C'iUP. CXIII.

CONI FERA’. L A RIX.

2395

The trees, however, shot up clean stems 20 ft. to 25 ft. above the part coveredwith moss ; and these stems were as healthy as those of the healthiest trees,that had never been affected. On cutting the wood, the covered part was nomore injured in quality than the wood of the healthiest trees, though thelichen had adhered to them for 15 years. The effect of this blight, then, wasonly superficial. The existence of this disease for 8 or 10 years certainly re-tarded the growth of the trees; but it did not cause the duke to relax in theleast in his efforts to form large larch forests: on the contrary, it impressedupon him the necessity of planting the high ridges of the mountains, in orderthat the trees might be placed beyond the influence of the disease, which didnot appear higher than 600 ft. above the level of the sea.

“ In Felling large Trees of Larch, care must be taken to use plenty of rope, andto take advantage of the direction of the wind. A windy day should be avoided.It was found that, in digging the Scotch pine out by the roots from amongthe larch, the ground was much shaken about the roots of the larch, so as toendanger their stability. Ever after, the pine was cut over by the ground.

“ The Seasoning of Larch Tlmberis accelerated by stripping off the bark beforefelling. In May, 1815, the duke experimented on 50 trees of larch at Dun-keld, that were growing in a situation, among other wood, that was nearly in-accessible for want of a road or path to it. In 1816, they were cut down andused for several purposes, and they appeared to be completely seasoned.They contained 25 cubic feet of wood each. Larch trees that had been only10 months cut down were built into a steam-boat on the river Thames; butthey had not been seasoned enough, as the planks above water, near the deck,shrunk a little. In this case, however, the scantlings were made the same asof oak, which were of too slight dimensions for larch.

“ The probable future Supply of Larch Thnbcrfroin the Woods of Athol is thuscalculated by the duke. The experiments performed on the value and dura-bility of larch, as ship timber, were performed chiefly on the 1900 trees plantedby Duke James, and which had attained a serviceable size during the time ofthe late duke. Of them only 8t 0 or 900 were left as ornaments about thelawns and parks of Dunkeld and Blair. Unfortunately, a blank of 15 yearstook place in the planting of larch by Duke John. To compensate, as faras was in the power of the late duke, for this great deficiency in the regularsupply of timber, he resolved, in 1817, not to cut any trees for ship-buildingtill the year 1832; thus sacrificing his own personal emolument for the sake ofthe estate. The most of the trees planted by Duke John were too young forship-building. After 1832, the annual cuttings for ship timber may be calcu-lated at the following rates : —

The produce

Toads.

12 years cutting after 1832 to 1844 = 1,250 annually.

10 — — 1844 to 3854 = 8,000 — 1

of Acres.

i

8 —

8 —

—

1854 to 1862 = 18,000 — >

1862 to 1870 = 30,000 — J

2000

16 —

__

2870 to 1886 = 52,000 —

2000

18 —

72

1886 to 1904 = 120,000 —

3000

“ The Value of Larch Timber may be seen from the prices which the dukereceived for it for various purposes. In 1806, the duke cut 20 larch trees ofthe age of 64 years, to make the centres of the middle arch, of 90 ft. span,of the bridge that was building across the Tay at Dunkeld. They were from105 ft. to 109 ft. in length, and they contained from 80 to 90 cubic feet oftimber each. After standing for 3 years as centres, they were sold by publicsale, at 2s. 8d. per cubic foot. In 1810, Messrs. Symes and Co., ship-buildersin Leith, bought 11 trees, producing 1066 cubic feet, at 3s. per foot. In Fe-bruary, 1819, the duke sold to Messrs. Bolton and Watt, and laid down forthem at Evan’s Yard, London, 4170 cubic feet of larch, at 3s. 6 d. per foot,for the building of steam-boats. Mr. Ainslie, ship-builder, Perth, bought 500trees, yielding not less than 12 ft. each, at Is. 6 d. per foot; the buyer payingall expenses of cutting down and carrying away. The duke also supplied