CHAP. CXIII.

CONI'FERffi. J.A'RIX.

2387

branched to the ground, and growing in deep soil free from stagnating water,concludes that there must be “ some constitutional tendency to corruptionin the larch,” which is excited by a combination of circumstances; and thatwe must limit our knowledge, for the present, to the fact that certain soils,perhaps slightly modified by other circumstances, produce sound, and othersunsound, larch. According to Mr. Munro and a writer in the QuarterlyJournal of Agriculture, the rot has even made its appearance in the mountainplantations of Dunkeld , in many situations, more especially in those which aremoist.

Canker. It has been found, at Athol and Dunkeld , that, when larch isplanted on soil that has borne crops of corn, it cankers ; and this is the case,also, when it is planted in wet situations. Among the larch plantations formedsince the commencement of the present century, Mr. Munro informs us, amalignant distemper has broken out, which resembles the canker in appletrees. “ First a branch gives way; then a black liquid issues from the pointot union with the trunk, the regular ascension of the sap seems to be impeded,and the albumen is disposed in rather large quantities on each side of theaffected part, which gives the tree a very unsightly and gibbous appearance.”( Gard . Mag., vol. ix. p. 553.) Any attempt to cure this disease by externalapplication, Mr. Munro holds to be ineffectual; but he thinks it may be pre-vented by using transplanted plants, and carefully planting them. This dis-ease is not mentioned by any other writer, unless it be the blister mentionedby the editor of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, and in the editor’s letterto Professor De Candolle ( Bibliotheque Universelle, February, 1835, p. 115.), as“ another disease incidental to the larch, which threatens to involve larch plant-ations in serious consequences.” (Quart. Journ. Agr., vol. v. p. 404.)

Culture and Management of the Larch on the Estates of Athol and Dunkeld .We have thought it better to give the mode of culture practised on theseestates in a connected relation, than to separate it into fragments, and place itunder the different heads already given; because the practices employed, andthe results obtained, will in this manner be better understood, and more likelyto lead to useful deductions by the reader. John Duke of Athol gave a shortnotice of his plantations to the Commissioners of Naval Revision in May, 1807,which was published in the General Report of Scotland,y ol. iv. p. 498.; but byfer the most complete account is that published in the Highland Society’sTransactions, drawn up from papers and documents communicated by HisGrace’s trustees to the Highland Society of Scotland ; from which we havealready quoted the history of the Athol and Dunkeld plantations. The fol-lowing abridged quotations will describe the mode of culture pursued, andthe results obtained or anticipated.

It is observed by the editor of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, that thepractical sagacity of the late Duke of Athol confirms in a most remarkable man-ner the theory of M. De Candolle, on the proper soil, situation, and culture ofthe larch. The duke began without much experience; but, in the course of prac-tice, he found that “ elevated situations were better for the larch than loww>es; th at declivities were better than flats; that 15ft. or 16 ft. was the bestdistance at which larch plants could be planted asunder; and that theyshould be planted in autumn, in preference to spring.” This, in short, may beconsidered the essence of the duke’s experience. As introductory to theobservations which are to follow, we cannot help noticing the great pleasurewhich the duke seems to have taken in his different plantations ; some extracts. °m his memorandum-book reminding us of Evelyn’s Diary, and of passagesin the letters of the Earl of Fife, the greatest planter in Scotland in his time,published in the early volumes of the Transactions of the Society of Arts. Forexample : “ Drove up to Loch Ordie, and home by the back of Craig-y-barnsevery way much gratified with the growth of the larch and the spruce; avery fine, grand, picturesque drive, not to be equalled in Britain ! The extent0 “ le drive through the woods of my own planting, from 1 to 40 years old, is

7 p 3