traits of a higher character, and to have lived a decent unreproached life. LARCH PLANTATIONS AT DUNKELD. Among the objects of interest at Dunkeld are two enormous larch trees, which are described as the first planted in this country. They are said to have been originally set in flower-pots, and reared as hot-house plants. The two are nearly equal in size-about a hundred feet high, and fourteen feet in circumference near the ground. The story, as to their origin, is discredited by some local chroniclers; and Sir James Nasmyth, a Tweeddale baronet, disputes with Duke James of Atholl the merit of being the first who planted larches in Scotland. The latter, however, has the honour of being the most extensive and persevering planter, and so far he was a public benefactor. "The result Few things are more picturesque or beautiful than a planting of larch trees, hanging "all their tassels forth" on a fine morning, by the side of some dark lake or farstretching mountain, at once relieving and enriching the landscape by their light and graceful aspect. The improver also finds the wood a profitable investment. of planting a moor with larches," says Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, "is, that when the trees have grown so much as to exclude the sun, and to diminish the air and moisture on the surface, the heath is soon exterminated; and the soil gradually increasing by the decomposition of the spines or leaflets, annually thrown down by the larches, grass begins to grow as the trees rise in elevation, so as to allow greater freedom for the circulation of air below-and thus land which was not worth one shilling an acre, becomes most valuable pasture." The Duke of Atholl also found that the larch was little destroyed by snow or storms, so destructive B to pine plantations, owing to its being a deciduous tree, and its branches small. A pamphlet has been published on the Atholl system of planting and rearing larch by Mr Shiells, planner and valuer of woods. This gentleman contends for the priority of the Duke of Atholl as to the introduction of larches. A package of plants, he says, having been brought from Switzerland in a gentleman's portmanteau, a few of them were reared in the green-house at Dunkeld; three or four were planted on the lawn behind the mansion-house; and their vigorous and handsome appearance suggested to the duke the expediency of a more general cultivation of the tree. Accordingly, he early commenced to form large and extensive plantations. The larch thrives best when planted in masses; and before his death his grace had covered ten thousand acres of the Dunkeld estate, using, at least, thirty millions of the plants, besides other trees, to the amount of several millions. The advantages of this system of rural improvement are summed up as follows:-One hundred acres of land, originally worth the annual rent for grazing of only 1s. 6d. per acre, with an outlay for planting and thinning of £553, 10s., will, at the end of thirty years, not only repay this outlay, and yield, besides, a free profit of £659, but, at that period, will be received back into the rental of the estate worth the annual value of 10s. per acre, with a crop of timber on it of the value of £12,350, which is increasing at the yearly rate of at least £1000. It appears that larch-timber is suitable for shipbuilding. Her Majesty's frigate, Atholl, of twenty-eight guns, was wholly built of larch from the forests of Dunkeld and Blair, and has stood service in various climates with signal sucThe late duke witnessed the launch of this vessel, which must have been to him a highly gratifying spectacle. Some men of warm imagination and poetical fancy may say, cess. "What will become of our sea-songs, and patriotic speeches -our 'Hearts of Oak,' and the Thunders of our Native Oak'—if the larch is to supplant the growth of old England's forests in the manufacture of ships of war?" When Home wrote his tragedy of "Douglas," the play originally contained the following line : : "Here stands the ash, the monarch of the wood." Some knowing friends of the dramatist protested against the supremacy of the ash. It will never do, said they, to discrown the venerable oak, though the ash is more characteristic of a Scottish landscape. You must consult the long-cherished associations of the British public, and, by substituting oak for ash, give at once satisfaction to the audience, and dignity to the verse.* The poet saw that the criticism was just, and at once assented. We have no fear, however, of the larch supplanting the oak in building ships of war. But let all our lairds who may have steep hill sides and waste land to cultivate, set about rearing larch. Let them seek out the best plants proper for the soil and situation (using the spruce fir when the soil is too moist for * Perhaps the most interesting association connected with trees, is that of their being employed in shipbuilding; because, without ships, mankind must have remained in isolated portions, and could never have been highly civilized. It is probable, therefore, that in every country where ships are built, and where the trees employed are high in the scale of organic beauty, the most intellectual people of that country will consider such trees as the most beautiful. In Europe and America, the oak is the tree chiefly used in shipbuilding; and it is, at the same time, unquestionably fuller of variety and beauty of organic form, and of colour, and light, and shade, than any other tree of temperate climates; the oak, therefore, to the most refined of the inhabitants of these countries, may be considered as the most beautiful of trees.-Arboretum Britannicum. Part II. the larch); and let them have them planted in good order and good season. Let them be well fenced, and, in due time, properly thinned and cleared; the whole well ventilated and arranged; not planted in stiff mechanical lines, but thrown into clumps and open glades-a forest bold, flourishing, and graceful. PERTH. THE Coach soon whirled us into the "Fair City." There is nothing remarkable in Perth-no great manufactures or trade the streets and buildings fine, but no remains of antiquity, which a stranger expects here, considering that Perth was so prominent a place in Scottish history. Gowrie Palace, where James the Sixth exhibited the only instance of courage he was ever known to possess, has been long since removed. John Knox's Kirk remains (St John's Church), recalling the memory of that stern reformer, and of the troubled times in which he acted so prominent a part. When we entered it, some workmen were there making repairs. In this church Knox preached one of his first reformation sermons, and excited the congregation in an extraordinary degree by his fervid denunciations of the errors of the Church of Rome. The sacred edifice is in excellent preservation. It requires no great effort of imagination, while standing within its walls, to conjure up the circumstances of this memorable discourse-the people greedily devouring the forbidden truth, sweet as stolen waters-the thin spare figure of the preacher, dilated with a sort of preternatural enthusiasm-his long white beardhis keen eye, and outstretched hand, holding the audience, as it were, by a spell, while he thundered forth the torrent of his rude vehement eloquence, heard with rapture or with fear, but never heard in vain. The frantic gestures and uncontrollable enthusiasm of his hearers would be as dew to the troubled and toiling spirit of Knox; and when he saw them burst forth to destroy the images in the Catholic Church, he must have known that from that moment a spirit had gone forth which could not be quelled by authority, and that the cause was won. The environs of Perth, embosomed in the vale of the Tay, are justly famed for their beauty. The river is broad and winding, careering, like a monarch, through his rich dominions. It has been often related, that when Agricola and the Roman army first saw the river Tay, and the adjacent plains, with the two Inches, they exclaimed, "Ecce Tiber! Ecce Campus Martius!" Behold the Tiber! Behold the Field of Mars! The comparison would not now be considered a compliment to Scotland. The Tiber is a very ordinary stream, with its yellow waters flowing through a country in ruins, wasted by malaria. The Tay flows through a fertile, beautiful, and improving district, which, if not blest with the blue skies of Italy, has enjoyed a healthy climate, with the inestimable boon of free laws and equal privileges; and thus her hardy and industrious sons have risen to eminence in arts and arms-have fertilized and embellished their country at home, and carried the glory of its name into foreign lands. So just is the eulogium of the poet "Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand; Nor was perfection made for man below; There plague and poison, lust and rapine grow; |