Changes

first year.— About 10 or 12 species in the colder regions and the high mountains of the northern hemisphere.

first year.— About 10 or 12 species in the colder regions and the high mountains of the northern hemisphere.

The larches are handsome trees of regular pyramidal habit, but in old age becoming sometimes irregular;they are particularly handsome in spring with their light green tender foliage and studded with their usually bright purple pistillate flowers. They are all hardy North except the Himalayan L. Criffithii, and are often planted as park trees, chiefly for the light green foliage and the regular conical, or in some varieties pendulous, habit. The most beautiful is probably ''L. leptolepis'', with the foliage turning bright yellow in  fall, while the others assume only a pale yellow color. They are also very valuable forest trees, especially for the northern and mountainous regions; no forest tree goes farther north than the larch, reaching in North America 67° and in Siberia 72° of latitude. The wood is hard, heavy and very durable, and much used for construction, that of ''L. occidentalis'' being considered the best of all American conifers. From the European larch turpentine is obtained. The bark contains tannin, and an extract is used for tanning leather. The larch grows in almost any kind of soil, including clay and limestone, and prefers a somewhat moist, but well-drained soil and an open situation; the American larch grows well even in swamps. Unfortunately several insects and fungi prey on the larch, and sometimes do considerable damage, especially the leaf-eating larvae of some moths. Propagation is usually by seeds sown in spring, and the young seedlings shaded; varieties are grafted on seedlings, mostly on those of ''L. decidua'' (''L.europaea''), either outdoors by whip-or cleft-grafting  or in the greenhouse by veneer-grafting; they may also be increased by cuttings of nearly ripened wood under glass or by layers, but this method is rarely practised.

The larches are handsome trees of regular pyramidal habit, but in old age becoming sometimes irregular;they are particularly handsome in spring with their light green tender foliage and studded with their usually bright purple pistillate flowers. They are all hardy North except the Himalayan ''L. Criffithii'', and are often planted as park trees, chiefly for the light green foliage and the regular conical, or in some varieties pendulous, habit. The most beautiful is probably ''L. leptolepis'', with the foliage turning bright yellow in  fall, while the others assume only a pale yellow color. They are also very valuable forest trees, especially for the northern and mountainous regions; no forest tree goes farther north than the larch, reaching in North America 67° and in Siberia 72° of latitude. The wood is hard, heavy and very durable, and much used for construction, that of ''L. occidentalis'' being considered the best of all American conifers. From the European larch turpentine is obtained. The bark contains tannin, and an extract is used for tanning leather. The larch grows in almost any kind of soil, including clay and limestone, and prefers a somewhat moist, but well-drained soil and an open situation; the American larch grows well even in swamps. Unfortunately several insects and fungi prey on the larch, and sometimes do considerable damage, especially the leaf-eating larvae of some moths. Propagation is usually by seeds sown in spring, and the young seedlings shaded; varieties are grafted on seedlings, mostly on those of ''L. decidua'' (''L.europaea''), either outdoors by whip-or cleft-grafting  or in the greenhouse by veneer-grafting; they may also be increased by cuttings of nearly ripened wood under glass or by layers, but this method is rarely practised.

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