CHAP. CXIII.

CONI'FEIMS. L\ RIX.

2359

awarding a premium to Mr. Thomas White, landscape-gardener, of Retford,Nottinghamshire, who had made a large plantation of forest trees (more thanone half of which were larch) at Batsfield, in the county of Durham. {Trans.Soc. Arts, vol. iv. p. 5.); and, in 1788, the Society of Arts offered three goldmedals, and a premium of 301., for planting the larch, and making known theuseful properties of its timber. In consequence of the public attention beingthus called to the tree, it has been more extensively planted in Britain,particularly since the commencement of the present century, than any othertimber tree whatever, not even excepting the oak.

The introduction of the larch into Scotland is involved in some uncer-tainty. The crooked larch at Dalwick (see p. 2356.) is said to have beenplanted in 1725 ; but, according to Dr. Walker, whose attention to thehistory of exotic trees in Scotland is well known, the first larches wereplanted at Dunkeld in 1727. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder tells us that thepopular account is, that the first larches introduced into Scotland were sentto the father of the late Duke of Athol in 1727; and the plants having arrivedat Dunkeld along with some orange trees, and a number of other exotics,natives of Italy, they were all treated in the same way, and placed in a hot-house. The larches soon withered under this treatment; and, being supposedto be dead, were thrown out on a heap of rubbish in the garden. Beingthere covered with dead leaves and other rubbish, and aided by a wet season,they revived, and, sending forth shoots, soon became vigorous-growing trees.In the Highland Society's Transactions, vol. xi. p. 165., already mentioned, thefollowing account is given of the introduction of the larch into Scotland : —“ In the year 1738, Mr. Menzies of Migenny, in Glenlyon, brought a fewsmall plants of the larch in his portmanteau from London, five of which heleft at Dunkeld, and eleven at Blair in Athol, for Duke James,” the grand-father of the celebrated Duke of Athol already mentioned. It is probablethat this account, of which one version states that the servant of Mr.Menzies carried the larches before him on his saddle, is quite incorrect;for we can hardly suppose that Dr. Walker would give the date of 1727as that of the first planting of the larch at Dunkeld, without some positiveevidence of the fact. Whatever may be the exact date of the introduction ofthe larch into Scotland, there can be no doubt that it was first extensivelyplanted in that country by the Dukes of Athol at Dunkeld and Blair; andwe shall here give a short account of these plantations to the reader, extractedfrom that in the Highland Society's Transactions, before referred to : — “ Be-tween 1740 and 1750, Duke James planted 350 larches at Dunkeld, at anelevation of 180 ft. above the level of the sea; and 873 at Blair, among lime-stone gravel, in a sheltered situation, which was worth from 20«. to 30«. peracre, at an elevation above the sea not exceeding 560 ft. All these larcheswere planted in the ornamental grounds around Dunkeld House and AtholHouse, the two residences of His Grace. So situated, and in regular rows wideapart, they were evidently intended more as a trial of a new species of treesthan for forest timber. But, in 1759, Duke James planted 700 larchesover a space of 29 Scotch acres, intermixed with other kinds of forest trees,with the view of trying the value of the larch as a timber tree. This planta-tion extended up the face of a hill from 200 ft. to 400 ft. above the level ofthe sea. The rocky ground of which it was composed was covered withloose and crumbling masses of mica slate; and was not worth above 31.a year altogether. This may be considered the first attempt at mountainplanting in Scotland. According to the fashion of the time, the trees werearranged in rows, and the rows converged towards a small piece of waterin the centre, like radii. This concluded the whole attempts at planting ofDuke James. Before he died, however, in January, 1764, he had tried thequality of the larch as timber, and was quite satisfied of its superiority overother firs, even in trees of only eighteen or nineteen years old.”

John Duke of Athol succeeded Duke James in 1764. " It was he whofirst conceived the idea of planting larch by itself as a forest tree, and of