tops of the Juniper, which diffused a delightful fragrance around, in the most agreeable manner inviting sleep*.” We learn both from this author and from Dr. Clarke, that the same custom prevails in Sweden. In this country, the strewing of Juniper appears to have been confined to persons of rank or fortune, while persons of inferior consideration were content with rushes. The use of rushes for this purpose is noticed repeatedly in the works of Ben Jonson, and of Beaumont and Fletcher. Dryden, too, alludes to this custom in his version of Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale : "Her parlour-window stuck with herbs around, Fairfax gives the Juniper a bad character, in his translation of Tasso: the tree is not mentioned in this passage in the original: "Sweet Juniper, whose shadow hurteth sore:" Canto iii. The poet has, nevertheless, great and ancient authority for what he says: "Now let us rise, for hoarseness oft invades The singer's voice, who sings beneath the shades. That blast the sooty corn, the withering herbage kill.” DRYDEN'S Virgil, Ecl. x. * Brookes' Sweden and Norway, p. 131. CONIFERA. LARCH TREE. PINUS LARIX. MONECIA MONADELPHIA. French, mélèze; Italian, larice. THE Common or White Larch, Pinus Larix, is of quick growth, and will reach to the height of fifty feet. The leaves are long and narrow, growing in clusters from one point like tassels; and these clusters are placed alternately upon the branches; they are light green, and fall off in the autumn. In this respect, the Larch differs from all other trees of this genus, which are evergreens. The branches are slender, and droop at the end: the cones are about an inch long, shaped like an egg; their tops are sometimes tinged with bright purple, in others they are quite white; but the difference is merely accidental, and in no way affects the seeds they contain. There are two varieties of this tree, one a native of America, the other of Siberia: the latter requires a colder climate; it is apt to die here in the summer, especially if planted in a dry soil. Of the American variety, the branches are more slender than those of the Common European Larch; the leaves are narrower, more tender, glaucous, and the outer ones in each cluster shorter than the inner; whereas in the Common Larch, they are of equal length. The bark inclines to yellow in the American variety; in the common sort, it is an ash-coloured gray; the cones of the American, too, are not more than one-third the size of those of the European kind. 66 The Common Larch is a native of the South of Europe, and of Siberia: from Parkinson's Paradisus, it appears to have been cultivated here in 1629; but he speaks of it as "rare, and nursed up but with a few, and those only lovers of varieties." Evelyn murmurs at the neglect shown to a tree flourishing so well here: A tree of good stature," says he, "not long since to be seen about Chelmsford in Essex, sufficiently reproaches our not cultivating so useful a material for many purposes where lasting and substantial timber is required. We read of beams of no less than an hundred and twenty feet in length made out of this goodly tree.” The Black Larch is a native of North America; it is of a darker colour than the Common Larch, and, comparatively with that, a stranger in this country: it does not grow so large as the European Larch, but it serves to increase variety, and will endure the climate boldly. In Switzerland, where Larch trees abound, and they have little other wood, they build most of their houses, and make the chief part of their furniture, of its timber; of which some is white, some red: the latter is most esteemed. Some suppose the redness to be occasioned by the quantity of turpentine contained in it, and to be peculiar to old trees. The boards, cut into shingles of a foot square, are often used to roof houses instead of tiles. When first laid they are very white, but in two or three years the resin being drawn out by exposure to the sun, fills up all the joints, and spreads over the surface; and, being hardened by the air, becomes a smooth, black, and shining varnish, impenetrable either by wind or rain. These roofs are, however, very combustible, and great damage has been done by fire in villages so built, on which account the people are obliged by law to build the houses at a certain given distance, one from the other. Larch wood has been supposed by many persons to be impenetrable by fire; and a story is related of a castle besieged by Cæsar, which, from the liberal use of Larch, was, at least, very difficult to consume. Evelyn quotes from Cæsar the following words, which are sufficiently decisive: "Et robusta larix, igni impenetrabile lignum." "And the strong larch wood, which fire cannot penetrate." There appears to be some truth in the notion that it will long resist fire, turning black long before it takes the flame. Several bridges were built of this timber by Tiberius, some think on this account. The forum of Augustus, at Rome, was built with it; and Vitruvius regretted that there was not a greater plenty of it to make joists. Evelyn says, it is so transparent, that when cabins made of the thin boards have lighted candles in them in the darkness of night, people at a distance would imagine them to be on fire. This writer also mentions a ship found some years since in the Numidian Sea, twelve fathoms under water, which was chiefly built of Larch and cypress, so hardened, as long to resist the fire or the sharpest tool. "Nor had any part of it perished," says though it had lain upwards of fourteen hundred years submerged." he, " "Larch wood," says Dr. Anderson, "is possessed of so many valuable qualities, that to enumerate the whole would appear extravagant hyperbole. To say much in a few words, wherever strength and durability are required, however exposed to sun, wind, or water, the Larch will be found far superior to oak itself. But although it has been much used for ship-building, it has been found at Venice, that it is better to use it only for the lighter parts of the upper works, not where massy pieces of timber are required, on account of its weight. It takes an excellent polish, and is valuable to the turner. Among other uses, let it not be forgotten, that it has been the common material for painters' palettes, and that, before the use of canvas, it was the very substance upon which Raphael and other famous artists painted their celebrated pictures." Mr. Martyn makes copious extracts from Dr. Anderson's account of the Larch, in his Essays on Agriculture, in which there is scarcely any purpose to which wood of any kind can be applied, for which he does not recommend Larch wood. With regard to its taking fire, he observes that where the masses are large, even if a fire be placed on the bare wood, though it will be slowly corroded by it, yet, unless in particular circumstances, it cannot be made to flame so as to communicate it to other bodies. Larch wood is used liberally in the buildings at Venice," especially," says Evelyn, "about the palaces in ૬૯ Piazza San Marco." The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, in London, in the year 1788, gave three gold medals, and a premium of 30l. for planting Larch, and making known the many useful purposes of its timber. They have offered both honorary and pecuniary rewards for its propagation. Of late years there have been made many plantations of Larch, and it |