Chapter VII: Section II: Timbers (2)

We have observed many minor distinctions, perhaps individual, in the above kinds of elm, in figure, size and smoothness of leaf, in colour and roughness {58} of bark, &c. Some varieties or individuals of the English elm have the bark of the young twigs and branches covered with corky ridges: others want this excrescence.

REDWOOD WILLOW, _or_ STAG’S HEAD OZIER,—_Salix fragilis_[13].

This kind of willow, once very common in the alluvial parts of Scotland, before the introduction of _Salix alba_, _S. Russelliana_, &c., is probably the most profitable timber that can be planted in such soils. It was our district’s maxim, that “the willow will purchase the horse before any other timber purchase the saddle,” on account of its very quick growth, and the value of its timber. It delights in {59} the rich easy clay by the sides of our _pows_ (the old Scottish term for those sluggish natural drains of our alluvial districts), throwing out its fibril roots in matted-like abundance under the water: it also flourishes in the more sandy and gravelly alluvion, by the sides of rivers and streams, which does not become too dry in summer.

This tree, similar to some others which, like it, are continued by cuttings or layers, is, in certain seasons, especially when of considerable size, subject to a derangement in the sap-concoction, which leads to the death of some of its more recent parts, particularly the uppermost branches; whence its withered top sometimes assumes the appearance of a stag’s head of horns, which, from the indestructibility of these dead branches, it retains for many years; new branches springing out from the sides, of much luxuriance. This disease, similar to canker in the genus Pyrus, is generally concentrated to certain places of the bark and alburnum, the portion of branch above these places thence withering, the connection with the root being cut off; though sometimes the points of the twigs appear to be nipped, without any previous disease. From these affections, and also on account of the branches and stem being often rifted by the winds, the tree is frequently found with rot {60} in the stem, when it has stood long. It agrees in this with the larch, that, though its timber, when cut down, or withered and dried, as on the top of the tree, is little liable to corruption, yet it is very subject to it, as part of the stem of the living tree, perhaps under certain circumstances of semi-vitality. To determine whether this tree, raised from seed, would be liable to these disorders, the same as when continued by slips, would be an interesting, though tedious, experiment. We never have seen any young seed-plants rise around old trees.

The use of the red wood willow, as timbers of vessels, has been of long standing in this part of Scotland, and has proved its long endurance, and excellent adaptation. By reason of its lightness, pliancy, elasticity, and toughness, it is, we think, the best, without exception, for the formation of small fast-sailing war-vessels. We are pretty certain that our Navy Board would not have cause to regret trial of it in a long, low, sharp schooner, of sufficient breadth to stand up under great press of sail, moulded as much as possible to combine great stability with small resistance from the water, and when in quick motion to be buoyant—especially not to dip forward,—provided it could be procured not too old, and free from rot, large knots, and cross-grain; a very {61} little attention in the cultivation would afford it of the finest bends, and clean and fresh. Our Navy Board have received some slight teaching from our transatlantic brethren, of the superior sailing of fir-constructed vessels, to those of oak, the result of their superior lightness, pliancy, and elasticity.

The writer of this has also had experience of two vessels, one of oak, and the other of larch, on the same voyages, at the same time, and has found the latter superior in sailing to the former, in a degree greater than the difference of build could account for. From the superior elasticity and lightness of the willow, even to larch, the lightest and most elastic of the fir-tribe, we should expect that vessels of it would outstrip those of fir, at least of Scots or red pine, as much as the latter do those of oak; and that, from this greater elasticity and lightness, they would move through the water, yielding to the resistance and percussions of the waves, compared to those of oak, as a thing of life to a dead block. For vessel-timbers, this wood requires to be used alone; as, when mixed with other kinds less pliant or elastic, the latter have to withstand nearly all the impetus or strain, and are thence liable to be broken, or from the vessel yielding more at one place than another, she is apt to strain and become leaky. {62}

Some years ago, when demolishing an old building which had stood fully a century, the writer found the large frames of the building, or ground _couples_, which, from their situation, could not have been renewed, to consist of this timber; and, with the exception of the outside, which was so much decayed, for about half an inch in depth, as the finger could pick it away, the body of the wood was as fresh as at first, still fit for any purpose, and of a beautiful pink or salmon colour. When we observed the mouldering exterior of these pieces, we laid one of the smallest hollow over a log, and struck it with a large wooden mallet, not doubting that it would go to fragments; such, however, was the _resilience_, that the mallet rebounded so greatly as almost to leap from our hands.

For country purposes, red-wood willow is employed in the construction of mill water-wheels, of the body or hoarding of carts, especially of lining of carts employed in the carriage of stones, or of any utensil requiring strong, tough, light, durable boarding. Formerly, before the introduction of iron-hoops for cart-wheels, the external rim or felloe was made of willow; when new, the cart or wain was driven along a road covered with hard small gravel (in preference, gravel somewhat angular), by which means {63} the felloe shod itself with stone, and thus became capable of enduring the friction of the road for a long time, the toughness and elasticity of the willow retaining the gravel till the stone was worn away. Under much exposure to blows and friction, this willow outlasts every other home timber. When recently cut, the matured wood is slightly reddish, and the sap-wood white. When exposed to the air and gradually dried, both are of salmon colour, and scarcely distinguishable from each other. Willow-bark is used in tanning; it also contains a bitter, said to be febrifuge.

RED-WOOD PINE—_Pinus_.

This tribe of the order Coniferæ, at once the most useful, and the most plentifully and widely extended over the North temperate zone—that portion of the earth more congenial to man, and which contains about four-fifths of his numbers, has a similitude of character and qualities more distinguishable by one glance of the eye than by laboured description. It consists of a number of kinds, which again divide into families and individuals perceptibly different from each other. The following are those whose timber is best known to us: {64}

Scots fir, or Norway pine, _Pinus sylvestris_. Pinaster, _Pinus Pinaster_. Canadian red Pine[14] (foreign), * * * * Pitch pine (foreign), * * * *

And, though a little more distinct,

Yellow American, or Weymouth Pine, _Pinus Strobus_.

Very little observation will distinguish these from the next useful great tribe of the Coniferæ with white wood, the Spruces and Silver Firs—Abies.

There are a number of foreign kinds of pine, some of great promise, recently introduced into Britain, but of whose adaptation for ship-building we cannot speak. Samples of the timber of _P. laricio_, _P. tæda_, _P. cembra_, _P. maritima_, _P. rigida_, &c. of British growth, may, however, soon be had of sufficient size for experiment. The common Scots fir is the only pine of British growth which has been employed as a naval timber; for which purpose, however, since the last peace, and the introduction of our larch, it is in very little demand.

An acute botanist, Mr G. Don of Forfar, a number of years ago, gave a description of the varieties of cultivated Scots fir which had come under his notice. The following is an abstract of his observations: {65}

“_Varieties of Pinus sylvestris._

“Var. 1st. The common variety, well known by its branches forming a pyramidal head, the leaves marginated, of dark-green colour, but little glaucous underneath, the cones being considerably elongated and tapering to the point, and the bark of the trunk very rugged. This variety seems short-lived, becoming soon stunted in appearance.

“Var. 2d, Distinguishable from the former by disposition of branches, which are remarkable for horizontal disposition and tendency to bend downwards close to the trunk. The leaves are broader than var. 1st, and serrulated, not marginated; leaves are distinguishable at a distance by their much lighter and beautiful glaucous colour, the bark not so rugged as var. 1st, and the cones thicker and not so much pointed, and also smoother. This tree seems a hardy plant, growing freely in many soils: this variety may be named Pinus horizontalis. Var. 1st, much more general than var. 2d, and also sooner comes to seed, which is also easier gathered from the position of the branches.

“Var. 3d, Is of a still lighter colour than var. 2d, being of a light glaucous hue, approaching to a silvery tint; its branches form, like var. 1st, a pyramidal head, but it differs remarkably in its cones from {66} both the former varieties; the cones of this seem beset with blunt prickles bent backwards, the leaves serrulated. This variety is rather more common than var. 2d; like it, it is a good tree.

“Var. 4th, The leaves somewhat curled or rather twisted, and much shorter than the others: this variety is very rare.”

Our observation does not go to confirm these subdivisions. We think they are little more distinct than the fair, the red[15], the black haired, the fair, the sallow, the brown complexioned, the tall, the short, of the same community or even family of men. There is variation and individuality more or less strongly marked in all kinds of organized beings: at least those vegetables which have exposed fructification possess it; many whose fructification is secluded also possess it; and the others of more constant character, such as some of the Gramineæ, with a little art (removing their anthers before the pollen bursts forth, and applying the pollen of others as near to them in the chain of life as can be found to be different, or changing the circumstances by culture), can also be rendered equally {67} variable. These minor distinctions or individualities of vegetables become more perceptible as our observation closes in upon the object. We have never yet found one individual apple plant, raised from seed, to be the counterpart of another; but differing even in every part and habit, in bud, leaf, flower, fruit, seed, bark, wood, root; in luxuriance of growth; in hardihood; in being suited for different soils and climates, some thriving in the very moist, others only in the dry; in the disposition of the branches, erect, pendulous, horizontal; in earliness and comparative earliness of leaf, of flower, of fruit.

We hope the above remarks will not be lost on those who have the management of the sowing, planting, and thinning of woods, and that they will always have selection in view. Although numerous varieties are derived from the seed of one tree, yet if that tree be of a good _breed_, the chances are greatly in favour of this progeny being also good. Scots fir of good variety will thrive and reach considerable size and age, in almost any soil which is not very moist, or very arid and barren (such as our sand and gravel flats much impregnated with iron or other deleterious mineral), provided the plants from their earliest years have room to throw out and retain a sufficiency of side branches. This is especially necessary to their health where the soil is {68} ungenial, the resulting vigour often overcoming the disadvantages. From the pine being found chiefly in the light sandy districts on the continent of Europe, and in the sandy pine barrens of America, an idea has gone abroad that these barren districts are more congenial to it than the more clayey, the more rocky, or the richer vegetable mould; but its natural location in the barren sandy districts results from its being more powerful in this soil than any other plant of the country, not from preference of this soil. Should any one doubt of this, let him take a summer excursion to Mar Forest, where no other tree having been in competition with Pinus sylvestris, and where it is spread over the hill and the dale, he will observe that it prospers best in good timber soil, and though comparatively preferring an easy soil, and having superior adaptation to thin or rocky ground, that its taste does not differ very materially from that of the plane or the elm, the oak or the ash.

In Mar Forest he will also observe (if they be not now all cut down) several well marked individuals of the _splatch_ pine, esteemed a very valuable and hardy kind; and with the right which a botanist has in a plant sown by nature, he may bear off some of the seeds, and endeavour to spread this rare indigenous kind throughout the island. Should he be unsuccessful in finding these at Mar, he may return {69} by Kenmore, where, on the side of the hill on the right bank of the Tay, near the confluence of the Lyon, he will find several trees, we think five, of this kind of pine, of considerable size, growing at one place, apparently planted: we were told the plants had been brought down from the natural forest farther up on the mountains. These are sufficiently distinct in character from the common Scots fir growing around, having a horizontal, straggling disposition of branches, the leaves being of a much lighter, different shade of green, and more tufted, and the bark of a yellower red, so as to merit a distinct name; and we should consider Pinus horizontalis as descriptive as any other, if it shall not appear to be only a sub-species of P. sylvestris. The descriptive name _splatch_ fir, is from the prominences of the rugged bark not being in longitudinal ridges or flutes, but in detached flat oblong lumps, such as soft clay or mud takes when cast with force upon a wall. We, however, do not think this the same as Mr DON’s var. 2d, at least we have noticed in our lowland woods raised by planting, such as Mr DON examined, individuals here and there having less or more resemblance to his described varieties, but none of them approaching the distinctness of this alpine Scots fir. The proprietors of this kind of pine will confer a benefit on the public by causing the timber {70} be examined and compared with that of trees of equal size of the common Scots fir growing near, and making a public report of the number and size of annual growths, the number of these of matured and of sap wood, the comparative strength, density, quantity of resinous deposit, hardness, &c.

The Pinaster is a valuable kind of red-wood pine, with strong resinous timber, and from not having one-half the number of sap-wood layers of the common Scots fir, we should consider it deserving attention as a naval timber; but perhaps the small number of sap-layers is from want of climate: owing to the branches being larger, and, in proportion to their size, being joined to the stem with a larger swell than those of P. sylvestris, the timber is rougher with larger knots. In the very barren sand and gravel district near Christchurch, scarcely affording sustenance to lichens, and where even heaths will not grow, we have observed this tree make considerable progress, and outstrip the Scots fir in growth.

The Canadian Red Pine has been employed to a considerable extent in this country, both as planking and spars. It is inferior in strength and durability to the Baltic red pine, and would seldom make its appearance on this side the Atlantic while the Baltic was open to us, did not a very ill advised {71} duty obstruct the supply of the better article. This timber is sometimes supplied with a good character by the shipwright, as it is soft, pliant, and easily worked. The Canadian red pine has a greater number of layers of sap-wood than any other red pine we are acquainted with; we have repeatedly counted 100 sap-wood layers. We have never seen this kind of pine growing in Britain.

The most common American pine, with yellow timber, Pinus strobus, has been introduced for a long time back into Britain, it is said first by the Earl of Weymouth, thence sometimes named Weymouth Pine. This rather elegant tree requires a warm sheltered situation, as it is easily torn down by wind, from the weakness of the timber, which is inferior in hardness and strength to any other pine we are acquainted with; and from its slender needle leaf not having substance to withstand the evaporation of much exposure. Altogether, the kind appears rather out of climate in Britain, and, though the monarch of the pines in Canada, holds here but a very subordinate place. Although extremely tender and light, the matured timber does not soon decay when cut out thin and exposed to wind and weather, nor worm when kept dry in houses; but when employed in shipbuilding,—remaining always between the moist {72} and dry, the condition most favourable to putrefaction, and surrounded by a close, warm, putrid atmosphere,—it very soon, especially in masses, becomes corrupted. It requires more time to season or dry in the deal than any other wood, owing to the fineness of fibre, smallness of pores, and want of density. From this quality of parting with its moisture with extreme slowness, it forms convenient deck-planking for vessels on tropical stations, or when employed in carriage of unslacked lime, as the plank does not readily shrink and become leaky under the great evaporation occasioned by the heat and arid air. Yellow pine has generally about 40 growths of sap-wood.

We have had no acquaintance with American pitch pine as a growing tree. As a timber, it is superior in several respects to all the others, having a great deal more resinous matter, so much, as often to render it semitranslucent. It is strong and weighty, and is used as a naval timber for most of the purposes to which other pine timber is applied. It forms the very best bottom planking. The shipwrights of the docks at Devonport will attest its quality, as the bottom planking of the Gibraltar of 80 guns: this vessel carried home to England from the Mediterranean, a piece of coral rock of about ten tons weight sticking in her bottom, her preservation {73} in all probability resulting from the adhesive quality of this timber. Its great weight is, however, a considerable inconveniency attending its use as spars, and the abundance of resin, we should think, would unfit it for tree-nails; resinous tree-nails,—probably from some derangement of the structure or disposition to chemical change produced in the resin by the very great pressure of the hard driving,—soon corrupting and infecting the adjacent wood. In some cases we have also known very resinous Baltic plank decay soon in vessels. The pitch pine, from the quantity of resin, contracts little in drying, at least for a long time, till the resin itself begins to dry up. It forms the best house-floors we have seen, being strong and durable, continuing close at joinings, and the fibre not readily taking in moisture when washed.

Our red-wood pine, when come to some age, is in wet ground attacked by rot, which commences in the bulb and adjacent roots and stem, in a manner very similar to the rot in larch. The red-wood also approaches nearer to the outside where this rot exists, and on the side of the tree where the rot is greatest. Most of our planted red pine forest, especially in poor wet tills, and in all flat sandy moorish ground of close subsoil, fall by decay at from 30 to 60 years old. This decay is gradual, owing to the {74} difference in strength of constitution of the individuals. Closeness of rearing and consequent tall nakedness of stem, and disproportion of leaves to stem, would alone induce this in a few years longer even in good soil, excepting perhaps in protected narrow dells; but the decay commences much sooner when the soil is unfavourable, and is no doubt accelerated by the mode of extracting the seeds by kiln-drying the cones, and by using a weak variety of the plant. The approach of this decay may often be noticed, several years previous, in the saw-cross section of the stem mid-way up the tree—an irregular portion of the section appearing of a different shade, from breaking off free and irregular before the teeth of the saw, and not having so much fibrous cover as the healthy part. When Scots fir rises naturally, it is not nearly so subject to this decay even in very inferior soils: the plants having generally much more room from the first, do not rise so tall, have more branch in proportion to stem, thence are more vigorous. The cones not being injured by kiln-drying, may also account for this.

The fact that the red pine in Scotland has fewer sap-wood layers than the red pine of Memel or of North America, and also the fact that, in most situations in Scotland, the red pine soon {75} decays—soonest in the places where the trees have fewest sap-wood layers, and where the timber has been planted, that is, where the cones have been kiln-dried—is worthy of notice. Scots red pine has generally from 15 to 40 layers, Memel from 40 to 50, Canadian often 100. We consider the long moist open winter and cold ungenial spring in Scotland, and the till bottoms soaking with water, perhaps aided by the transplanting, and the kiln-drying of the cones, to be the cause of this early loss of vitality or change of sap-wood into matured. In Poland and Prussia, the earth does not remain so long cold and moist as in Scotland, but is either frozen or sufficiently warm and dry;—this occurs even to a greater degree in Canada[16], and neither the Memel nor Canadian have any chance of being planted or kiln-dried.

WHITE LARCH—_Larix communis_, (_L. pyramidalis_).

White Larch is a timber tree combining so many advantages, its properties so imperfectly known, of {76} so recent introduction, and of such general culture, (about 10,000,000 plants being sold annually from the nurseries of the valley of the Tay alone), that any accurate notice of its history, its habitudes, and uses, must possess an interest sufficient to arrest the attention of every one, from the statesman and economist down to the mere lord and the squire. We shall therefore devote to it a little more of our attention than we have bestowed on those already treated of.

Larch is scattered over a considerable part of the northern hemisphere, inhabiting nearly the same regions with the other Coniferæ. White larch, the kind[17] common in Britain, is found growing extensively on the alpine districts of the south of Europe, in Italy, Switzerland, Sardinia; this may be termed the European temperate species. Another, native to the country around Archangel, and extending from {77} Norway eastward through Russia and Siberia, of inferior size, may be styled the European Hyperborean. North America, like the old world, is said to possess a temperate and hyperborean species. The first, Black Larch (L. pendula), more generally extending along the longitudinal parallel of the United States; the other, Red Larch (L. microcarpa), along that of Lower Canada and Labrador. We have seen the American temperate attain 18 inches in diameter in Scotland, but it is much inferior in figure and growth, and also cleanness of timber, to the Appenine or European temperate, being covered with knots and protuberances. Though rough, the timber is said to be of excellent quality.

It is now upwards of 80 years since the larch, so common in Britain, was brought from the Appenines to Strath-Tay. The rapidity of its growth and striking novelty of appearance, assisted by the influence of the family of Athole (to a female of which some say we owe its first introduction), soon attracted general attention: it quickly spread over the neighbouring country, and was planted in every variety of soil and situation, from the unfitness of which, in most places of the low country, it is already fast decaying. About 40 years ago it began to be planted in many parts of Britain. It is now introduced into almost every new plantation in the two islands, and {78} the space of country covered by its shade is extending with a rapidity unparalleled in the history of any other ligneous plant.

Larch is generally conceived to be an alpine[18] plant, and its decay in the low country attributed to situation or climate. This idea seems to have arisen from its locality in Italy, and from observing it succeed so well in our alpine districts, not taking into account that the soil is different,—that it may be the soil of these districts which conduces to the prosperity of the larch, and not the altitude. Throughout Scotland, wherever we have observed the decay, it appeared to have resulted almost solely from unsuitableness of soil. We have witnessed it as much diseased on our highest trap hills, 1000 feet in altitude, as on a similar soil at the base. Yet the freeness from putrescency or miasma of the pure air of the mountain, {79} and deficiency of putrescent matter in the ground, or other more obscure agencies connected with primitive ranges, may have some influence to counterbalance unsuitableness of soil. It is not probable that the coolness and moisture of altitude would be necessary in Scotland to the healthy growth of a vegetable which flourishes under Italian suns, on the general level of the Appenine and on the Sardinian hills.

The rot, so general in growing larch, though sometimes originating in the bulb or lower part of the stem, seems to have its commencement most frequently in the roots. Thence the corruption proceeds upwards along the connecting tubes or fibres into the bulb, and gradually mounts the stem, which, when much diseased, swells considerably for a few feet above the ground, evidently from the new layers of sap-wood forming thicker to afford necessary space for the fluids to pass upward and downward—the matured wood through which there is no circulation approaching at this place within one or two annual layers of the outside. In a majority of cases, the rot commences in the roots which have struck down deepest into the earth, especially those under the stool; these having been thrown to a considerable depth by the young plant, as the tree enlarges, are shut out from aëration, &c. by the {80} superior increasing stool and hard-pressed earth underneath it; this earth at the same time becoming exhausted of the particular pabulum of the plant. It is, therefore, quite probable, from these parts of the roots being the weakest, that they will be most susceptible of injury from being soaked in stagnant water in the flat tills[19], starved during droughts in light sand, tainted by the putrid vapours of rich vegetable mould, or poisoned by the corrosive action of pernicious minerals. It may also be supposed that these smothered sickly roots, not possessing sufficient power or means of suction (endosmose), will be left out in the general economy of vegetation of the plant, thence lose vitality, and become corrupt. But this affords no explanation why the larch roots, under these circumstances, are more liable to corruption than those of other trees, or how the bulb itself should become contaminated. {81}

We have cut off the top, where the diameter of the section was about three inches, from sound young larch trees, and found a similar rot proceed downwards in a few months from the section, as rises from the diseased roots in improper soil. There is something favourable to the quick progress of this rot in the motion of the sap, or vitality of the tree; as, under no common circumstances, would the wood of a cut larch tree become tainted in so short a time.

The rot, though most general in trees which are chilled in wet cold tills, or starved in dry sand, or sickly from any other cause, is also often found to take place in the most luxuriant growing plants in open situations, branched to the ground, and growing in deep soil free from stagnating water. There must, therefore, be some constitutional tendency to corruption in the larch, which is excited by a combination of circumstances; and we must limit our knowledge for the present to the fact, that certain soils, perhaps slightly modified by other circumstances, produce sound, and others unsound larch, without admitting any general influence from altitude, excepting in so far as its antiseptic influence may go.

The fitness of soil for larch seems to depend more especially upon the ability the soil possesses of affording an equable supply of moisture; that is, upon its {82} mechanical division, or its powers of absorption or retention of moisture; and its chemical composition would seem only efficacious as conducive to this.

Soils and subsoils[20] may be divided into two classes. The first, where larch will acquire a size of from 30 to 300 solid feet, and is generally free of rot; the second, where it reaches only from 6 to 20 feet solid, and in most cases becomes tainted with rot before 30 years of age.

CLASS I. SOILS AND SUBSOILS FOR LARCH.

_Sound rock, with a covering of firm loam, particularly when the rock is jagged or cloven, or much dirupted and mixed with the earth._—In such cases, a very slight covering or admixture of earth will suffice. We would give the preference to primitive rock, especially micaceous schist and mountain limestone. Larch seldom succeeds well on sandstone or on trap, except on steep slopes, where the rock is quite sound and the soil firm. {83}

Fully the one half of Scotland, comprehending nearly all the alpine part, consists of primary rock, chiefly micaceous schist and gneiss. These rocks are generally less decayed at the surface, better drained, and fuller of clefts and fissures containing excellent earth (especially on slopes), into which the roots of trees penetrate and receive healthy nourishment, than the other primitive and transition rocks, granite, porphyry, trap, or the secondary and tertiary formations of nearly horizontal strata, red and white sandstone, &c. Primary strata are generally well adapted for larch, except where the surface has acquired a covering of peat-moss, or received a flat diluvial bed of close wet till or soft moorish sand, or occupies a too elevated or exposed situation—the two latter exceptions only preventing the growth, not inducing rot.

_Gravel_, not too ferruginous, and in which water does not stagnate in winter, even though nearly bare of vegetable mould, especially on steep slopes, and where the air is not too arid, is favourable to the growth of larch. It seems to prefer the coarser gravel, though many of the stones exceed a yard solid.

The straths or valleys of our larger rivers, in their passage through the alpine country, are generally {84} occupied, for several hundred feet of perpendicular altitude up the slope, by gravel, which covers the primitive strata to considerable depth, especially in the eddies of the salient angles of the hill. Every description of tree grows more luxuriantly here than in any other situation of the country; the causes of this are, _1st_, The open bottom allowing the roots to penetrate deep, without being injured by stagnant moisture; _2d_, The percolation of water down through the gravel from the superior hill; _3d_, The dryness of the surface not producing cold by evaporation, thence the ground soon heating in the spring; _4th_, The moist air of the hill refreshing and nourishing the plant during the summer heats, and compensating for the dryness of the soil; _5th_, The reverberating of the sun’s rays, between the sides of the narrow valley, thus rendering the soil comparatively warmer than the incumbent air, which is cooled by the oblique currents of the higher strata of air, occasioned by the unequal surface of the ground. This comparatively greater warmth of the ground, when aided by moisture, either in the soil or atmosphere, is greatly conducive to the luxuriancy of vegetation.

_Firm dry clays and sound brown loam._—Soils well adapted for wheat and red clover, not too rich, {85} and which will bear cattle in winter, are generally congenial to the larch.

_All very rough ground, particularly ravines, where the soil is neither soft sand nor too wet; also the sides of the channels of rapid rivulets._—The roots of most trees luxuriate in living or flowing water; and, where it is of salubrious quality, especially when containing a slight solution of lime, will throw themselves out a considerable distance under the stream. The reason why steep slopes, and hills whose strata are nearly perpendicular to the horizon, are so much affected by larch and other trees, is, because the moisture in such situations is in motion, and often continues dripping through the fissures throughout the whole summer. The desideratum of situation for larch, is where the roots will neither be drowned in stagnant water in winter, nor parched by drought in summer, and where the soil is free from any corrosive mineral or corrupting mouldiness.

Larch, in suitable soil, sixty years planted, and seasonably thinned, will have produced double the value of what almost any other timber would have done; and from its general adaptation both for sea and land purposes, it will always command a ready sale.

{86} CLASS II. SOILS AND SUBSOILS WHERE LARCH TAKES DRY ROT.

_Situations (steep slopes excepted) with cold till subsoil, nearly impervious to water._—The larch succeeds worst when moorish dead sand alone, or with admixture of peat, occupies the surface of these retentive bottoms. Where the whole soil and subsoil is one uniform, retentive, firm till, it will often reach considerable size before being attacked by the rot. When this heavy till occupies a steep slope, the larch will sometimes succeed well, owing to the more equable supply of moisture, and the water in the soil not stagnating, but gliding down the declivity.

In general, soils whose surface assumes the appearance of honeycomb in time of frost, owing to the great quantity of water imbibed by the soil, will not produce large sound larch. More than half the low country of Scotland is soil of this description.

_Soft sand soil and subsoil._—Sand is still less adapted for growing larch than the tills, the plants being often destroyed by the summer’s drought before they attain size for any useful purpose: the rot also attacks earlier here than in the tills. It appears that {87} light sand, sloping considerably on moist back-lying alpine situations, covered towards the south by steep hill, will sometimes produce sound larch; whereas did the same sand occupy a dry front or lowland situation, the larch would not succeed in it. The same moist back situation that conduces to produce sound larch in light dry soils, may probably tend to promote rot in the wet. The moisture and the less evaporation of altitude diminishing the tendency to rot in dry light sand, and increasing it in wet till. Larch will sometimes succeed well in sharp dry alluvial sand left by rivulets.

_Soils incumbent on brittle dry trap, or broken slaty sandstone._—Although soil, the debris of trap, be generally much better adapted for the production of herbaceous vegetables than that of sandstone or freestone, yet larch does not seem to succeed much better on the former than the latter. The deeper superior soils, generally incumbent on the recent dark red sandstone, are better suited for larch than the shallow inferior soils incumbent on the old grey and red sandstone.

_Ground having a subsoil of dry rotten rock, and which sounds hollow to the foot in time of drought._

_Rich deaf earth, or vegetable {88} mould._—Independently of receiving ultimate contamination from the putrid juices or exhalations of this soil, the larch does not seem, even while remaining sound, to make so much comparative progress of growth, as some of the hard wood trees, as elm, ash, plane.

_Black or grey moorish soils, with admixture of peat-moss._

Although the soils specified in this class will not afford fine large larch for naval use, yet they may be very profitably employed in growing larch for farming purposes, or for coal-mines, where a slight taint of rot is of minor importance. The lightness of larch, especially when new cut (about one-third less weight than the evergreen coniferæ), gives a facility to the loading and carriage, which enhances its value, independent of its greater strength and durability. Those larches in which rot has commenced, are fully as suitable for paling as the sound: they have fewer circles of sap-wood, and more of red or matured. When the rot has commenced, the maturing or reddening of the circles does not proceed regularly, reaching nearest the bark on the side where the rot has advanced farthest.

A great amelioration of our climate and of our soil, and considerable addition to the beauty and salubrity of the country, might be attained by {89} landholders of skill and spirit, did they carry off the noxious moisture, by sufficient use of open drainage, from their extensive wastes of mossy moors and wet tills, which are only productive of the black heath, the most dismal robe[21] of the earth, or rather the funeral pall with which Nature has shrouded her undecayed remains. This miserable portion of our country, so dreary when spread out in wide continuous flats, and so offensive to the eye of the traveller, unless his mind is attuned to gloom and desolation, lies a disgrace to the possessor. Were a proper system of superficial draining executed on these districts, and kept in repair, most of our conifers, particularly spruce and Scots fir, with oak, beech, birch, alder, and, in the sounder situations, larch, would thrive and come to maturity, ultimately enhancing the value of the district an hundred fold. This could be done by fluting the ground, opening large ditches every 30, 50, or 100 yards, according to the wetness or closeness of the subsoil—the deeper, the more serviceable both in efficacy and distance of drainage. These flutes should stretch across the slope with just sufficient declivity to allow the {90} water to flow off easily, The excavated matter should be thrown to the lower side; and when the whole, or any part, of the excavation consists of earth or gravel, it ought to be spread over the whole mossy surface, whether the field be morass or drier hill-peat: this would be useful in consolidating it, and in preventing too great exhaustion of moisture in severe droughts, from which vegetation in moss-soil suffers so much. Even though planting were not intended, this fluting and top-dressing would facilitate the raising of the gramineæ. These ditches, when the ground is not too stoney, or too moist, or containing roots, might be scooped out, excepting a little help at the bottom, by means of a scoop-sledge, or levelling box, worked by a man and two horses, the surface being always loosened by the common plough: one of these will remove earth as fast as twenty men with wheelbarrows.

ON BENDING AND KNEEING LARCH.

We cannot too forcibly inculcate the urgent necessity of attending to the bending of the larch: for our country’s interest, we almost regret we cannot compel it. In all larch plantations, in proper {91} soil, not too far advanced, and in all that may hereafter be planted, a proportion of those intended to remain as standards should be bended. The most proper time for this would perhaps be May or June, before the top-growth commences, or has advanced far; the best size is from three feet high and upwards. The plants should be bent the first season to an angle of from 40° to 60° with the horizon, and the next brought down to from 10° to 60°, according to the size of the plant, or the curve required,—the smallest plants to the lowest angle.

From experience we find that the roots of larch form the best of all knees; they, however, might be much improved by culture[22], although it does not {92} seem as yet to have been attempted or thought of. To form the roots properly into knees, should the plants be pretty large, the planter ought to select those plants which have four main roots springing out nearly at right angles, the regularity of which he may improve a little by pruning, and plant them out as standards in the thinnest dryest soil suited for larch, carefully spreading the roots to equal distances and in a horizontal position. To promote the regular square diverging of these four roots, he should dig narrow ruts about a foot deep and three feet long out from the point of each root, and fill them in with the richest of the neighbouring turf along with a little manure. When the plants are small, and the roots only a tuft of fibres, he should dig two narrow ruts about eight feet long crossing each other at the middle at right angles, fill these as above, and put in the plant at the crossing: the rich mould of the rotted turf and its softness from being dug, will cause the plant to throw out its roots in the form of a cross along the trenches. When the plants have reached five or six feet in height, the earth may be removed a little from the root, and, if more than one stout root leader have run out into any of the four trenches, or if any have entered the unstirred earth, they ought all to be cut excepting one, the stoutest {93} and most regular in each trench. In a few years afterwards, when the plants have acquired some strength, the earth should be removed gradually, baring the roots to from two to five feet distance from the stool, or as far as the main spurs have kept straight, cutting off any side-shoots within this distance, should it be found that such late root-pruning does not induce rot. This process of baring the roots will scarcely injure the growth of the trees, as the roots draw the necessary pabulum from a considerable distance, nor, if done carefully, will it endanger their upsetting; and the roots, from exposure to the air, will swell to extraordinary size[23], so as to render them, ere long, the firmest rooted trees in the wood. The labour of this not amounting to the value of sixpence each, will be counterbalanced thrice {94} over by the ease of grubbing the roots for knees; and the whole brought to the shipwright will produce more than double the price that the straight tree alone would have done.

_The forester should also examine and probe the roots of his growing larch, even those of considerable size, in sound ground; and when several strong horizontal spurs, not exceeding four, are discovered nearly straight, and from two to five feet long, he ought to bare these roots to that distance, that they may swell, carefully pruning away any small side-roots, and reserve these plants as valuable store_, taking good heed that no cart-wheel in passing, or feet of large quadruped, wound the bared roots. In exposed situations the earth may be gradually removed from the roots.

The rot in larch taking place in the part appropriate to knees, the forester cannot be too wary in selecting the situations where there is no risk of its attack, for planting those destined for this purpose. It is also desirable, if possible, to have the knee timber in ground free of stones or gravel, as the grubbing in stoney ground is expensive, and the roots often embrace stones which, by the future swelling of the bulb, are completely imbedded and shut up in the wood, particularly in those places between the spurs {95} where the saw section has to divide them for knees. Were the roots carefully bared at an early period, it would tend to prevent the gravel from becoming imbedded in the bulb. Nothing can be more annoying to the shipwright, when he has bestowed his money, ingenuity, and labour, upon an unwieldy root, and brought his knees into figure at the cost of the destruction of his tools by the enveloped gravel, to discover stains of incipient rot which renders it lumber.

This plan of baring the roots might be extended to oak trees for knees, baring and pruning about a foot out from the bulb annually. By exposure to the air, the timber of the root would mature and become red wood of sufficient durability. When covered with earth, the root of the oak remains white or sap wood, and soon decays after being dug up, the matured wood of the stem scarcely extending at all underneath the surface of the ground. The roots of the pine tribe are the reverse of this, at least the bulb and the spurs near it, are the best matured, reddest, toughest, most resinous, part of the tree. It is probably unnecessary to observe, that it would be folly to remove the earth from the bulb of trees in situations where water would stand for any length of time in the excavation. {96}

_Larch knees are possessed of such strength and durability, and are of such adaptation by their figure and toughness, that were a sufficient quantity in the market, and their qualities generally known, we believe that none else would be used for vessels of any description of timber—even for our war-navy of oak._ In America, where it is difficult to procure good oak knees in their close forest, it is customary to use them of spruce roots even for their finest vessels. The knees of vessels have a number of strong bolts, generally of iron, passing through them to secure the beam-ends to the sides of the ship. Larch knees are the more suited for this, as they do not split in the driving of the bolts, and contain a resinous gum which prevents the oxidation of the iron.

As the larch, unlike the oak, affords few or no crooks naturally, excepting knees, the artificial formation of larch crooks is of the utmost consequence to the interest of the holders of larch plantations now growing. In order to obtain a good market for their straight timber, it is absolutely necessary to have a supply of crooks ready as soon as possible to work the straight up. This would increase the demand, and thence enhance the price of the straight more than any one not belonging to the craft could {97} believe. In good soil many of the crooks would be of sufficient size in twenty years to begin the supply, if properly thinned out. In a forest of larch containing many thousand loads, and which had been untouched by any builder, we have seen the greatest difficulty in procuring crooks for one small brig. It is only on very steep ground, and where the tree has been a little upset after planting, that any good crooks are found. From the rather greater diameter required of larch timbers, and also from the nature of the fibre of the wood, we should suppose that steam bending of larch timbers would scarcely be followed, even as a _dernier ressort_.

Larch, from its great lateral toughness, particularly the root, and from its lightness, seems better adapted for the construction of shot-proof vessels than any other timber; and opposed _end-way_ to shot in a layer, arch fashion, several feet deep around a vessel, would sustain more battering than any other subject we are acquainted with, metal excepted. Were the part above water of a strong steam-vessel, having the paddles under cover, a section of a spheroid or half egg cut longitudinally, and covered all around with the root cuts of larch five or six feet deep with the hewn down bulb, external; well supported {98} inside, having nothing exposed outside of this arch, and only a few small holes for ventilators and eyes; there is no shot in present naval use that would have much impression upon it. Had such a vessel a great impelling power, and a very strong iron cutwater, or short beak wedge-shaped (in manner of the old Grecian galleys), projecting before the vessel under water, well supported within by beams radiating back in all directions, she might be wrought to split and sink a fleet of men-of-war lying becalmed, in a few hours. This could be done by running successively against each, midships, and on percussion immediately backing the engine, at same time spouting forth missiles, hot water, or sulphuric acid from the bow to obstruct boarding; but even though the external arch were covered with assailants like a swarm of bees, they would be harmless, or could be easily displaced. To prevent combustion by red hot shot, the larch blocks, after drying, might have their pores filled by pressure with alkali. However, the employment of bomb-cannon about to be introduced in naval warfare, throwing explosive shot, regulated with just sufficient force to penetrate without passing through the side of the opposed vessel, will render any other than metallic defensive cover ineffectual; but {99} this circumstance will, at the same time, completely revolutionize sea affairs, laying on the shelf our huge men-of-war, whose place will be occupied with numerous bomb-cannon boats, whose small size will render them difficult to be hit, and from which one single explosive shot taking effect low down in the large exposed side of a three decker will tear open a breach sufficient to sink her almost instantly. _For the construction of these boats, larch, especially were a proportion bent, would be extremely suitable, and thence larch will probably, ere long, become our naval stay._

Larch has been used in the building-yards of the Tay for 20 years back; and there is now afloat several thousand tons of shipping constructed of it. The Athole Frigate built of it nearly 12 years ago, the Larch, a fine brig built by the Duke of Athole several years earlier, and many other vessels built more recently, prove that larch is as valuable for naval purposes as the most sanguine had anticipated. The first instance we have heard of British larch being used in this manner, was in a sloop repaired with it about 22 years back. The person to whom it had belonged, and who had sailed it himself, stated to us immediately after its loss, that this sloop had been built of oak about 36 years before; that at 18 years {100} old her upper timbers were so much decayed as to require renewal, which was done with larch; that 18 years after this repair this sloop went to pieces on the remains of the pier of Methel, Fifeshire, and the top timbers and second foot-hooks of larch were washed ashore as tough and sound as when first put into the vessel, not one spot of decay appearing, they having assumed the blue dark colour which some timber acquires in moist situations, when it may be stiled _cured_; being either no longer liable to the putrid change constituting dry rot, or which forms timber into a proper soil for the growth of dry rot; or, from this blueness caused by the union of the tannin with iron acting as a poison on vegetation: this blueness, resulting from some alteration in the balance of affinities, occurs chiefly in timber containing much of the tannin principle, in which larch abounds. The owner of a larch brig who had employed her for several years on tropical voyages, also assures us that the timber will wear well in any climate, and that he would prefer larch to any other kind of wood, especially for small vessels; he also states that the deck of this brig, composed of larch plank, stood the tropical heat well, and that it did not warp or shrink as was apprehended.