The Larch; A Practical Treatise on Its Culture and General Management

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 Excerpt: ... 1 s. 6d. per cubic foot. As a rule, larch is dearer and oak cheaper the farther north one goes, though to this rule there are exceptions in certain localities. The greatest demand for larch at the present time is for railway sleepers, props for mining purposes, and fencing of all kinds, especially stakes for farm fences. The bark of larch under forty years old is valuable for tanning, and pays from 20 to 25 per cent. upon the labour, minus felling the trees. It is sometimes asked, What proportional duration does the sapwood of larch bear to the heart-wood? The question is difficult to answer directly, but may be understood thus: --A larch tree twelve years old will stand as a paling-post three years, at the end of which time the heart-wood is quite decayed. At twenty years old the root-cut will stand as a post four years, and the heart-wood one year longer, or is one-fifth more durable than the sapwood. At forty years old the sapwood of a larch post will stand five years, and the heartwood would stand for ten years, hence the heartwood is twice as durable as the sapwood. There is considerable difference in the quality of sapwood, but not nearly so much as in the quality of the heart-wood. The returns from larch plantations are very variable; in some cases they have paid well, in others they have proved a great loss. The districts where larch have paid best are upon dry, porous land, precipitous rather than flat, but generally thin and poor. Some have concluded that the north country is better adapted for larch than the south. In this there is no great difference, save what soil and situation produce. There are equally as good larches in the counties of Sussex, Surrey, and Kent, as there are in Invernessshire, Eoss, or Sutherland; but in the latter counties ..