CHAP. cxm.

CONl'FER-ffi. Aa'rIX.

2373

have the advantage of producing shelter and shade without exhausting the soilby their roots, as in the case of live hedges.

The Bark of the Larch has long been used for tanning in its native Country(see p. 2365.), and it seems first to have been employed for that purpose inBritain, by Thomas White, Esq., of the Woodlands, near Durham, about thebeginning of the present century. (See Gen. Rep. of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 501.)According to Monteath, when the best oak bark is 12/. 12s. per ton, the bestlarch bark is 51. 5s. In general, he considers the bark of the larch to beequal to that of the birch ; which, as it is well known, is generally used forthe purposes of tanning in Sweden and Russia.

As a Nurse Tree, we have already mentioned, when treating of the spruce(p. 2305.), that the larch can be bv no means recommended. By its vigorousgrowth, it robs the soil of what ought to nourish the trees to be protected ;and, by its long, flexible, spiny shoots, it not only overtops them, but lashesand injures the leading shoots of the young trees.

Mr. Gorrie tell us, however, that “ an exception may be taken in favour ofthe larch, as a nurse to the oak, the roots of which descend below the rangeof those of the larch. Its openness accords with the hardy nature of theoak in winter, and thus allows the tree to acquire protecting properties,before the nurses are removed. I have always found the oak to thrive, andacquire vigour, when nursed by larches. Of course, lashing and overtoppingmust be prevented, but this is easily done.”

The Improvement of the Soil in which the Larch grows is one of those import-ant results first discovered by the Duke of Athol, and is thus described: —“ The lower and stronger branches meet together in six or seven years afterplanting, so as to form a complete matting over the ground. The air andlight being excluded by them, all plants that are under them die. At thesame time, the annual deposit of leaves from them, by means of decompo-sition, forms, in the course of time, a soil of considerable depth. At the ageof 24, the larches lose the spines on the lower branches altogether, and thatis the natural mark of their being ready to be removed by thinning, to a con-siderable extent. On the air being readmitted by the removal of the trees,the surface of the new-made soil wherever it has been formed, even amongthe rocks, becomes immediately covered with natural grasses, among which the/Iolcus mollis and H. lanatus seem to predominate. These grasses continueto grow, and to thicken into a sward, by the annual top-dressing which theyreceive from a continued deposition of leaves. The improvement of thenatural surface of the ground for pasturage, by means of the larch, appearsto be a property peculiar to this tree. This pasturage is quite capable ofimproving the condition of cattle either in winter or summer.” (High/. Soc.Trans., vol. xi. p. 188.) The grasses here mentioned, Mr. Gorrie observes,“ are bad pasture grasses, and should be discouraged; but, as already ob-served (p. 2363.), finer grasses will grow under these trees.

As an ornamental Tree, the larch is generally considered to produce a verygood effect, particularly in hilly scenery. It is admired, says Baudrillart, “ forits pyramidal shape and spiry head; for the tender green, and peculiar dis-position of its foliage; and for its female catkins, which spread over the tree,and, seen at a little distance, resemble wood strawberries in their form, colour,and size; contrasting strongly with the pale green of the beautiful tufts ofleaves with which the branches are uniformly furnished. Placed singly on alawn, or rising from a group of other trees, this species is rarely surpassed inbeauty.” The opinions of some English writers of acknowledged taste are,however, very different from this. Gilpin says; “ The larch we have inEngland, compared with the larch of the Alps, is a diminutive plant. It islittle more than the puny inhabitant of a garden, or the embellishment ofsome trifling artificial scene. The characters of grand and noble seldombelong to it. It is, however, an elegant tree ; though, in our soil at least, itis too formal in its growth. Among its native steeps, its form, no doubt, isfully picturesque, when the storms of many a century have shattered its

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