477 
P I N U S. 
300 trees upon an acre at that period. And, in making 
this eliimate, it muft he recollefted that larch does not 
require a rich foil, as it thrives heft on the Tides of hills, 
and in barren and rugged diftriffs, where the land is of 
little or no value for any other purpofe. 
Evelyn, and almoft every writer on timber fince he 
publithed his Silva, has recommended planting larch, 
and it is truly furprifing witli what little efTeft, till very 
lately, as it is well known to be a very durable timber, 
and the moll profitable to the planter. Vitruvius, in his 
defcription of the qualities and ufes of larch-timber, fays, 
it is not fubjeft to decay, and relifts the worm. He 
recommends it both for external and internal purpofes; 
for the former on account of its durability, for the latter 
purpofe on account of the finenefs of its grain, and the 
eafe with which it may be wrought. 
The piles on which the greater part of Venice is built 
are faid to be of larch; and Scamozzi, who had occafion to 
ufe it in confiderable quantities, in the numerous build¬ 
ings which he ereHed, fays it is very good for floors and 
roofs; and alfo for doors, windows, and other kinds of 
joinery; and, after having defcribed the nature and ufes 
of the other woods grown in Italy, he concludes with 
faying, that the larch is the heft and moft ufeful of all 
woods for the conftruflion of buildings, becaufe it is of 
a ftrong nature, capable of fuftaining great weights. It 
combines the qualities of beauty and ftrengtb, and is 
equally fit for carpentry and joinery. 
The durability of larch, when conftantly covered with 
water, is alfo well known ; and it is fcarcely neceflary to 
refer on this point to the circumftance related by W'itfen 
(a Dutch writer), that a (hip had been found in the Nu- 
midian fea, twelve fathoms under water, chiefly built of 
larch, nor was any part perifned, though it had lain above 
1400 years under water, any further than to (how that 
it had been ufed for (hip-timber at an early period. As 
far as there have been opportunities of trying it, the 
larch of this country has not been found inferior in 
refpedl to durability. Nothing has a greater tendency 
to deftroy timber than being alternately wet and dry, and 
larch is known to have ftood theeft'edlof thefe changes when 
oak and other timber has failed. Acafe occurred on the 
eftate of Athol), where “ a weir or river-dam, which, while 
conftru&ed with oak, required to be renewed or repaired 
every four or five years, was formed with larch, and in 
1792 had ftood nine or ten years ; the timber then re¬ 
maining in a found firm ftate.” Mar(hall on Planting, 
vol. i. p. 176, 
Among the Romans, the larch was employed, in pre¬ 
ference to every other kind of wood, in building, where 
ftrengtb and durability were required; and Vitruvius 
attributes the fudden decay of buildings erefted in his 
time in a great' meafure to the want of larch in the 
neighbourhood of Rome ; it having been exhaufted before 
his time, and the expenfe of bringing it from a diftance 
being fo high as greatly to cireumfcribe the ufe of it. 
Dr. Palias, in his furvey of the Ruffian dominions in 
Afia, obferved feveral tumuli at Kamtlkatka reared at a 
period fo remote, that none of the •prelent inhabitants 
had any tradition refpeffing their origin. The platform 
was covered by larch-wood, over which the mound of 
earth was raifed; and the wood was found to be nncor- 
rupted. I have in my garden, fays Monf. le Prelident de 
la Four d’Aigues, in the year 1787, fotne rails, part of 
which are oak, and part of them larch-wood; they were 
made in 1743, and only once painted. The oak has 
yielded to time, but the larch is ftill found. They make 
cafks of it tn Provence : the finenefs of the grain retains 
the (pint of the liquor perfectly, and does not alter its 
qualities: it has been ufed for that purpofe for time 
immemorial in the Higher Dauphine. I have, in my 
cattle of Tour d’Aigues, beams of twenty inches fquare, 
which are found, though upwards of two hundred years 
old ; but trees of this fize are now to be found only in 
Vol. XX. Nb. 1384. 
places whence they cannot be tranfported. There are in 
fome parts of Dauphine, and in the forefts of Baye in 
Provence, larch-trees, which two men could not grafp, 
and about feventy-two feet in height. This account is 
printed in Memoirs of the Royal Society of Agriculture, 
Paris 1787. 
The larch muft (land to be of a fufficient age before 
the timber acquire its beft qualities of ftrengtb and dura¬ 
bility. We have not yet had an opportunity of ufing 
any of it in perfedion in Great Britain ; its introduction 
into this country having been at a period too late to 
admit of it. . It appears indeed, from Parkinfon’s Para- 
dilus, that the larch-tree was cultivated here fo long 
fince as 1629 : it was then however, as he fays, “ rare, 
and nurfed up but with a few, and thofe only lovers of 
rarities.” The largeft of the larch-trees on the duke of 
Athoil’s lawn at Dunkeld was meafured in the month of 
March 1796, and the following are its dimenfions: At 
the height of 3 feet from the ground, the circumference 
is 10 feet; at 24 feet from the ground, the circumference 
is 7 feet 7 inches; the whole height was eighty-five feet. 
There are feveral larches upwards of one hundred feet in 
height, which are five or fix years younger, but none of 
fo great a girt. The largeft of Mr. Drummond’s was 
ninety-feven feet high, but lefs in circumference. For a 
trial, the duke of Atholl has applied larch to a variety of 
purpofes, fuch as mill-axles, flooring in houfes, window- 
frames, and doors, polls, and rails, and boat-building: 
for all of which it appeared to anfwer fo well, that it is 
the greateft acquifition of wood ever introduced into 
Great Britain, efpecially as it attains a confiderable fize, 
on high grounds and bleak expofures, where even Scotch 
firs either die or become Hinted. Filhing-boats made of 
larch underforty years growth, Iaft nearly three times as 
long as thofe built of Norway fir. 
Dr. Anderfon has adduced a variety of fatisfaflory 
inllances and experiments, from which the durability of 
this wood is eftablifhed 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 incon- 
teftible proofs of its neither (hrinking nor warping, and 
of its not being liable to be attacked by the worm, 
during the courle of feveral ages. It is not yet known 
whether larch-wmod is capable of refilling the fea-worm. 
Dr, Anderfon propofes to afcertain this, by finking a 
piece of found, well-ripened, larch-wood, with another 
piece of found oak-wood, in the river Medway atRochef- 
ter bridge, where it is well known that every other kind 
of wood is very loon perforated by the fea-worm. 
Larch wood is in a manner incombuftible; that is, 
though ic may be confumed by fire, yet, where themafles 
are large, even if a fire be placed on the bare wood, though 
it will be (lowly corroded by it, yet unlefs in particular 
circumftances it cannot be made to flame, fo as to com¬ 
municate it to other bodies. This quality of larch-wood 
was known in the time of Julius Csefar, who calls it 
lignum igni impenetvabile: and Mr. Harte obferves, that 
there is perhaps no inltance of the cottages in Carniola 
being let on fire, though they are fo carelefs as to throw 
flaming fire-brands on their roofs. This feems to contra¬ 
dict what was faid above with relation to SwifFerland ; 
but perhaps more of the houfes in that country are built 
of fir than of larch. Duhamei, however, in confirmation 
of Mr. Miller’s opinion, fays, that the relinous fubftance 
in larch-trees is looked upon to be very combultible, and 
therefore there is a public order in the diftri< 5 l near 
Brian^on, that houfes built with it (hculd never join, 
but (land at a certain diftance. Mattliiolus informs us, 
that, unwilling as this wood may be to take fire, yet it is 
no-ways difficult to burn it in kilns, glafs-houfes, and 
furnaces, belonging to iron-works, when once the infide 
of thefe receptacles is rendered inteniely hot. Such is 
the practice in the iron-works of Stiria and the bilhopric 
of Trent, where this wood is of a fingular ufe, when there 
6 F is 
