Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol02B.djvu/293

Rh wanted. But the greater strength and durability of the red heartwood in trees of great age does not command the increased price which it ought to be worth, and it is often best to keep this for private use and sell the smaller and younger trees, whose timber cannot be expected to last as long. For trees of 30 to 50 cubic feet rs. per foot and upwards, if not too far from a railway, is about the present price. For trees of 15 to 30 cubic feet 9d. to. 1s. should be realised, and for small thinnings the price fluctuates according to the local demand for fencing, hop-poles, and pit-timber.

On account of the durability of larch wood under water, it is specially adapted for piles, wharves, and groins; but owing to its propensity to warp and twist and the difficulty of sawing, planing, and jointing it in comparison with most other coniferous woods, it is seldom used for inside work. It makes very handsome panelling, however, if the red heartwood is carefully selected and seasoned, and is preferred to all other woods in its native Alps for building log-houses, which in some cases are known to have remained sound for 400 years.

The Duke of Atholl informs me that the larch used in the construction of the stables at Dunkeld in 1809 appears to be still quite sound; and I saw at Blair Castle a handsome table 5 feet in diameter made from a transverse section, laid as veneer, of a larch grown on the property, which shows eighty-seven annual rings. In the museum at Innsbruck I saw a very handsome antique chest made from very dark-coloured larch wood, which had been dug out of the ground, akin to bog oak in character; and the wood is used in conjunction with that of Pinus Cembra for making artistic furniture by Messrs. Colli Brothers of Innsbruck.

For ship- and boat-building it was at one time much more used than at present, and knees cut from its roots are at least as strong and durable, if not more so, than oak knees.

The bark, though used to some extent for tanning, is now seldom worth stripping except in the case of large trees felled in the spring, when, if taken off in large slabs, it makes a very durable covering for summer-houses, sheds, and other rustic buildings.

Venice turpentine is a resinous product of the larch formerly much valued in medicine and surgery, and for making varnish, of the production of which Loudon gives ample details; but like so many similar products, it has gone out of use in this country at least, but is still sold in Venice, where I procured a sample of it. Manna of Briançon is a saccharine exudation from the leaves of the tree in the form of small white opaque grains which formerly had some repute in medicine.