. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . thesilver firs upon mount Olympus being the mostnlagnificent trees in that country. Requiring a richersoil and a warmer climate than the pine and the larch,it cannot be so well cultivated in bleak situations asthose species. The timber which it produces is softerand less durable than that of either of them; and,therefore, it is not so well adapted for general pur-poses : but its lightness renders it a very fit materialfor boats, and planks made of it are said to have theproperty of not shrinking. I
. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . thesilver firs upon mount Olympus being the mostnlagnificent trees in that country. Requiring a richersoil and a warmer climate than the pine and the larch,it cannot be so well cultivated in bleak situations asthose species. The timber which it produces is softerand less durable than that of either of them; and,therefore, it is not so well adapted for general pur-poses : but its lightness renders it a very fit materialfor boats, and planks made of it are said to have theproperty of not shrinking. It has been introducedinto this country as an ornamental tree, for morethan a century; but it has not been hitherto, and pro-bably never will be, extensively cultivated for allied to the Silver Fir, though inferior to it as a•grower, is the Bahn of Gilead Fir (Pinus is a native of America; but although it has beenin this country for more than a century and a half,the only place where it has grown, even to moderatedimensions, is Woburn Abbey. Chapter Larch—Pinus larix. The more modern botanists divide the Pine familyinto three genera,—Pi/ws, Abies, and Cedrus, to thelast of which the larch belongs. The Larch (Piuus larix) is, after the common pine,probably the most valuable of the tribe. Though anative of the mountains of more southern regions, itthrives uncommonly well in Britain ; and as it growsmore rapidly, and also in more varied soils than theother, it is, jierhaps, better adapted for general culti-vation. In the south, it attains an immense height;some single beams of larch, employed in the palaces F 3 54 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. and public buildings of Venice being said to be onehundred and twenty feet long. Even in the planta-tions of the Duke of Athol, and other proprietors inPerthshire, some larches are at least one hundred feethigh. The wild alternation of hill and valley in thatcounty, with the general opening of the glens
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