2354
arboretum and fruticetum.
PART in.
ripened and shed in the plantations. (See General Report of Scotland , v ol.iv. p. 476.)
The Rate of Growth of the Larch , in the climate of London , is from 20 ft. to25 ft. in 10 years from the seed ; and nearly as great on the declivities of hillsand mountains in the Highlands of Scotland . In the course of 50 years, thetree will attain the height of 80 ft. or upwards; and, in its native habitats,according to Willdenow , it lives from 150 to 200 years. Dr. Bain plantedbetween 500 and 600 acres of larches on his estate at Heffleton in Dorset shire , between 1798 and 1808. Three of these trees, after being 12 yearsplanted, were respectively 17 ft., 18 ft., and 20 ft. high, and 2 ft. 5 in., 2 ft.8 in., and 3 ft. in circumference at the ground. Three larches, also plantedin 1798, and measured in November, 1810, but on land of a better quality,were, respectively, 23 ft. 11 in., 23 ft. 9 in., and 24 ft. 6 in. high, and 2 ft. 5 in.,2 ft. 6 in. and 3 ft. in circumference. Dr. Bain obtained the gold medal ofthe Society of Arts for this plantation. (See Transactions, &c., vol. xxix.,p. 25.) The increase of a larch 22 years’ old, in the New Forest, Hampshire ,Mr. Davis of Portway House informs us, was as follows :—It was planted in1805; in 1813, the trunk, at 1 ft. from the ground, measured 1 ft. 9J in. in cir-cumference ; in 1816, it measured 2 ft. 6£ in.; in 1820, 3 ft. 3§ in.; and in1827, 4 ft. 24 in. The increase of timber during the last seven years, of aportion of the trunk 12 ft. in length, is, to the increase in the first sevenyears, as 11 is to 7. The annual increase of the larch, in Scotland , hasbeen ascertained to be at the rate of from 1 in. to 14 in. in circumference,at 6 ft. from the ground, on the trunks of trees from 10 to 50 years of age.(Communications to the Board of Agricidture, vol. i. p. 5.) In Perthshire,larches at 47 years’ growth, measured 30 in. in diameter, or 942 in. in cir-cumference, at 5 ft. from the ground; thus giving rather more than 2 in. ofannual increase from the first planting. ( Perthshire Report .) A larch atBlair Drummond, near Stirling, at 54 years of age, measured 78 in. in cir-cumference at 6 ft. from the ground; giving an annual increase from thefirst planting of near 1-’ in. Being measured again 18 years afterwards, itwas found to measure 88 in. at the same height, having gained in that periodlittle more than Jin, annually. (Gen, Report of Scotland , vol. ii. p. 256.) AtAthol and Dunkeld , the average growth of the larch, at 8 years from the seed,is 11 ft.; and the average annual growth, till the 50th, is 6 in .; and, afterthat period, 10 in. per annum for 22 years longer; so that the average oftrees 72 years of age is 93 ft. 4 in., which agrees with actual experience. Thelarch differs from the spruces and silver firs in growing rapidly when it isyoung, and slowly after it has attained the height of 40 ft. or 50 ft.; while thespruces and silver firs grow slowly when they are young, and rapidly afterthey have attained from 15 to 20 years’ growth. The growth of the larchhas been remarkably rapid at different places in Inverness-shire and Moray-shire. The following tabular view of the progress made by six trees, in thecourse of 70 years, at Ballindalloch, in the latter county, has been obliginglycommunicated to us by Macpherson Grant, Esq., the proprietor.
Girts of Larches at Ballindalloch, planted in 1767, and measured inAugust, 1837.
No.
At 1
Foot.
At 6 Feet.
At 12 Feet.
At 18 Feet.
At 24 Feet.
At 30 Feet-
At 36 Feet.
At 42 Feet.
1.
9 ft. 64 in.
8 ft.
Sin.
8 ft. 4J in.
6 ft. 6i in.
6 ft. 64 in.
5 ft.
1 in.
4 ft. 7iin.
2 .
8
7*
7
1
6
4
6
0
5
*1
4
il
4
9
4 ft. 11 in.
3.
10
6
8
4
7
1
6
61
b
9
4
11
4
4
4 2
4.
8
tth
7
0
6
n
5
3
5
0
4
6
4
1
5.
9
l
7
3
6
5
6
H
6.
8
6
6
iSL.
6
5
6
0
5
6
4
9
4
1
The rate of growth of the larch, as compared with that of the silver fir, andthe platanus, is thus given by the Earl of Fife, in February, 1803: — “Asilver fir, a larch, and a platanus, were planted in the park at Duff House,near the river, in the year 1758. The larch, which stood in the middle,wns overcome by its two powerful neighbours, and was in a declining state.