natives of Brazil use as graters, upon 
which they reduce the cocoauut to a pulp. 
THE LARCH PROBLEM 
I read an article iu the New York Week¬ 
ly Tribune of July 24, 1872, with the above 
heading, in which it was stated by Prof. 
Mathews of Iowa Agricultural College, 
that Europeau Larch used for grape stakes 
rotted at the ground so as to fall down 
in about three years (1). But he does not 
say what particular kind of European Larch 
he used. Now, to me, the words European 
Larch are quite indefinite. It is true it be¬ 
longs to the genus Laroh, but what species 
and variety does he mean? It is well known 
that there are several speoies (2), three or 
more in Europe, as well as in the United 
States. The Duke of Athol raised, uu his 
plantation, the Brown Larch, which was ex¬ 
cellent for cabinet work, and very durable; 
also the Pendulous Laroh (sometimes called 
the Red Larch), excellent for ship timber, 
and quite durable for all purposes; also the 
common or White Larch (3), a Hmall tree, 
the timber quite inferior, decays or rots 
early, being almost valueless. In the United 
States we have the two last named species, 
if not more. Would it be fair to condemn 
the whole genus on account of one or two 
inferior species while the remaining ones 
might be of superior quality ? Rather let 
us abolish the names European Larch, 
American Larch, and give the name of the 
species as European Pendulous Larch,Amer 
icau Pendulous Larch,Europeau White Oak, 
American White Oak, Southern Yellow 
