to how seeds could be procured, and Prof. Sargent was good enough to do his best for me. Mr. Leiberg, in 1901, went on purpose to the Flathead Lake country, but found all the seed shed as early as September, and could only send a few seedlings by post. These heated on the way to England, and though I saved a few of them, they were always sickly, and most of them died before coming into leaf. Again I tried through the United States Forestry Bureau, who were also unable to get seed. In 1903, however, I procured a small parcel from Mr. Carl Purdy, and distributed the seed to many arboriculturists in England in 1904. These have germinated fairly well, and I hope that my efforts to make this grand tree better known may succeed.
The seedlings raised in 1904, from the seed which I distributed, have grown in several places, best perhaps at Murthly, under the care of Mr. Lowrie, where in September 1906 I saw some hundreds thriving very well, though not so large as common larch of the same age. At Walcot, in rather dry soil, they were 6 to 9 inches high. At Colesborne they grew slowly, and many were killed or injured in the seedbed by the frost of May 1905; but I have just planted out a number which were raised for me by Messrs. Herd of Penrith, and which are 12 to 18 inches high.
I visited Missoula in June 1904 on purpose to see the tree, and was fortunate enough to do so in company with Prof. Elrod of the Montana University, to whom I am greatly indebted for the excellent photographs of the tree here reproduced (Plate 111). They were taken on the Big Blackfoot river about twenty miles up the valley from Bonner, on the Northern Pacific Railway, where a large sawmill, managed by Mr. Kenneth Ross of the Big Blackfoot Lumber Company, has its headquarters. Guided by this gentleman we reached the logging camp in the Camas prairie and found the larch growing in deep bottom land at about 3500 feet, mixed with Pinus ponderosa and Douglas fir, but far exceeding both of them in size. The tree grows on slopes and in ravines where there is a good depth of soil not liable to dry up, and best on slopes with a north and east aspect, and on the rich detritus at their foot, and along the sides of the river. It differs strikingly from other larches in habit when adult, having very short branches, which are not produced singly or at regular intervals but grow in irregular groups of four or five, starting near together on the trunk. It forms a tall, very narrow column, and as it gets old loses many of its branches. It carries its girth to a great height and is, when grown in a thick forest, sometimes clear of branches for over 100 feet. The tallest tree I have heard of was figured in the Butte Miner of 29th February 1904, and was said to be the largest in Montana, 233 feet high and 24 feet in girth at or near the ground. This tree grew on the Upper Clearwater between Salmon and Seely lakes. It could be seen for miles above the surrounding trees, and must have contained over 2000 feet of timber. The best I saw, however, were from 150 to 180 feet in height, with a girth at 5 feet of 10 to 15 feet.
Frank Vogel, a timber surveyor who has had much experience with this tree, told me that it grew up to 6000 feet elevation on the hills above the Blackfoot river, and that he saw no difference between these trees and those lower down except in
