476 
P I N 
there were fame large ones growing in two or three places 
long before, particularly at lord Weymouth’s and at fir 
Wyndham Knatchbull’s in Kent; and it has been chiefly 
from the feeds of the latter, that moil of the trees now 
in England have been raifed, or from thofe in the planta¬ 
tions of the duke of Argyle at Whitton. This and the 
Scotch pine are the belt worth cultivating for timber. 
In England it is called Lord Weymouth’s or New- 
England pine ; and was cultivated in 1705 by the du- 
chefs of Beaufort. The fize to which this beautiful fpe- 
cies will arrive may be fuppofed from a tree which was 
cut down in 1736 on the banks of the river Merimack, 
that was feven feet eight inches in diameter at the but- 
end. 
II. Larches. Leaves numeroufly tufted from each 
fheath. 
17. Pinus larix, the common, or white, larch-tree : 
leaves fafcicled, foft, bluntifh; brades Handing out be¬ 
yond the fcales of the ftrobiies. The larch-tree is of quick 
growth, and will rife to the height of fifty feet; the 
branches are (lender, and their ends generally hangdown. 
■ The leaves are long and narrow, in clufters from one 
point, fpreading open above like the hairs of a painter’s 
brufli, (fee Botany Plate VII. fig. 16.) of a light green, 
and falling off in autumn; in which circumftance this and 
the following differ from all the other fpecies of this ge¬ 
nus. In the month of April the male flowers appear, dif- 
pofed in form of fmall cones; the female flowers are col- 
ieded into egg-fhaped obtufe cones, which in fome have 
bright purple tops, but in others they are white : this dif¬ 
ference is accidental, for feeds taken from either will pro¬ 
duce plants of both forts : the cones are about an inch 
long, and the fcales are fmooth; under each fcale two 
winged feeds are generally lodged. 
There are two other varieties of this tree ; one a native 
of America, the other of Siberia : the latter requires a 
colder climate than England, for the trees are apt to die 
in fummer here, efpecially if they are planted on a dry 
foil. The cones of this which have been brought to 
England, feem to be in general larger than thofe of the 
common fort; but there is fo little difference between the 
trees in their charaderiftic notes, that they cannot be 
diftinguiflied as different fpecies, though in the growth of 
the trees there is a remarkable difference. 
Mr. Miller mentions another variety from China, which 
he diflinguifhes as a fpecies, under the name of Larix 
Chinenfis. The cones were fent to Hugh duke of Nor¬ 
thumberland ; and the feeds, being fown, grew both at 
Stan wick and in the Chelfea-garden. The cones were 
much larger than thofe of the common fort, and ended 
in acute points; the fcales were prominent like thofe of 
the Scotch pine, and had fo little refemblance to thofe of 
the larch, that every one who faw them imagined they 
belonged to a fort of pine. As the plants made but 
little progrefs the firft year, they were weak; and, calling 
off their leaves in the autumn, were fuppofed to be 
dead, and thus moft of them were loft; but thofe which 
efcaped afterwards (hot out their branches horizontally, 
fpreading clofe to the ground, and 1‘eemed to be fhrubs 
which would never rife upright. They are fo hardy, as 
to thrive in the open air without any protection. 
Pallas thus diltinguifhes the European larch from the 
American. In the latter the branches are more (lender, 
with a bark more inclining to yellow, and the fears more 
ilender and cluttered; the leaves are more tender, nar¬ 
rower, more glaucous, and the outer ones in each bundle 
fhorter; cones only one-third of the fize, blunt, with 
fcales fcarcely exceeding twelve in number, thinner, 
more fhining, retufe-emarginate; wings of the feeds 
flraight, more oblong, narrower, and together with the 
feed itfelf of a more diluted grey colour. In the Euro¬ 
pean larch, the bark of the branches is of an afh-coloured 
grey : the leaves a little wider, bright-green, all nearly 
equal, commonly more than forty in a bundle: the cones 
u s. 
an inch long, with above thirty woody, ftriated, rounded, 
entire, fcales. Seeds brownifh-grey, with fubtriangular 
wings fomewhat bent in. In bothy the cones are bent 
upwards on very fhort peduncles. 
No tree is more valuable, or better deferves our atten¬ 
tion in planting, than the larch. It is a native of the 
South of Europe and of Siberia. It appears from Parkin- 
Ion’s Paradifus, that it was cultivated here in 1629 ; and 
Evelyn fays, a tree of good flature, not long fince to be 
feen about Chelmsford in Ellex, fufficiently reproaches 
our not cultivating fo ufeful a material for many ptirpofes, 
where lading and fubltantial timber is required. We 
read of beams of no lefs than 120 feet in length, made 
out of this goodly tree. There is abundance of this 
larch timber in the buildings at Venice, efpecially about 
the palaces in Piazza San Marco, where Scamozzt fays he 
ufed much of it, and infinitely commends it. Nor did 
they only ufe it in houfes, but in naval architedure alio. 
It feems to excel for beams, doors, windows, and malls 
of lhips: it refills the worm ; being driven into the ground 
it becomes almofl petrified, and will fupportan incredible 
weight; it bears polifhing excellently well, and the tur¬ 
ners abroad much defire it. It makes everiafling fpouts, 
pent-houfes, and featheredge, which need neither pitch 
or painting to preferve them; excellent pales, pods, rails, 
props for vines, &c. to thefe add the palettes on which 
painters feparate and blend their colours; and were the 
tables on which the great Raphael and moll famous 
artifls eternized their (kill. 
In SwifTerland, where thefe trees abound, and they have 
a fcarcity of other wood, they build moft of their houfes 
with it ; and great part of their furniture is alfo made of 
the wood, fome of which is white, and fome red, but the 
latter is moft efteemed. The rednefs of the wood is by 
fome fuppofed to be from the age of the trees, and not 
from any difference between them, but is rather owing 
to the quantity of turpentine contained in them. They 
frequently cut out the boards intofhingles of a foot fquare, 
with which they cover their houfes, inflead of tiles or 
other covering: thefe are at firft very white ; but, after 
they have been two or three years expofed, become as 
black as charcoal, and all the joints are flopped by the 
refin, which the fun draws out from the pores of the 
wood, which is hardened by the air, and becomes a fmooth 
fhining varnifh, which renders the houfes fo covered 
impenetrable to either wind or rain; but, as this is very 
combultible, the magiflrates have made an order of po¬ 
lice, that the houfes fo covered lliould be built at a dis¬ 
tance from each other to prevent fire, which has often 
done great damage in villages. 
The wood of the larch is well calculated for (hip-timber, 
and would make excellent mails, as it is peculiarly fitted 
to withfland the effed of fudden gulls of wind; it is pre¬ 
ferable to oak for molt of the purpofes of architecture and 
engineering. Line-of-battle (hips are built with larch 
at Archangel, and generally laft fifteen years. At 
Venice it is alfo fometimes employed in fhip-building, 
efpecially in the lighter parts of the upper works, but 
not where mafl'y pieces of timberare required, on account 
of its weight. Some very interefting experiments'on the 
qualities of larch-timber are detailed in the New Monthly 
Magazine for May 1818, from which it appears that 
larch is fuperior to oak in ftiffhefs, flrength, and lightnefs, 
and alfo in the power of refilling a body in motion (called 
refilience) ; and it is inferior to MemelorRiga timber in 
ftiffhefs only. 
The larch is alfo one of the quickeft growing, trees in 
this climate, whereas the flow growth of the oak is almofl 
proverbial. A larch-tree was lately cut down on the 
duke of Atholl’s eflate, at Blair, which contained 252 
cubic feet of timber ; the age of the tree 79 years. And 
larch trees of 60 years growth contain from fixty to fe- 
venty cubic feet at a medium. From thefe fads it would 
be eafy to eftimate the value of a plantation of larch at 
the expiration of 60 years, as there ought to be nearly 
300 
