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AllBOKETUAl AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

by Messrs. Lawson and Son of Edinburgh , have been planted in different partsof the country. The larch, ripening abundance of seeds in Britain , is now raisedin larger quantities by the Scotch nurserymen than any other timber tree;and there is scarcely any Scotch proprietor, of the mountainous districts moreespecially, in whose plantations the larch is not the prevailing species. InIreland , it is also a favourite tree in the elevated regions ; though the extentto which it has been planted in that country is trifling, when compared witheither Scotland or England.

In France , the larch does not appear to have been planted to any consi-derable extent; though De Candolle mentions having seen flourishing plant-ations of this tree in the Vosges. Malesherbes , in 1778, having seen somehouses in the Vallais , which had been constructed of this wood 240 yearspreviously, examined the timber, and found it not only perfectly sound, butso hard that he could not penetrate it with the point of a knife. In 1798,M. Boissel de Monville conveyed a number of trunks of larch to Toulon ,with a view to their being used in the construction of ships for the French navy; and they were examined for that purpose by the Commissioners of theMarine, on the 6th of August in that year. The result, as reported by Des-fontaines, in his Histoire des Arbres, &c., was : 1. That the wood was moreresinous than that of P. Laricio, though, at the same time, it was much lighter,in the proportion of 25 or 26 to 29 : 2. That the fibres of the larch were verystrong, and well able to resist twisting : and, 3. That branches clear fromknots might be used for topmasts ; but that trees must not be chosen for thispurpose which were either standing singly, or in thin plantations; because,in the one case, their trunks were likely to be strained by the wind, and in theother to be injured by the multiplicity of branches causing knots. Notwith-standing the favourable nature of this report, it appears from Malesherbes andothers, that all the previous experiments made with regard to using the larchfor the masts of large vessels were unsuccessful; principally because thetree, when of sufficient height, was never found of sufficient thickness. Toremedy this defect,Varennes de Fenille suggested the thinning of the nativeforests, to allow the trees to acquire greater bulk of trunk; but it was foundthat, instead of this being the case, it encouraged them to throw out branches,and the wood, consequently, became full of knots. Baudrillart, in 1825, warmlyrecommends planting the larch in the forests of the north and middle ofFrance , and especially in mountainous situations; quoting from Martyr,’ sMiller what had been done in Scotland by the Dukes of Athol and others.Delamarre, in 1831, acknowledges his own want of experience in this tree;and states that in Normandy , in his neighbourhood, the larch had been plantedto some extent; and that, after 40 years’ trial, the rate of growth was not satis-factory ; and that the trees had the great disadvantage of not disseminatingthemselves by their seeds, like the pine and fir tribe. Near Coutances , inNormandy , M. le Comte de Rambuteau has formed a plantation of larcheson a grand scale, with a view to study the value of that species as a timber tree.In Germany, the larch has been introduced into plantations in Wirtemberg ,Bavaria , and some other states; but, as it is indigenous in several districts, aswell as in Poland , it is less planted than might have been expected. BeCandolle mentions that M. De Charpentier expresses admiration of the mag-nificent plantations of larches at Moritzburg and at Thorauz, near Dresden ,which are only 238 ft. above the level of the sea. They grow in sands almostpure, not marshy, but habitually and moderately moistened by the filtrationsfrom large ponds in the neighbourhood; and, at 40 or 50 years’ growth, theyrival in size the most beautiful larches of the Vallais.

Poetical Allusions. These are very few. The larch does not appear tohave been mentioned by any of the Greek poets, and by few of the Romanones. A supposition has, indeed, been broached, that the trees into whichOvid describes the sisters of Phaethon to have been turned were neither poplarsnor alders, but larches. This supposition appears to have been founded onthe circumstance of a Roman medal having been found with three larches on