CHAPTER XXXI. 
LARCHES. 
the larch tree (Abies Larix). 
This is a deciduous tree, and is considered by many 
eminent botanists to be of the same genus as the Spruce; 
the leaves grow in clusters and spread out in a brush or 
mop-like form, and in the spring, when quite fresh, they 
have a beautiful light-green tint, which make them very 
remarkable among other trees. The cones are of an 
oblong shape, and somewhat blunt. 
The Larch is a native of the European Alps and the 
Apennines, and is found abundantly in Russia and in 
Siberia. It thrives in dry, elevated, and almost barren 
land, and for this reason is perhaps the most profitable 
tree that can be planted in a poor soil. It grows at 
about the same rate, in such situations, as the Pinus 
sylvestris does in more fertile localities, making i inch 
of wood in about 5^ years, or 2 feet in diameter in about 
130 years {vide Table II., p. 18). 
In Scotland it has been planted by the Duke of 
Athol and others in immense quantities, and it has been 
stated that at elevations of upwards of 1,500 feet above 
the sea level, trees have been felled when only eighty years 
old that have yielded each from five to six loads of 
