CHAP. CXIII,

coni'feiue. xa'rix.

2379

resembling that of a common winnowing-machine. The cones are let intothe mill through a hopper. This instrument is very difficult to work, andbruises the seeds very much, many of which are, of course, destroyed. Wehave several times made use of the improved bark mill, for separating theseeds from larch cones; but the cones are thus so much compressed andbruised, that the seeds suffer exceedingly ; and we would by no means adviseits use. Indeed, among all the methods which we have known adopted, toperform the painful and laborious work of extracting the seeds of the larch,the plan of splitting the cones singly, as above described, is infinitely the bestand safest for the seeds, and ought to be adopted by every one who hasoccasion to use only small quantities of seed.” {Plant. Kal., p. 827.)

Nursery Culture. The seeds may be sown in April, on finely preparedsoil, and so as to rise about the same thickness as the Scotch pine, that is,at about a quarter of an inch distant from each other. Mr. Sang recom-mends sowing the larch on ground from which a crop of two years old seed-ling Scotch pines has been removed. No preparation of the soil, he says,can equal that of the roots of seedling Scotch pines; and the next best pre-paration is a crop of two years’ seedling larch. In either case, the seedlingsare supposed to be removed in September, and the soil dug over severaltimes between that month and the April following, so as to expose itthoroughly to the winter’s frost. When the soil is manured, new dung fromthe stable or cow-house must be carefully avoided, as proving highly per-nicious to the young plants; but old rotten dung may be used with advan-tage. After the seeds are sown, previously to covering them, a light rollershould be drawn over the bed, to press the seeds firmly into the earth. Thecovering should be from £in. to ^in. in thickness, according as the soil issandy or loamy. The plants may remain two years in the seed-bed, andafterwards be planted out into nursery lines, or in plantations where they arefinally to remain. The season for transplanting is the autumn, or veryearly in spring, because the larch vegetates earlier than most other trees, andsuffers more than any other when removed after it has begun to grow.

Culture in Plantations. In general, very little preparation of the soil,except draining, is required for a larch plantation ; partly, because the larchis generally planted on declivities, the soil of which, if loosened by digging ortrenching, would be washed away by rains; and partly because such declivi-ties are generally so rocky, or covered with large stones, as to render diggingor trenching impracticable. In all the extensive plantations of the larchmade in Scotland , two years’ seedlings, or strong one year’s seedlings, oneyear transplanted, are made use of; and the mode of planting adopted is theslit manner, already recommended for the Scotch pine. (See p.2179.) Thelarch, where the object is clean straight timber, should be planted in massesby itself, at the rate of from 3000 to 4000 plants to the acre; to be thinnedout to 400 or 500 trees per acre, which is supposed to be the number thatthat portion of surface will bring to perfection. The larch is also very com-monly introduced in mixed plantations, to be thinned out as these advanceto maturity; young larches being more valuable for country purposes thanany other young tree whatever. From what has been already said on theinfluence which soil and situation have on the wood of the larch (seeP- 2376.), the propriety or impropriety of allowing larches in mixed planta-tions, or, indeed, in any other, to attain their full size, may be determined.In general, there are few situations, in the plains either of England or Scot-land , where full-grown larches will be found sound at the heart; but, at thesame time, perhaps none where any tree will prove so valuable as the larch,when it is to be cut down just as the rot is beginning to appear. The larchis also sometimes planted as a nurse; though for this purpose it is found farinferior to the Scotch pine and the spruce fir, as already mentioned (p. 2305.).It has, however, the advantage of being more valuable than the Scotch pinewhen cut down. The great value of the larch is as a mountain tree ; and on