were very favourable for combustion: that though light and soft, it was strong and elastic: that it was a tall and stately tree, of remarkably quick growth and elegant appearance: that it throve on a great diversity of soils, and in a variety of exposures, even in very cold climates: that it bore seeds early, which germinated freely, and was easily propagated: that the verdure of its leaves was very vivid and pleasing that its blofsoms were of a fine purple colour in great adundance early in the spring, so as to make it one of the most beautiful ornamental trees that could any where be found; would not every one who fhould read this description pronounce it to be greatly exaggerated, and be satisfied that no one kind of tree could pofsefs such a great number of valuable properties? Yet such we now know with certainty the larix to be; and that from facts established by undeniable evidence, every one who examines this subject wich attention, must admit the whole without hesitation. That a tree pofsefsing these valuable qualities, ought to be cultivated with care, no one will deny; but in a country where it has not come into general use, and where its qualities are of course not experimentally known, it may be of use, not only to specify a few of the facts which prove that it really does pofsefs the qualities above ascribed to it; but also to point out some of the many uses to which it may be applied; in order that by directing the attention of individuals to a subject of so much importance, care may be taken to disperse it as early as pofsible into all those parts of the country where it would tend most effectually to promote

the improvement of arts, manufactures, or agriculture in any way.

The incorruptibility of this wood has been several times hinted in this miscellany and other perfor mances; but as the facts which prove this cannot be too generally known, there will be little harm in recapitulating some of these, and adding some others lefs generally known.

Vitruvius mentions this wood as the best that had ever been known for rafters, and other parts of the wood work in buildings that required great strength; and attributes the perishable nature of modern buildings in his time, in a great measure to the want of it in the neighbourhood of Rome. The houses of Venice are well known to be built upon piles of larch wood, which have remained sound for many hundred years, and are now found to be so hard as to resist an edged tool almost like a petrifaction. Many of the pictures of Raphael Urban are painted upon boards of larch wood, which are still perfectly entire. It is about three hundred years since he died. Had the wood either fhrunk or warped during that time, it is evident the paintings must have been destroyed; as must also have been the case had it been eaten by worms.

These are a few facts that have been long known in Europe. The following have been more lately observed, and are lefs generally known. "I have in my garden, says M. le president de la Tour D'AIGUES, in the year 1787, some rails, part of which are oak, and part of them larch wood. The rails were made in the year 1743, and only once painted. The oak has yielded

to time, but the lach is still sound. They employ this wood at present in Provence, for making casks. The chesnut of the Cevennes had supplied the place of the oak, and the larch now successfully supplies that of the chesnut. The fineness of the grain retains perfectly the spirit of the liquor, and does not alter its quality. It has been employed for that use for time immemorial in the higher Dauphiné, from Sisteron even to Briançon. I have in my castle of Tour d'Aigues, beams of twenty inches square, which are sound, though upwards of two hundred years old; but trees of this size are now only to be found in places whence they cannot be transported. There are in some parts of Dauphinè, and in the fo rest of Baye in Provence, larch trees which two men could not grasp, and more than twelve toises, (about seventy-five feet) in height." Mem. R. Soc. Agri. Paris, 1787.

It is not in France alone that this peculiarity has been observed. Dr Pallas, in the extensive travels he made throughout the Russian dominions, took notice of a kind of tumuli which were frequent in Kamtchatka, which were said to be the burying places of their ancestors, of immemorial antiquity. He caused some of them to be opened, to observé their contents, and found in the centre of each, the remains of one or more human bodies, which had been deposited under something that had the appearance of a roof, consisting of beams of larch wood, placed so as to join together at top, and spread wide below. These had been afterwards covered to a great height with a large mound of earth, which

had remained in that position till all tradition of their first erection had been lost. He found the larch wood there entire and uncorrupted, though every thing else of vegetable or animal origin was utterly decayed.

After this example it may by some be deemed unnecefsary to mention others. But in a case of so much importance it is impofsible to have proofs too full; especially if they are of such a nature as easily can be verified by private individuals, who can have no opportunity of examining the foundation of the houses of Venice, or exploring the tombs of Kamtchatka. Such are those that follow :

In the garden of Mr Dempster, so long distinguished for his respectable conduct in the British parliament, a spire of young larix wood, not thicker at the root end than a man's wrist, was found to have remained fixed in the ground as a hop pole summer and winter for five, six, or seven years, (the precise number could not be ascertained,) without the smallest symptom of rotting being discoverable in it. Any other kind of wood I have seen, similarly circumstanced, would have been more decayed in six months than it was.

Alternate stakes of larch and oak wood having been tried to support the nets of a decoy in Lincolnshire, two sets of the oak had been worn out, as my informent assured me, before any marks of decay appeared on the larch stakes: the experiment is still going forward.

Two gates were erected with wooden gate posts, one of the posts of each gate being made of the best VOL. XVii.

B

foreign fir log, and the other of larch wood. One set of the fir posts is worn out, and another put into their place at each gate; but the larch continues still firm. This experiment also is still in its progrefs.

A trough for feeding hogs made of deal of larch wood had been placed beneath a large tree in the fields, where it had stood soaked in water and dirt for five or six years on being scraped clean it was found to be perfectly sound; and having been converted into another use, stood in a stable for several years longer without any mark of decay; when the stable being taken down, the experiment was discontinued.

"It resists, says Mr Ritchie, the British chargé des affairs at Venice, speaking of larch wood, the intemperature of the air, more than any other wood known in this country, and therefore it is much used for making outer gates, pales &c. which are constantly exposed to the open air. It is no lefs durable within doors; and in some of the old palaces here, there are beams of larix as sound as when first placed there. In a word, wherever strength and durability are required, this is reckoned here the most choice and valuable wood; and it may be applied to a great number of uses

It would be unnecefsary to enumerate more proofs of the incorruptible nature and singularly valuable qualities of this wood, and therefore the remaining part of this essay fhall be appropriated to an enu

* Memoirs of the society of arts, London, vol. xi.