timber, while in less elevated positions the produce is said to have been even more satisfactory.[1]
The wood is of a yellowish-white colour, tough, strong, and occasionally a little coarse, but is generally straight and even in the grain. It works up tolerably well, and is considered to be very durable, but has the serious drawback of excessive shrinkage, with a tendency to warp in seasoning.
The Larch tree yields the Venice turpentine of commerce, which is procured in abundance from the trunks of old trees; the bark also is of considerable value to the tanner. The Siberians make use of the inner bark, mixed with rye-flour, for preparing a sort of leaven, whenever the ordinary supply of the better article fails them.
The Italian Larch timber, some time since imported into this country, was only of moderate dimensions, a little curved at the butt or root end, and straight from about the mid-length, tapering rather quickly towards the top. This timber was generally free from heart-shake, and very solid about the pith, clean and even in the grain over the lower part, but coarse and knotty higher up; consequently, though not well adapted for the ordinary works in carpentry, it was very suitable for those parts of the frames of ships in which a light material is considered desirable.
It seems probable that the timber above referred to was especially selected for ship-building purposes, but
- ↑ To test the durability of the Scotch Larch, H.M.'s ship "Athol" was built of this timber in 1820, and about the same time the " Nieman," also a ship of war, was built of Baltic Fir. The former lasted for a long time without any extensive repairs, but the other decayed very rapidly, and from this comparison the superiority of the Scotch Larch over Fir, for durability, was considered to be pretty well established.
