Note 17 — PART II. BRITISH FOREST TREES USED AS NAVAL TIMBER.

Our common larch, like almost every other kind of tree, consists of numberless varieties, which differ considerably in quickness of growth, ultimate size, and value of timber. This subject has been much neglected. We are, however, on the eve of great improvements in arboriculture; the qualities and habits of varieties are just beginning to be studied. It is also found that the uniformity in each kind of wild growing plants called species, may be broken down by art or culture, and that when once a breach is made, there is almost no limit to disorder; the mele that ensues being nearly incapable of reduction.