The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-02-16
FARMERS COLUMN.
THE EUROPEAN LARCH.
Clark EURorAA.)
From the Rural New Yorker.


From the Rural New Yorker.
We are wont to boast, and affect to be
lieve, that our native forest trees are SD
perior to those of any other country.
Abstractly, this opinion is we'll supported
by fact; nut in special cases we must ad
NIT that certain foreign species OF trees,
rs, for instance, the European larch, are
superior to our own. 1t is ola more
rapid growth, adapted to greater varl-
ETY. of soils, attains greater size and the
timber is more useful as well as durable.
Admitting that their merits have been
folly determined. as belonging to this
tree, we can readily understand why some
of our arb0rcu 'turists are go enthusias-
tic over the cultivation OF the larch as =
timber tree.
No one cSn read the history Of its
cultivation in Britain, from the time
Parkinson mentioned it in 1929 as q
rare tree, nursed by the lovers of varie
ty," up to the dly VIII tue AFholl IS
tate contained more than twenty -four
million of.larches planted by members OF
the same family, without believing 1t
possessed merits of more than ordinary
value In our Western States this tree
is beginning to be appreciated and ex
tensively cultivated, and we hope that
millions of acres Will yet be covered
With the European Lsrch. ALI that can
b. or are likely t. be grown will be
wanted for ties on the railroads of the
future, to say nothing of the thousand
other purposes for which larch timber
ID suitable.
We are DOT, however, going to write an
essay on the cultivation of larch at this
time, but wish tn call the attention of
those " no are interested in it's cultivation
to some of The pecuiIarities and habits ut
the different varieties 1t is probably
well known to most or our readers thar
Whit is called the European Larch is q
native Of the Alps of France and Swift
zeriand, and the Apennlne Mountains of
Italy 1t is also found in the Tyrol
Mountains Of Germany; hence are Of
the common name, v'z:-1yrolese Larch.
Many varieties have been pred iced
among the millions Of seeding grown in
the past century, and 1t would be well
for our arboriculturist TO carefully exam
inc them and determine which are best
suited to our climate and soil.
Grigor in his late work, published in
Edinburgh Scotland, says that there are
two quite distinct varieties grown-one
with red and the other with white f,w
ers or female catkins The red Larch is
Raid to be the most hardy. and attains
the largest size, although the white ap-
pears To be the more vigorous while
young. 1t is also claimed that seed i'm
ported from Tyrol produces, mainly, the
white sort, while that from the Scotch
plantations, the red These are interest
ing facts if they hold god IN this coun
try, and We should be pleased to hear
from those who have made any Observa-
tions or Investigations N this direction
Perhaps some of the Lafch plantations IN
Illinois have arrived ar "a sufficient age To
determine whether the trees are red or
white towering, and if there is really
any difference in the hard ness or growth
of the various sorts. May not the varla
bleness, IN the result obtained by differ
experiments, be in part owing 20 the
quality of seed, provided they were ob
tanned from the different countries named
above? IL would also he interesting 80
know the results obtained from seed
grown in this country, and whether it IS
equal or superior to that obtained from
abr ad.
We desire to obtain practical lnforma
ton on these points, and if any OF our
readers can give it they will confer q
favor upon thousands If in terested per
sens Ivy communicating the same
s-0s----