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LIBRARY 
FACULTY OF FORESTRY 
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO 


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AND THEIR 


SYLVICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 
AND TREATMENT 


BY 


JOHN NISBET, D.Qéc. 


OF THE INDIAN FOREST SERVICE ; 
TRANSLATOR OF FURST’S ‘‘ PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS.” 


London | 
MACMILLAN AND CO. 


AND NEW YORK 
1893 


The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved 


_ LONDON AND BUNGAY. 


Cray anv Sons, Limite 


y 


. 


TO 

THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF SCOTLAND, 

THROUGH WHOSE EFFORTS SO MUCH HAS BEEN DONE 
TO PROMOTE THE STUDY 
‘ AND THE 

BETTER KNOWLEDGE OF WOODCRAFT THROUGHOUT BRITAIN 

THIS CONTRIBUTION 
TO THE LITERATURE OF THE 
SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF FORESTRY 


BY PERMISSION, 


Dedicated. 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2007 with funding from 
Microsoft Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/britishforesttre0Onisbuoit 


PREFACE 


‘* Truly, the waste and destruction of our woods, has been so univer- 
sal, that I conceive nothing less than an usiversal Plantation of all the 
sorts of Trees will supply, and well encounter the defect ; and therefore 
I shall here adventure to speak something in general of them all ; though 
I chiefly insist upon the propagation of such only as seem to be the 
most wanting, and serviceable to the end proposed.” —EVELYN’s Silva, 
4th Edit., 1706, v. Lntroduction. 


CONSIDERING the amount of attention which, 
especially during the last six or seven years, has 
been given to forestry in Britain, the appearance of a 
small work embodying the leading principles of sylvi- 
culture as applied to the principal species of forest 
trees should hardly require any apology. 

In the following pages are set forth in as short and 
concise a manner as seemed to ‘the author intelligible 
and practically useful, the chief sylvicultural character- 
istics of our timber trees according to the present 
advanced state of the knowledge of forest science 
in Germany. This makes no pretension of being 
a work of original research or of observation based on 
long experience in the treatment of forests in Britain. 
It is, and only professes to be, to a considerable extent, 
a compilation from the best German sources ; but the 
author can at any rate vouch for the correctness of 
the scientific principles enunciated, from his personal 


viil PREFACE 


observations made here, and also during fifteen years’ 
active service in the teak forests of tropical Burma. 

The works which have been chiefly utilised in the 
compilation are :— 

Burckhardt’s Sden und Pflanzen, 5th Edit., 1880. 
Ney’s. . . Lehre vom Waldbau, 1885. 
Gayer’s . . Waldbau, 3rd Edit., 1889. 

Numerous other works have been consulted and 
utilised, and wherever it has seemed desirable to quote 
the authority for any assertion, this has been done in a 
footnote. 

Whilst embodying the principles of sylviculture, it 
has been the author's care to omit any lengthened or 
unnecessary details as to the practical operations 
of sowing and planting, which are as well under- 
stood by arboriculturists in Britain as by sylviculturists 
on the Continent. Throughout the English literature 
on arboriculture many very valuable observations and 
facts have been recorded in the works of Evelyn, 
Loudon, Gilpin, Selby, Lindley, Monteith, Grigor, 
Brown, Veitch, Curtis, Michie, &c., and in the 7rans- 
actions of the Highland and Agricultural, and the 
Arboricultural Societiesof Scotland. But they often fall 
short of their full practical value sylviculturally, because 
they have not usually been based on a systematic and 
scientific knowledge of the fundamental principles 
which ought to underlie all sylvicultural operations, 
and which even on the Continent—where throughout 
the whole of the present century they have undoubtedly 
been far ahead of us in forest science—were not quite 
consistently, scientifically, and logically explained 
until the issue of the first edition of Gayer’s great 
work in 1880. 


PREFACE ix 


The same remarks do not apply to Hough’s 
American works, or to Schlich’s Manual of Forestry, 
recently published under the auspices of the Indian 
Government as a text-book for the use of the students 
at Cooper’s Hill, who now undergo their period of 
training there instead of in Germany or France as 
formerly. Though also compiled chiefly from German 
sources, that work differs essentially from -this in its 
more didactic aim, in its detailed descriptions of the 
various operations of sowing, planting, tending, &c., 
necessary for students without any previous knowledge 
of woodland craft, and in its merely alluding in 
the briefest possible manner to the sylvicultural 
characteristics and treatment of each of our British 
forest trees. 

Even despite the increased use of substitutes like 
iron, and the fact that owing to improvements in 
communication and transport the streets of London 
are partly paved with wood from Australia, whilst 
practically the only timber now used in the con- 
struction of the wooden walls of England is teak from 
Burma, the demands for timber utilised in the building 
and other trades are constantly increasing, so that 
wherever good timber can be produced in our home 
forests there is little likelihood of it failing to find a 
fair market. It is not at all likely, however, that 
landowners will put fresh land under forest, which, 
except in the case of osier-beds cut over annually, 
always involves a certain amount of outlay without 
immediate return as in agriculture, unless it can be 
shown to be a remunerative operation; but the 
more thoroughly the principles of sylviculture are 
understood, and the deductions therefrom are given 


x : PREFACE 


effect to, the more probable it is that fair returns 
will be obtained from land not quite good enough for 
agriculture. 

In an interesting article on “ Woodlands” in the 
Nineteenth Century for July 1891, page 33, Sir 
Herbert Maxwell, Bart., says :— 


**One chief hindrance to our woodlands being remunerative may be 
stated at once—we are arboriculturists and sportsmen, not foresters. 
A large portion of the land returned as woodland is really pleasure- 
ground and game-cover. Thousands of landowners follow on a smaller 
scale the example set by the State on a larger in the New Forest and 
Windsor Forest. Mixed planting ts generally practised, in sharp con- 
trast to what Continental foresters call ‘ pure forest’—thatis, a woodland 
composed of one species of tree. This ts in itself a hindrance to profit- 
able management, because pure forest ts much more easily tended than 
mixed plantation, and the timder ts more readily marketable.” 


This view is entirely wrong, and of itself shows the 
urgent need for some properly qualified instruction in 
forest science, when one of the more intelligent owners 
of woodlands can hold and disseminate such incorrect 
ideas concerning the true nature of forest growth, and 
the natural requirements of the various species of our 
forest trees. Here is what Professor Gayer of Munich, 
the greatest living authority on sylviculture, says on 
the subject at page 386 of the Zéztschrift fiir Forst- 
und Jagdwesen for June 1892 :— 


‘“* One can say that during the last thirty to forty years it has been a 
consistently emphasised leading principle of the Bavarian State Forest 
Department to recommend as muchas possible the extension and main- 
tenance of mixed forestsin all localitiesin any way suitable for their growth; 
and the principle, too, has been acted on in many places. In many 
other localities, however, and especially in the spruce tracts, mercantile 
considerations gained influence and took precedence, and the thought 
of a suitable admixture of species was to a certain extent pushed into 
the background, rendering it now very difficult to effect with satisfactory 
results a re-transformation to the former state of things. All the more 
emphasis is consequently now being laid on the retention of mixed 
growth, especially in regard to retaining it in all older crops which 
are still classifiable as mixed forest, and endeavours are in general 
being made to prepare the way for a return to mixed woods in all suit- 


—s 


PREFACE xi 


able localities. And that, face to face with the late fearful devastations 
in the spruce forests of southern Bavaria, these principles should be 
even more strongly insisted on, can easily be understood.” 


At page 387 he also adds advice of good practical 
value, as follows :— 


** Considering the circumstances of the timber market in general nowa- 
days and of local demands, and also having regard to their incontestably 
thriving growth, no argument is required to show that the Conifers, and 
in particular spruce, must nearly everywhere claim the lion’s share in 
the composition of the mixed forests of the future.” 


Mixed woods have the great advantages of denser 
growth, larger and finer production of timber both as 
regards quantity and technical quality, lessened 
danger from storms, snow, ice, insects, fire, and fungoid 
diseases, against all of which inestimable and solid 
advantages the only drawback that can be named is, 
that the tending of such woods is much more difficult, 
and requires considerably greater knowledge of sylvi- 
culture, than is requisite for the treatment of pure 
forests. 

In France about 70 per cent. of the wooded area 
is under mixed forests, and although not such scientific 
foresters as the Germans, the French are good practical 
sylviculturists, who would long ere now have found 
out if any great advantages lay in pure forests. 

Any one who has travelled through the _better- 
wooded tracts of Britain after having undergone a 
lengthened practical and scientific course of study of 
forestry in Germany, cannot fail to be impressed with 
two main facts: firstly, that in general the plantations 
are not quite so dense as they should be in order to 
attain the utmost outturn and the best development 
producible by the soil; and secondly, that the im- 
portance of underplanting for the protection and im- 


xii PREFACE 


provement of the productive capacity of the soil is 
either not recognised, or at any rate not practically 
given effect to. Even Thoinas Carlyle, who, as a shrewd 
country-bred youth with good powers of observation, 
probably knew as much about forestry as_ the 
average forester in Britain, makes the following rather 
depreciatory remark in regard to the normal density 
of the forests through which he happened to pass in 
his Excursion | futile enough] to Paris, published in the 
New Review, for October 1891, “ Wood enough still, but 
wwice or even thrice as thick as we allow it to be, an 
unfavourable criticism which is certainly terse enough 
in its disposal of the question of density in plantations. 

Even taking into consideration the damper insular 
climate of Britain, in which the soil is not so likely to 
deteriorate as on the inland forest tracts of the 
Continent, there can be no doubt that a greater 
degree of density and a better protection of soil 
against insolation, either by the maintenance of close 
canopy in high forest, or by underplanting wherever 
the canopy naturally begins to get interrupted and 
broken in the case of light-loving species like oak, 
ash, maple, pine, or larch, cannot fail to be produc- 
tive of marked improvement in the quality of the 
timber, and in the total outturn both from the prelimi- 
nary and from the final yield of forest crops. In 
particular, some of the larch forests seen by the 
author formed the finest possible examples of how 
woods should not be reared, and exhibited a total 
misconception of the requirements of forest crops in 
general, and of this species in particular. 

Whilst adhering consistently to the principle that 
sylviculture in Britain should be engaged in by private 


PREFACE xiii 


owners only when it can be shown to rest in all 
reasonable probability on a sound financial basis, it is 
only necessary to point out that the percentage of 
interest on capital outlay represented by soil plus 
growing stock should be calculated somewhat lower 
than that obtainable from agriculture—in Germany it 
is about 3 to 4 per cent. for the latter, and 24 to 34 per 
cent. for the former in the State forests, but greater 
in private forests, and for oak and osier coppice—as the 
rate of interest is of enormous influence in all actuarial 
calculations concerning forestry. Owing to dangers 
and the long periods that elapse before the crops are 
mature it should be higher were the soil equally good. 

Irrespective of the commons and heaths mostly 
only covered with heather, there are throughout 
Britain thousands of acres of land, perfectly able to 
yield remunerative returns if planted up, which are 
now practically lying waste, stale, unprofitable, and 
unproductive. There are thousands of acres of 
culturable, but uncultivated, land enclosed within the 
fencing of railway lines which might very easily, 
without prejudice to the railway traffic, without any 
danger to the public or the railway employees, but 
with considerable profit to the railway companies, be 
made to yield crops of apples or pears, filberts, &c., 
or be put under coppice for the production of oak- 
bark, osiers, hazel, black alder, fuel, &c., thus provid- 
ing employment for thousands of people, and home- 
grown produce for many industries which have at 
present to supply their requirements to a great extent 
from the Continent. The objections to the pasturage 
of cattle or the growth of lofty trees on such land 
are of course at once self-evident, but the annual 


xiv PREFACE 


harvesting of osier-withes, or the collection of oak-bark 
and fuel from coppices formed on suitable soil would 
entail no wanton exposure of human life, and would 
surely be more profitable than the present casual 
and unremunerative growth of rank grasses, furze, 
broom, brambles and other weeds. Throughout 
Mecklenburg the bermes along the railway lines are 
thus utilised, and that similar operations are quite 
feasible in England can easily be seen at many places 
between Brentwood and Colchester on the Great 
Eastern Railway, where a fair and probably spontan- 
eous growth of willows may often be noticed. 

In consequence of the continuous depression in 
the value of agricultural holdings, many tracts 
hitherto under tillage or pasture have sunk to such 
low rentals that it is a question well worthy of con- 
sideration, if they might not now be more profitably 
cultivated as woodlands for the production of a 
portion of the timber for which many millions of 
pounds are annually expended by the building and 
other trades in the purchase of timber imported from 
the Continent, that might quite easily be grown here. 

Whilst this little work is specially intended for the 
use of landowners and of those already engaged 
in practical forestry, it is hoped that at the same time 
it may perhaps assist in stimulating a little interest 
in sylviculture through Britain, where even among the 
more intelligent classes all that is known about our 
beautiful forest trees seldom goes further than the 
casual (and often rather doubtful) recognition of the 
various species in parks and ornamental woods. 


J. NISBET. 
8th December, 1892. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


; PAGE 
Introduction. Historical Sketch of British Forests. . . . . . I 
Enumeration of the Forest Treesof Britain ......... 13 
Forest Growth in Relation to Soil. ........2.2.2... 14 
Growth of Timber Cropsin General ............ 20 
General Comparative Considerations regarding the Growth of 
 SUNRO 7.) aE va ce bl be. ee ve 24 
Special Individual Considerations regarding the growth of British 
ERE Cth hig ae Par eRe 5 ser Rie kel sees 55 
PRINCIPAL SPECIES, forming, or capable of forming, pure forests. 
Coniferous Trees :— 
1. Scots Pine or Scots Fir... .... ae A eee 
2. Spruce, Spruce Fir, or Norway Spruce . | . '@3 
OIE ae SPURNS es Se aioe ae ee ; 114 
NT ORIN Aelia a oN eae ee ae &*) 
Deciduous Broad-leaved Trees. 
(A.) Hardwoods :— ; 
0 eae oe Sah ea bees 2 Eee 
OS an oy Poe ee ‘cach et ).) 
(B.) Softwoods :— 
MERCH ge BUY eee ; >, gat 
2, Common Alder . . | . > B23 


MINOR SPECIES wot usually forming pure Forests in Britain. 
Coniferous Trees. 
(A.) Zndigenous to Europe :— 
1. Black, Austrian, or Corsican Pine ...... . . 235 
SEEMING SE AMO sO a Pe Bere e) 5 np 


XVi TABLE OF CONTENTS 


3. Cembsan Pine... 22555 5: sci eee 

4: Mowntei PIMs 60s es ee ee ee eae 

S. Noxgmanie-Pir, . 020 naan. ce eee oes 
(B.) Zntroduced from North America :— 

1, Weymouth Pine? c7.¢° csc. Sa re aes 

%, Pitch Pine "ee hs ee cae 4. Out sey eee 

@. Vellow. 2ine ao caw es ee 

4. Jeffrey's Pine...:-. 2. 2 3; Seed vol dina eae 

S,OSMOE Bit HS kks Seow ae ee ee 

Deciduous, Broad-leaved Trees. 

(A.) Hardwoods : 

Bice cee a Ae Re GREE RAO ob nar ok alin eee 


RN OE end aN oe Ny xia aS Gs a Tae ete 2 ae 
(AOE Gris G-Te ts at ea Se 
. sweet or Spanish Chesinat =... . «0. 26. 2k 
; aountam Am Or. awa 7. 6 2 ete 5 cies i wT 
(B.) Softwoods :— 

7 ee MI ce Sr 5, eee ens gg Oe gS 


An pws 


Be ROGGRIS i Ga a Sele Core ee tg 
SUVS Ss oo Pee ee ho ke ence oe Ns a) Wa 
(C.) Trees of the Second Class, and Shrubs and Brushwood in 


Cine ire. ae ek eet Gore aA oe 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 


INTRODUCTION 


HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FORESTS IN BRITAIN 


In early times Continental Europe had a covering of tree 
vegetation over the greater part ofits area. Czesar described 
the country between the Seine and the Rhine as being a 
dense mass of woodlands ; in another place he stated that 
the forests in Britain were practically the same, and com- 
plained that the ancient Britons found shelter in the woods. 
Scotland and Ireland had likewise their woodland covering, 
principally Scots pine, over large areas since transformed 
into open agricultural land, pasturage, and moorland. 

Of our now common forest trees it is most probable that 
the species forming vast forests at the time of the Roman 
invasion were comparatively limited in number. The 
uplands of central and southern England, and all tracts 
with limy or chalky soil, bore dense woods of beech, whilst 
all the richer alluvial tracts with deeper soil were covered 
with a stately growth of oak. The higher land and the hills 
situated to the far north were mainly covered with Scots 
pine, birch and mountain ash, whilst oaks, ash, Scots elm, 
willows, aspen, alder and yew were confined generally to 
the coombs, the valleys, and the low-lying localities ; beech 


was not indigenous to Scotland. 
ip 


2 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


When one considers the unnatural difficulty about 
producing germinable seed freely in England, there seems 
little doubt that the chestnut, English elm, lime and poplar 
were not indigenous to Britain, but were introduced by the 
Romans along with a number of ornamental and fruiting 
trees, which never developed into trees of true forest growth, 
such as the plane, walnut, mulberry, service, hazel, box, 
medlar, apple, pear, prune, cherry, peach, apricot, quince, 
and rose. Many of these established themselves, and 
were regarded as indigenous by the monkish historians of 
the Norman Conquest, but some died out, and had to 
be re-introduced at later periods.! 

The chronology of our forest trees appears to be as 
follows :— 


Indigenous in prehistoric times :—Oak, beech,? Scots pine, birch, ash, 
mountain ash, Scots elm, sallow (saugh), aspen, alder, yew, haw- 
thorn. 

Introduced by the Romans :—Plane, chestnut, walnut, English elm, lime, 
alder, poplar, box, together with many ornamental and fruit-trees 
that have never attained true forest growth. 

Introduced before the end of the fifteenth century :—Hornbeam, syca- 
more, willows (white and crack), poplars (white and grey). 

Introduced during the sixteenth century :—Spruce, walnut, laburnum, 
juniper, holly, holm oak, stone or cluster pine, alderberry, vibur- 
num, mulberry. 

Introduced during the seventeenth century :—Silver fir, maple, plane, 
horse-chestnut, larch (England, 1629), robinia, buckthorn. 

Introduced during the eighteenth century :—Weymouth, maritime, 
cembran, and pitch pines, larch (Scotland, 1727), service, cedar. 

Introduced during the nineteenth century :—Austrian, yellow, and 
Jeffrey pines, Nordmann’s and Douglas firs, deodar, eucalyptus. 


' Some interesting details concerning the above matters may be found 
in Loudon’s Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 1838, vol. i. p. 15 
et Seq. 

* Ceesar states that he did not find the Fagus in England, but he 
probably meant the chestnut (Castanea vesca), or Fagus castanea, as it is 
absolutely certain that the beech was indigenous to central England, 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 3 


At the earliest periods the woodlands yielded not only 
food supplies and other necessaries of life in the shape of 
game, fish, fruits, honey, &c. for men, grazing for cattle, and 
pannage for swine, but were the only source from which 
could be drawn materials for providing light and warmth, for 
the erection of huts and sheds, construction of canoes, and 
of the various tools and implements in daily use. As time 
rolled on population gradually increased, and simultaneously 
therewith the demands for woodland produce rose. No- 
madic tribes, living principally from their herds and by 
the chase, first took to shifting cultivation of cereal crops, 
and then gradually settled down to permanent tillage, but 
in either case the woods had to be cleared of timber before 
the soil could be rendered cultivable. At the same time a 
gradual advance was being made towards a higher state of 
civilization ; canoes gave place to boats, and boats to ships 
capable of performing voyages on the sea; huts were im- 
proved into houses, and furniture became at first a luxury 
and then a necessity ; the desire for improved communica- 
tions led to the construction of bridges, &c. In every case 
the upward civilizing tendency increased the demands on the 
timber stores provided by nature. ‘These same processes 
ean be seen at the present day in many parts of India, in the 
backwoods of Canada and the United States, in Australia, 
and in fact wherever influx or increase of population takes 
place in hitherto uncultivated territory. At first, what 
seemed the more favourable localities were cleared and 
brought under cultivation, generally those with good soil 
near river banks, where communication was easy. Slowly 
but surely what was considered the best ground for agricul- 
ture was denuded of its woodland covering, and brought 
under permanent cultivation. 

In their undisturbed condition the reproductive power of 
the woodlands was perfect, but after human interference with 

B 2 


4 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


their produce began this gradually diminished, until such 
lessened capability of reproduction, coupled with the grow- 
ing restriction of woodland area consequent on the increase 
of agriculture and of the agricultural population, and the 
increasing demands for timber, gave serious cause for 
reflection, and necessitated the adoption of measures for the 
protection of the remaining woodlands. 

In different countries varying local circumstances called 
for the adoption of protective measures, which differed of 
course in detail, but in general the methods adopted had a 
considerable degree of similarity. A beginning was usually 
made by the reigning power laying tracts of country—not 
necessarily woodlands, but generally including extensive 
wooded areas—under ban in order to preserve them as 
hunting grounds. Thus! at the end of the eighth century 
the old German word /ors?,? corrupted through the old 
Norman form /oz¢¢ into the legal Latin forestare, to place 
under ban, became foresta, forestis, which up till then had 
merely denoted a voyal hunting ground, but henceforth was 
applied to all such other lands as were proscribed or laid 
under ban as regards cultivation, the right of chase being 
vested in the king, or in those specially permitted by him to 
exercise it. Both in England and Scotland the early forest 
laws had reference principally to the protection of game. 

In England, in its original and strictly legal sense therefore 
a FOREST was an area (not necessarily woodland) for the 
sake of the chase placed under the royal ban with regard to 
cultivation, and subject to forest law in place of the common 


1 Schwappach’s Forstgeschichte in Lorey’s Handbuch der Forstwiss- 
enschaft, 1886, vol. i., p. 147. 

2 According to Grimm, Forst was derived from the old High German 
Foraha = Anglo-Saxon Fuhr = modern German Fohre = Scots Fir, 
the principal tree throughout the great north German plain. See 
also Max Miiller’s Chips from a German Workshop, 1875, vol. iv., 
p- 518. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 5 


/aw. The addition of areas to the already existing forests 
was termed afforestation, whilst later on the release of 
areas from the ban, and the determination of the rights 
belonging to the crown and those belonging to the com- 
monalty, were known as disafforestation, disforestation, or 
deforestation. Ancient records state that at the time of the 
Norman invasion there existed sixty-nine large forests in . 
England covering the greater portion of the country. Milton 
says (4 Complete History of England, Lond. 1706, vol. i., 
page 110, note 4) that William the Conqueror destroyed 
thirty-six parish churches, with the houses and possessions of 
so many townships, to make them habitations for wild beasts 
in forming the New Forest. The monkish records from 
which this information is derived are, however, to be read 
with caution, for the writers naturally did not love the royal 
house that hustled them out of their churches, and can 
hardly be trusted to have chronicled a dispassionate and 
unbiased statement of the actual events. Such royal fores?s 
consisted of vev¢ (timber, underwood and turf) and venison 
(including all animals and game). Manwood’s “story of 
Forest Laws and Holinshed’s Description of Britaine (chap. 
ii,) give good descriptions of the ancient woods and forests. 

The principal forests in England about that time were 
Rothbury and Lowes (Northumberland), Nicol, Knaredale, 
Westwood, Inglewood, and Copeland (Cumberland), Mil- 
burn, Whinfield, Martindale and Thornthwaite (Westmor 
land), Langden or ‘Teesdale, and Weardale (Durham), 
Wiresdale and Bowland (Lancashire), Knaresborough, 
Pickering, and Hardwicke (York), Delamere and Maccles- 
field (Cheshire), Sherwood (Nottingham), Clune (Shropshire), 
-Needwood (Stafford), Charnwood (Leicester), Lyfield or 
Leafield (Rutland), Wire, Malvern and Feckingham 
(Worcester), Arden or Ardennes (Warwick), Rockingham, 
Whittlebury, and Salcey (Northampton), Wabridge (Hunt- 


6 BRITISH FOREST -TREES 


ingdon), Dean, Micklewood, and Kingswood (Gloucester), 
Whichwood (Oxford), Bernwood and Clitern (Bucks), 
Hainault and Epping (Essex), Savernake, Blakemore, 
Bradon, and Pevisham (Wilts), Nerohe, Selwood and Mendip 
(Somerset), Chute, Alice Holt, Bere, and New Forest or 
Ytene (Hants), Gillingham, Cranbourne, and Blackmore 
. (Dorset), Dartmoor and Exmoor (Devon), Windsor (Berks), 
Enfield (Middlesex), and the Weald of Kent, Andreas Wald, 
or Coit Andred, comprising Norwood (Surrey), Tunbridge 
(Kent), and Ashdown (Sussex). The only forest of 
considerable extent in Wales appears to have been the 
Radnor Great Forest in South Wales. 

After Magna Chartawas drawn up, the Charta de foresta 
(1216) removed some of the most glaring oppressions of 
the forest laws, but they still remained very harsh and unjust 
till a much later date. In Scotland the royal forests included 
large tracts subject to the /eges forestarum which, though 
severe in themselves, were not quite so savage as those in 
force in England. 

The destruction of woodlands went on more rapidly in 
Britain than on the Continent. By the time of Henry VII. 
only about one-third of the area of England remained under 
forest, while, according to Holinshed, plantations for the 
growth of timber for technical purposes were begun as early 
as Henry VIII.’s time, when a statute (c. 35) enjoined re- 
plantations of Forest Trees to cure the spoils and devastations 
that have been made in the woods. By offering rewards for 
the transformation of woodlands into arable land James I. 
in the early part of the seventeenth century gave an immense 
impulse to the national movement in this direction, whilst 
subsequently Charles I.’s chronic want of money led to his 
alienating by grant large portions of the royal woods, and 
later on Cromwell’s agricultural policy, “the repeal of the 
Charta de foresta, and the abolition of the forest courts, gave 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 7 


fresh impetus to clearing, and were the cause of large areas 
being denuded of timber, some being transformed into arable 
land and pasturage, but many of them being left to drift into 
barren moorland. The great Caledonian Forest, formerly 
occupying the bulk of the central portion of Scotland north 
of the Forth and Clyde, and formed principally of oak on 
the lowlands and Scots pine on the uplands (the only 
species of the pine or the fir tribe indigenous to. Britain), 
covered also extensive tracts of which too often little is 
now left but the memory and the name. Thusto the south 
of the Forth and Clyde lay the forests of Ettrick, Lauder- 
dale, Wedale, Romanach, and Jedwood on the east side, 
and those of Cadzow and Hamilton on the west. The 
principal forests to the north of that were Torwood 
(Stirling), Rannoch and Birnam (Perth), Glentanner, Inver- 
cauld and Braemar (Aberdeen), Tarnawa and Drummyne 
(Moray), Abernethy, Rothiemurchus, Glengarry, Glen- 
moriston, Strathglass, Strathfarrer, and Glenmore 
(Inverness), Coygach (Ross), Derrymore and Derrymonach 
(Sutherland). 

Large extents of woodland were felled in Scotland at the 
time of the wars of Edward I., as they afforded cover to the 
patriotic bands opposing his army, and John of Ghent, Duke 
of Lancaster, is said ! to have employed 24,000 men in the 
task of clearing away the timber and destroying the forests 
in order to punish an incursion. Similar measures were 
also adopted by Cromwell’s army under Monk about the 
middle of the seventeenth century, and the destruction of the 
woods on the highland hills was continued into the present 
century. The pine forests covering many counties, those 
known as Glenmore, Rothiemurchus, and Rannoch, along 
with many others, were cleared and destroyed towards the 


! Gilpin’s Forest Scenery, Lauder’s edition, 1834, vol. ii., p. 5. 


8 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


end of the last, and the beginning of the present century, 
although fortunately others, such as those of Abernethy, 
Athole, Duthal, Braemar, and Invercauld, escaped with 
somewhat more rational treatment. Unfenced and unpro- 
tected, the natural reproduction from seed could not have 
any fair chance of outgrowing the damage done by cattle 
and sheep browsing on the young seedlings and shoots, and 
in this mutilated condition the light-loving pine would easily 
be choked and killed by rank casual growth of heather, 
heath, broom, and furze. To these historically authenticated 
clearances of the natural forests there must also be added 
the unrecorded enormous destruction of the aboriginal 
woodlands from conflagrations and fires intentionally kindled 
or accidentally caused, the vast extent of which cannot now 
be estimated. Most of the pine stems found in mosses 
exhibit signs of fire. As the pine is unable to reproduce 
itself by suckers, or coppice shoots, or from dormant buds 
along the stem, the destruction of these forests practically 
put an end to forest growth in the hilly tracts, and gave 
up the soil a prey to heath, and heather, and other 
lowlier forms of vegetation, without any possibility of 
natural reproduction of pine growth. Ireland, too, shows 
a similar record, the colonization schemes (plantations) 
of James I., Charles I., and Cromwell in the seventeenth 
century having given a great impetus to the work of timber 
clearance all throughout Ulster, Connaught, Leinster, and 
Munster. 

That this work of destruction could without climatic and 
economic disaster be permitted to a much greater degree in 
Great Britain and Ireland than on the Continent was, and 
is, due mainly to our insular position with its moist and 
comparatively equable climate, and to the enormous 
supphes of coal,—mineralised forest produce,—which have 
been our heritage. What we owe in Britain to our forests 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 9 


of previous geological ages we may learn from the 
following :—* 

**For the production of an equivalent in wood to the 115 million 
tons of coal worked out of mines during 1878 in England and Wales— 
the countries richest in coal in the whole world—there would be requi- 


site an area of 359,375 square miles of pine forests ; that is to say, 
rather more than six times their total area.” 


In France and Germany the principal domestic fuel even 
now is wood, that of the beech standing highest in repute. 
Considering the difficulties in former times of transporting 
timber and fuel to any great distances away from the natural 
water channels, it can easily be understood how at a 
comparatively early date repressive measures were neces- 
sitated in order to restrict the clearance of woodlands, and to 
maintain under timber a due proportion of the total area, 
conveniently spread over the length and breadth of every 
duchy. Thus in Germany an edict had to be issued as 
early as 1304 forbidding fresh clearances in a part of Alsace, 
and ordering land illegally brought under agriculture to be 
given up again to the production of timber. By the sixteenth © 
century such edicts had become general throughout most of 
the states then forming the German empire. In France, 
too, similar edicts were issued during the sixteenth century by 
C¥arles IX. and Henry IV., but the most important and 
best known one was Colbert’s Ordonnance sur le fait des 
oréts issued by Louis XIV. in 1669, upon the lines of 
which forest administration was mainly conducted until the 
Revolution, and whose influence is still to a certain extent 
traceable in the code forestier of the present day. In 1789 the 
forests, hitherto under the protection of the state, were cut 
down in the most reckless manner, being looked upon more 
or less as common property, whilst private owners of wood- 


'V. Helferich, Die Forstwirthschaft in Schinberg’s Handbuch der 
politischen Oekonomie, 1882, p. 713. 


10 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


lands were enabled by a decree of 1790, repealing the 
régime forétier, to transform the same into agricultural lands. 
These devastations went on at such a rate, and to such an 
extent, that it was found necessary to issue a prohibition 
from the Consulate with regard to further clearances, and to 
establish a regular administration of the national and 
communal forests. 

In comparison with the forests of the three chief countries 
of the continent of Europe our woodlands have been cleared 
to an extent which, but for our damp insular climate, might 
have long ere now proved disastrously excessive, as may 
be seen from the following abstract :—1 


| | Extent of Woodlands. Ee ee 
| ak rd 
| : 8.2 S 
| Acres §< 3 mt See Hy a 
‘Sie emcee i =. 4 eee 
so | ee | gg | B93) 2 
aos) 8 | ban] £ 
German Empire .| 34,334,511 | 26 0°76 33 19 48 
Austria& Hungary, 46,833,682 | 30 1°26 Il 26 63 
| France. . . .| 20,740,913 16 0°57 II 23 66 
Great __ Britai : 
pao Shee gg } 3,007,569", 4 | 0°07 25 98 
we: SiS oS 
| Total for Europe | 768,224,774 | 314 | 2°49 | —- | — | — 


As compared with the other methods of economic utilisa- 
tion of the soil in these countries the following approximate 


1 Weber, Die Aufgaben der Forstwirthschaft in Lorey’s Handbuch 
der Forstwissenschaft, 1886, vol. i., pp. 14-17. 

? Board of Agriculture’s Returns for 1891, p. x. 

% Return to House of Commons in 1863 gives 112,376 acres as total 
of Crown forests. From the Report on Woods and Forests and Land 


BRITISH FOREST TREES II 


percentages of cultivated soil to the total area of the country 
may be of more than passing interest :— 


| Percentage of Total Area of Country, under 
Forest. Tillage. | Pasturage. | Vineyards. 
German Empire . 26 48 20 0°25 
Austria and Hungary 30 38 26 0°95 
ae ee 16 50 14 4°9 
.| Great Britain & Ireland 3# 254 | - 35% ae 


In no country is arboriculture better understood or 
practised than in Britain, but in sylviculture, and indeed as 
regards forestry altogether, we have much to learn from Con. ~ 
tinental countries, from Germany in particular. Inno other 
country than Britain is there such apathy shown by Govern- 
ment with respect to the provision from national funds of 
technical education concerning forestry, and as regards 
timber production and utilisation in general. 

Of late years there has, however, been a decided con- 
sensus of opinion that the destruction of woodlands 


Revenues of the Crown submitted to House of Commons on 26 July, 
1889, the total forest area appears to be 109,139 acres, of which only 
57,304 acres are actually under timber crops (v7de Minutes of Evidence, 
Pp: 4, 5, and 42). 

1 Vide Board of Agriculture’s Statistical Returns for 1891 and 1892. 


The actual figures therein given for the United Kingdom according to 
the latest data are :-— 


| Total acreage of 1891. 1892. 

| aE oe ae 
Land and Water . 77;7993793 77,642,099 

| Arable Land... .. 20,611,810 19,769,272 
Permanent Pasture. . 27,567,663 27,533)320 

| NEQOUIRNOE 6-05 re. as 3,007,569 3,005,670 


12 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


throughout Britain has been carried somewhat too far, and 
measures have in many parts of the country been taken to 
rectify the errors of the past by means of planting on an 
extensive scale. But, thanks to our insular position with its 
moist climate, and to the equalising influence of the Gulf 
Stream on the latter, in modifying the heat of summer 
and the rigour of winter as compared with the extremes of 
Continental countries situated within the same degrees of 
latitude, the destruction of the British woodlands has not 
been followed by such disastrous climatic changes as 
followed the denudation of forests in the Landes, Greece, 
Syria, Asia Minor, and Russia. 

In the Greater Britain formed by the colonies and de- 
pendencies of the empire—Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 
the Cape, Natal, &c., and especially India—we still own the 
most extensive and the. most valuable tinrber-producing 
tracts in the world, and thanks to the advances in maritime 
and inland communications, are able to supply easily all 
the demands that have hitherto arisen in regard to timber. 

Considerations regarding timber production in Britain 
must, therefore, in general be determined mainly by the 
degree in which such operations can be shown to rest on a 
secure and remunerative financial basis. Arboriculture will 
still be necessary in parks and open spaces, for the 
residential portions of large estates, and under similar con- 
ditions where zesthetic aims are comparatively untrammelled 
by economic considerations ; but the sylvicultural operations 
of private proprietors on a large scale must usually be 
guided by coldly calculating estimates regarding attainable 
revenue and necessary expenditure, and a preference will 
naturally be given to such species of trees, systems of rota- 
tion, and methods of treatment, as—whilst duly protecting: 
the productive capacity of the soil—hold out fair promise 
of yielding the most profitable nett results. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 13 


THE Forest TREES OF BRITAIN. 


Principal Species.—The chief trees to be found in north- 
ern Europe forming, or under certain circumstances capable 
of forming, pure forests without an admixture of other 
species are :— 


Coniferous trees— 
1. Scots or common pine, or Scots fir (Pus sylvestris, L.). 
2. Spruce, spruce fir, or Norway spruce (7%cea excelsa, Link.). 
3. Silver fir (Adzes pectinaia, D.C.). 
4. Larch (Larix europea, D.C.). 
Broad-leaved trees— 
(A) Hardwoods. 
1. Beech (Fagus sylvatica, L.). 
2. Oak (Quercus pedunculata, Ehrh., and sessilifora, Sm. ). 
(B) Softwoods. 
1. Birch (Betula alba, L.). 
2. Alder (Alnus gliutinosa, Gaert.). 


Minor Species.— Other trees, usually found in Britain 
only mixed in forests of the above principal species, 
are :— 


Coniferous trees (all quite capable in themselves of forming pure 
forest )}— 


(A) Zndigenous to Europe— 

Black, Austrian, or Corsican pine (7%nus Jaricio, Poir = 
Austriaca, Hoss). 

. Maritime pine (Pinus maritima, Lam.). 

. Mountain pine (Piss montana, Mill). 

. Cembran pine (Pinus cemobra, L.). 

. Nordmann’s fir (Adzes Nordmanniana, Link.),. 
(B) Zutroduced from North America— 

. Weymouth pine (Pinus strobus, L.). 

. Pitch pine (Pinus rigida, Mill). 

. Yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa, Mill). 

Jeffrey's pine (Pinus Jeffreyi, Murr.), 

Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga Douglasit, Carr). 


_ 
. 


wut WN 


Yen 


14 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Broad-leaved species. 
(A) Hardwoods— 


. Ash (Fraxinus excelsior, L.). 
. Maple or Norway maple (Acer platanoides, L.). 
Sycamore or great maple (Acer pseudoplatanus, L.). 
. Elms, viz.:— 
Common, English, or small-leaved elm (U/mus campestris, 
Sm.). 
Scots wych, or mountain elm (U/mus montana, Sm.). 
5. Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus). 
6. Sweet or Spanish chestnut (Castanea vesca, Gaert.). 
7. Mountain ash, Rowan, or Fowler’s service tree (Sordus au- 
cuparia, L.). ; 


wh 


(B) Softwoods— 


. White alder (Alnus incana, Willd.). 

. Lime (77a parvifolia and grandifolia, Ehrh.). 

. Horse-chestnut (sculus hippocastanum, L.). 

Aspen (Populus tremula, L.), and other poplars (Popzdlus 
species), 

5. Willows (Salix species). 


PwNn 


(C) Smaller trees, and shrubs in coppice. 


FoREST GROWTH IN RELATION TO SOIL. 


During growth, trees exact certain supplies of nutri- 
ment from the soil, which would be restored to it if they 
were left to fall as they grow. If, however, the timber be 
utilised, with the removal of each crop the soil is left poorer 
than before, unless the influence of the agents active in 
decomposing the mineral and organic constituents of the soil 
has been protected, for if these chemical changes be not 
called into action the soi! must gradually become exhausted 
and deteriorate. In agriculture the larger supplies of nutri- 
ment extracted from the soil are returned in the shape of 
manure, which not only helps to restore the deficit, but also 
stimulates to nitrification and decomposition of the soil ; in 
sylviculture the only recompense that can practically be 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 15 


made is found in the fall of leaves after fulfilling their 
function, flowers, fruits, twigs, and the like, whilst the leaf 


canopy also assists mechanically by preserving the soil- 


moisture from being evaporated by the sun’s rays and 
by winds, thereby allowing the moisture more opportunity 
of rendering soluble the mineral constituents of the soil. 
Under the shade of the forest trees lowlier forms of 
vegetation thrive, and these in turn die, decompose, 
and aid in the great work of forming Awmus or leaf-mould 
which, being strongly hygroscopic, absorbs and retains 
the atmospheric moisture and precipitations, and regulates 
the motion of moisture within the soil. The roots of trees 
also in ramifying penetrate the soil in every direction, 
first of all cleaving and breaking up the rocks mechani- 
cally, and then on decaying assist indirectly in the 
subsequent chemical changes. 

Retention of soil-moisture and formation of humus or 
vegetable mould, by which is meant all organic matter in 
process of decomposition—two of the important factors in | 
determining the quality of soils from a sylvicultural point 
of view—are therefore the principal benefits conferred by 
tree-growth on the soil. Without considering the excep- 
tional cases of very fertile or very moist soils, whose mineral 
strength or supply of moisture is not likely to be affected, 
these objects are most satisfactorily attained by maintaining 
growth in closed canopy—although the crowns of the trees 
need not necessarily be all at the same level, as in planta- 
tions—so that the soil should not be exposed to the disturb- 
ing and inimical influences of sun and wind, blowing away | 
the dead leaves, evaporating the moisture, and otherwise 
interfering with the gradual process of decomposition of the 
humus. If the canopy be too light or broken, rank growth 
of grasses and weeds gains a foothold, and consumes the 
nutriment unprofitably, so that the crops best adapted for 


16 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the protection of the soil are such as have a dense crown 
of foliage, and maintain their growth in close canopy through 
long. stages of their development. 

All species of forest trees are not endowed alike with the 
qualities requisite for maintaining or improving the pro- 
ductive capacity of the soil. Among deciduous trees they 
are conspicuous in the beech, with its close canopy, dense 
foliage, and heavy fall of leaves rich in potash, and slowly 
decomposing under the shade of the parent trees into strongly 
hygroscopic humus of excellent quality. Hornbeam foliage 
is thinner, decomposes more rapidly, and is less in quantity ; 
the thickly-foliaged lime shades the soil well, but yields 
only a small amount of humus ; the chestnut has a some- 
what full crown of good mould-producing foliage ; but none 
of these trees occur forming large pure forests in Britain. 
Oak, elm, ash, maple, sycamore, and the other more valu- 
able and remunerative broad-leaved trees are unfortunately 
not naturally adapted on the whole for protecting, far less for 
increasing, the productive power of the soil, except when 
grown in admixture with species endowed with such 
capacity in a higher degree than themselves. Among the 
conifers, spruce and silver fir especially, and in a less 
degree the Weymouth, Austrian, and maritime pines, are 
gifted with soil-improving qualities, which are increased by 
the fine growth of moss beneath them acting like humus in 
its sponge-like absorption and retention of soil-moisture. 
The less thickly foliaged conifers, Scots pine and larch, 
are least of all endowed in this respect, though during the 
earlier stages of growth a layer of moss (principally species 
of Hypnum) is produced under them, which protects the 
soil from sun and wind. But as this covering of moss is 
apt to disappear when the opening up of the canopy reaches 
a certain degree, such pure forests cannot be worked with 
long periods of rotation without endangering the quality of 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 17 


the soil, unless underwood is sown or planted. Exception- 
ally, pure forests may be formed by trees of sparse foliage, 
when the soil runs no risk of becoming deteriorated through 
want of protection. Marshes planted up with alders, birch, 
aspen, and poplars are examples of this, but in such cases 
wind and sun often act beneficially by stimulating evapora- 
tion, and thereby decreasing the superfluous amount of soil- 
moisture. 

In the vegetable kingdom, as in the animal, a constant 
strife is being waged between species, and in the different 
species between family groups, and in these again between 
individual plants—a definite struggle for existence in perfect 
accordance with the laws of nature regarding the survival 
of the fittest. There is, however, this great difference 
between the animal and the vegetable worlds, that the 
struggle carried on by forest trees in the temperate climate 
of central and northern Europe! is one which tends to pro- 
duce a more or less pronounced, though perhaps never 
absolute, domination of the principal species over large 
areas limited only by the conditions best suited to the 
growth and development of each individual species. 

If the whole continent of Europe were to be planted up 
quite regularly with an equal number of seedlings of each 
species of indigenous forest tree, we should find in course 
of time that a segregation of species would take place, 
and that, just as has happened in the ethnographic dis- 
tribution of human races, they would also have their 
places more or less definitely allocated to them. Certain 
kinds of trees would be predominant over larger areas? in 

1 This is not the case in the tropical forests of equatorial regions, 
with the exception of the almost pure forests of Diflerocarpus tuber- 
culatus, formed on tracts of Laterite, where soil is the principal factor 
limiting the growth of species. 

* This gregarious tendency was already noted in Evelyn’s Sy/va. 
Gilpin (forest Scenery, Lauder's edition, 1834, vol. ii., p. 113) says :— 

c 


18 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


which the most suitable of the other species would occur 
merely as subordinate clumps, or groups, or patches, or 
individuals, in situations for which they were either naturally 
better adapted than the ruling species, or to which the 
seed had been carried by some such fortuitous agency as 
birds, animals, &c. There would, too, always be a sort of 
debatable land between the domain of each, where the 
two neighbouring kinds of ruling species existed in more 
or less constant warfare and rivalry, each striving to gain an 
advantage over the other as far as possible; the more insinuat- 
ing and hardy slowly, perhaps, but surely gaining advantages 
until it reached the limits of its proving more suitable and 
hardy than its rival. Nature would ascribe to each of the 
different forest trees the soils and situations best suited for it, 
and for which it was best suited. 

Before man commenced to interfere with the work of 
nature by felling trees prematurely, and clearing, or sowing, 
or planting, as it pleased him, Scotland had its vastly pre- 
dominating growth of Scots pine, and scantier growth of 
birch and rowan on the mountains ; oaks, ashes, Scots elms, 
alders, and willows, together with the less important hazel, 
holly, and yew, were abundant on the better soils through- 
out all Scotland and northern England ; central and southern 
England bore their enormous stretches of beech growth 
forming dense and more or less pure forests on the limy and 
chalky soils of the midland counties, where also a goodly 
growth of oak flourished on the richer alluvial tracts and 
lower uplands, used principally as coverts for innumerable 
wild boar, roe, and red deer, and constituting the grazing 
grounds into which large herds of swine were driven for 
pannage and mast. Norway and Sweden had their pine 
and spruce forests, whilst hundreds of thousands of acres of 


** Mr. Evelyn remarks that every forest in which oak and beech grow 
promiscuously will, in a course of ages, become entirely beechen.” 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 19 


the low sandy land south of the Baltic bore Scots pine as 
the predominating forest growth ; the lower hills of central 
and north-western Germany were clothed with beech, and 
the higher central mountains bore dark, dense woods of 
spruce, whilst the warmer tracts of southern Germany and 
eastern France were divided between spruce and silver fir, 
with beech at the lower elevations ; further south, the Alps 
had their extensive forests of beech, silver fir, spruce, pine 
and larch, each more or less distinct, though of course over- 
lapping at the edges. Austria in the same way had, and 
still has, its tracts of black pine and larch, and Russia its 
pines, firs, hornbeams, alder, aspen, and birch. In the 
richer alluvial tracts oaks, ash, elms, maples, and other 
prized timber trees happily found localities where they were 
able to assert themselves, whilst moist and low-lying situa- 
tions, where winters were hard and late, and early frosts 
frequent and severe, were left to be the abiding place of 
alders, birch, aspen, poplars, willows, and such _ hardy 
denizens as failed to show themselves the fittest or most 
self-asserting in milder localities. 

Such was the actual condition of affairs before man exerted 
himself in making demands on forest growth, and began 
interfering with the course of events being worked out by 
Nature in her own sure though gradual way ; and it is certain 
that such would again be the state of affairs throughout 
Europe in a comparatively short space of time if all human 
interference with the course of nature were now to cease. 
Even now on the Continent the domain of the oak and the 
beech is being encroached on by pine and spruce, which 
are more easily satisfied as to soil and situation, and these 
in turn have to struggle with birch and willow for the 
maintenance of their own areas. 


20 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


GROWTH OF TIMBER CROPS IN GENERAL. 


Under “#méer is comprised all wood used for technical 
purposes. 

Timber trees differ essentially from skruds in the pro- 
duction of a dole, trunk or stem to a greater or less height 
above the ground before ramifying to form their crown, and 
as a rule the length of the bole is dependent to a consider- 
able degree on the density of the crop. Under timber crop 
is understood the quantity of material growing on any 
particular area, whilst under growing stock is comprised all 
the crops growing on the total area for which a working plan 
has been constructed ; under normal circumstances, when 
a fall of timber takes place annually, it includes all the 
timber crops ranging from the very youngest up to that now 
mature, the area covered by each of the annual crops being 
equal to the total area divided by the number of years 
included within the full period of rotation, and the total 
number of annual crops included within the growing stock 
being of course equal to the number of years included in 
the period of rotation or turnus ; it includes, in short, the 
various timber crops growing on each of the annual fa//s or 
clearances. 

The timber crop may be a pure forest consisting of a 
homogeneous wood, grove, or holt formed of one species of 
tree only, or it may be a mixed forest made up of some 
principal or ruling species with one or more subordinate or 
minor species scattered throughout it in Aursts or clumps, in 
groups or clusters, in patches or knots, in rows or lines, and 
individually or singly. 

When the timber crop is allowed to attain its full maturity 
and attainable dimensions in height and girth, it is said to 
be treated as high forest or high timber forest, but when cut 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 21 


back to the stool so as to force it to reproduce itself by means 
of stool shoots, and of stoles or suckers from the roots, the 
method of treatment is termed copficing ; an amalgamation 
of the two systems, in which at each periodic fall or clear- 
ance of the coppice-growth a certain proportion of trees 
remains of ages varying according to the number of falls 
through which they have been left standing, is termed copse,! 
coppice under standards, or stored coppice, the poles and 
trees that are allowed to remain being s/andards and the 
coppice-growth forming the uaderwood or undergrowth. 
Timber crops are either regenerated by natural reproduc- 
tion through self-sown seed and by means of coppice-shoots 
or root-suckers, or by artificial reproduction through the 
sowing of seed, or the planting out of seedlings from seed- 
beds, or of ¢ransplants, as seedlings are named when they 
have been transferred once or oftener from the seed-beds 
to nursery beds, or by /ayering of living branches by means 
of bringing them partially under soil and allowing them to 
develop rootlets from the dormant buds and small shoots, 
or, finally, by the planting of s/ips or cuttings of species that 
form roots easily through the continuance of cambial activity. 
In order fully to utilise the productive capacity of the 
soil, it is necessary that the stock should be sufficiently dense 
to form a full or close canopy, as the more the complete canopy 
or normal density is broken or interrupted, the less able is the 
crop to improve the productive capacity of the soil, or to 
safeguard it against deterioration through insolation and 
dry winds. The number of plants per acre necessary to 


! Copse is the proper English term identical with the A/#tte/wald, or 
composition forest of Germany, and the 7Zaz//is sous futaie of France. 
Vide Gilpin’s Forest Scenery, edited by Dick Lauder, 1834, vol. i. 
p- 301:—‘*The copse is a species of scenery composed commonly 
of forest trees intermixed with brushwood, which latter is periodically 
cut down in twelve, thirteen, or fourteen years.” 


22 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


attain this normal degree of density varies with the age of 
the crop and the nature of the species of trees ;} thus on the 
Harz mountains Th. Hartig found the following results with 
regard to spruce :— 


| Wa of stem | Average area for indi- | Total number of stems 
Age oo ae | vidual growths in that were dominated or 
eee square feet. suppressed. 
Years. | Per cent. 
| 20 9,265 4°6 49 
| cps SS aap 34°5 42 
60 604 70°O 32 
| 80 ) 388 III‘O 21 
100 282 152'0 | II 
| 120 | 238 182°2 4 


The natural tendency of forests to thin themselves depends 
on the fertility of the soil; on good soils density is main- 
tained for a longer time than on inferior soils, and the process 
of elimination of suppressed and dominated individual 
poles does not take place to any great extent until the develop- 
ment of the total length of bole is nearly completed. 

The degree to which different species of trees are able to 
form close canopy varies greatly ; thus a spruce forest can 
overshadow a soil to more than double the extent that 
Scots pine does. 

In general, trees growing in the full enjoyment of light 
and air have a greater increment than such as are grown 
with only a restricted measure of these, for they are enabled 
to draw more nutriment from the soil, and have greater 
opportunities of assimilating these supplies. But in closed 
forest on soils of similar quality the total production per 
unit of area will be greater than in the more open forest with 


1 Vide comparative table on p. 43. Hartig’s data refer however to 
sowings, which are very much denser than plantations during the thicket 
and pole-forest stages of growth, 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 23 


larger individual trees. Where the distance between the 
individual trees is greater than necessary, a tendency towards 
development of the crown sets in at the expense of the 
bole, stem, or shaft. Hence in order to obtain ultimately a 
maximum of long, straight timber it is necessary not to allow 
the canopy to be interrupted until the chief growth in 
height has been attained. Experience also shows that 
when, after completion of the total growth in _ height, 
measures are taken to interrupt the canopy for the purpose 
of allowing freer supplies of warmth, light, and air to become 
available for the crown foliage, the increase of growth in 
girth takes place with great rapidity, tending to the maxi- 
mum possible yield obtainable. Growth in length is most 
lively whilst the trees are still poles below two feet in 
girth, but this varies according to species, situation, and 
nature of the forest. The young crop, whether formed of 
seedling growth spontaneously by natural regeneration or 
artificially through sowing or planting, or of s/ool-shoots and stoles 
or suckers through coppicing, consists of sap/ings, and up till 
the time that a forest in close canopy begins the natural 
process of clearing itself of dead branches it is termed a 
thicket ; from then till the boles have attained a girth of 
about two feet at breast-height it is a pole-forest ; after that 
it is a ¢ree-forest, or high forest, or high timber forest. 

Whilst the ‘outturn in timber usually forms the mazn 
produce with a view to which sylviculture is carried on either 
in high forest (eg. oak, pine) or in coppice (¢.g. osiers, 
alders), yet the harvesting of the minor produce, like resin in 
spruce or pines, and tanning bark in oaks and willows, can 
under certain circumstances (e.g. oak coppice) be of greater 
importance than the timber produced. 

For statistical purposes and actuarial calculations it is 
important to distinguish between the outfurn or final yield 
of the crop and the pre/iminary or intermediate yield given 


24 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


during thinnings out, &c. before the crops reach their normal 
maturity. In regard’to the proportion which under normal 
circumstances the preliminary yield bears to the final 
outturn Grebe ! wrote as follows :-— 


‘* Granted that the thinnings begin at the proper time,—in the case 
of beech about 25—35 years, spruce about 20—30 years, and Scots 
pine about 15—25 years,—that they are regularly conducted, that the 
yield therefrom is not reduced by any peculiar local circumstances (such 
as right of collection of windfall, or interruption of density in canopy 
due to snow accumulations, &c.), we may expect that on the average 
the proportion which the intermediate yield from thinnings bears to the 
final yield of the mature crop will be :— 


In Beech Forests— 
With rotation of 80 years, from 12—20 per cent. 
29 9? 100 29 » 14-25 29 
“s » [o> 5. 995 0-30 49 


The lower percentage being on poor soils, the higher on the better 
classes of soil. 


In Spruce Forests— 
With rotation of 60 years, from 15—17 per cent. 
29 7 80 ” 55 20—22 2 
“4 a 106°" js Te ees 


- In Scots Pine Forests— 
With rotation of 60 years, from 18—24 per cent. 
9 ” 80 oe) 7° 22—28 39 
aS ‘6 ) Ts eee », about25 sé, 


In spruce and pine woods the higher percentages are obtainable from 
the inferior classes of soil. 


GENERAL COMPARATIVE CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING 
TIMBER TREES. 


1. Requirements as to Climate exhibit themselves locally 
in relation to atmospheric warmth, light, atmospheric 
moisture, and currents of air. 


) Die Betriebs- und Ertragsregelung der Forste. 2nd edition, 1879, 
pp. 300, 301. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 25 


Experiments are being made to establish the absolute 
amount of warmth requisite at different localities to obtain 
the normal development of each of the principal species of 
forest trees, but no definite conclusions have yet been come to. 


Gayer estimates the requirements as to warmth according to the 
following scale :—Greatest—elm, sweet chestnut, oak (pedunculate) ; 
moderate—silver fir, beech, Weymouth pine, oak (sessile), black or 
Austrian, and Scots pines ; /ower—birch, maple and sycamore, ash, 
alder, spruce ; /east—Cembran pine, larch, mountain pine. (Waldbau, 
1889, p. 20). 


The demands on warmth naturally limit the different 
species of trees to certain zones of elevation, which, how- 
ever, are very much modified by quality of soil, exposure, 
and local climatic considerations. According to Angot, the 
vegetation is later by fourteen days for every 100 metres 
(333 feet) in vertical ascent above the sea level. 

In the case of evergreen conifers, the limitation of growth 
towards the north, or on lofty mountainous tracts, is not so 
much due to the actual degree of cold to which they are 
exposed, but is principally caused through dry winds on 
sunny days in winter stimulating transpiration through the 
leaves at a time when the roots can draw no fresh supplies 
of moisture from the frost-bound soil. Owing to the loss 
of moisture contained in the tree, the foliage becomes yellow 
and sickly, the growth impaired, the spines or needles are shed, 
and finally the death of the tree ensues. This phenomenon 
is most distinctly noticeable after long dry winters with 
comparatively frequent sunshine.! 

Whilst excess of light paralyses the action of chlorophyll, 
deprivation of the due intensity under which assimilation 
proceeds most actively also exerts an injurious influence. 
Between these extremes are various degrees which are most 


1 R. Hartig, Lehrbuch der Baumkrankhetten, 2nd edition. 1889, 
pp. 104, 261. 


26 - BRITISH FOREST TREES 


favourable to the development of the different species of 
forest trees. These normal relative demands on light, 
dependent on density of the crown foliage and the 
power. of overshadowed twigs to retain life, are everywhere 
perceptible, but vary with soil and situation, so that no hard 
and fast classification is possible : concerning the absolute 
quantity of light requisite for any species we know as little 
as about the absolute amount of relative warmth. G. Heyer} 
was the first to classify the forest trees in this respect ; his 
classification (for central Germany) compared with Gayer’s 
(for southern Germany) is as follows :— 


According to Heyer (Central Germany). stat ee Gayer (Southern 


ermany). 


Greatest demands made by Greatest demands made by 


; Broad-leaved 
Conifers. deciduous trees. 
Larch, Scots . Larch, birch. 
1s Aspen, birch. ir 
Light ine. grr hase Scots pine, aspen, Light 


Cembran pine. willow. 


mouth pines. elm; ash, oak. mountain pine. 


Elm, eri Austrian 


Occupying 
in Spruce, silver fir ie 
g. . mouth pine, maple position. 


and sycamore. 


Austrian and Wey- Maple, sycamore, Oak, ash, chestnut, demanding. 


White sider, Mik Wey-; intermediate 


Silver fir, spruce. Beech. S ee 
Shade de- | —- sig a hace Shade- 
manding. | In earliest youth (2—3 years) when Silver fir bearing. 


formed by sowing on soil not specially 
prepared for the reception of the seed. 


1 G. Heyer, Das Verhalten der Waldbaiume gegen Licht und Schatten, 
1852, p. 3. In the fourth edition of C. Heyer’s Wa/dbau, 1891, p. 41, 
lime, horse chestnut and sweet chestnut are ranged between hornbeam, 
and ash and oak, which latter two are placed below maple, sycamore, 
and elm in the scale. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 27 


Whilst woody plants suffer little from frosts during winter, 
the late frosts in spring and the early frosts in autumn 
often occasion very considerable damage, especially to young 
growth. Danger from frost is greater on plains than in hilly 
tracts ; greater on south and south-eastern exposures than on 
northern and western ; greater in valleys, and coombs, and 
basins, than on ridges and shoulders ; greater in localities 
protected from the wind than in those where currents of air 
have free play ; greater in a dry state of the atmosphere than 
in a moist ; greater on fresh soil than on dry; greater on 
loose sandy soil than on stiffer loam. 


With reference to their liability to suffer from frost Gayer classifies 
the forest trees as follows:—Zzabée—Ash, acacia, sweet chestnut, 
beech ; Zess /iable—oak, silver fir, maple and sycamore, spruce, and 
common alder; 4ardy—lime, hornbeam, elms, birch, larch, aspen, 
Austrian and Scots pines (of. ct, p. 21). 


The liability to suffer depends, however, less on the 
species than on the stage of growth to which the young 
shoots have advanced ; it is greater in weakly than in healthy 
and vigorous plants ; greater too in plants suddenly exposed 
after having long had the shelter of standards than in 
those that have been gradually accustomed to the loss of 
shelter. 

By comparison of the development of trees of the same 
species, growing on soils of nearly equal quality, but in 
localities known to differ greatly as to the relative humidity 
of the air, it has been concluded that spruce, alder, maple, 
sycamore, and ash, also in a less degree silver fir, beech, 
and birch, thrive best in localities where the air has a high 
degree of relative humidity. On the Continent the principal 
tree on the dry sandy North-German plain is the Scots pine, 
which though it thrives in the insular climate of Britain does 
not thrive in the damp climate of Schleswig-Holstein ; whilst 


28 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the spruce on the Harz, the beech on the Solling and Deister, 
and in a less marked degree the silver fir in Thuringia and 
on the highlands of Southern Germany, on account of their 
great transpiration through the leaves, thrive better in moist 
localities than in those exposed to summer drought, and can 
often be reproduced there by sowing in the open without re- 
quiring nurses as at lower elevations. In mountainous tracts 
snowfall is apt to cause branches to break off, so that brittle 
woods like Scots pine are not the species best adapted for 
forming forest trees. In localities exposed to violent winds 
shallow-rooted species, particularly spruce, are liable to 
be thrown as windfall. ; 

2. Requirements as to soil may be estimated from three 
points of view, namely, as regards depth, soil-moisture, and 
mineral strength generally, and it must be borne in mind 
that under all circumstances a due admixture of good 
humus or mould is benefical to all classes of soil, and to the 
general development of forest growth. 

The disintegration of the rocks must necessarily be 
carried to such an extent as will admit of the penetration of 
the root-system. The majority of trees require for their 
growth soils varying from 1 to 3 feet in depth, and 5 to 6 
feet may be taken as the greatest depth ever actually re- 
quired even by the oak. Depth of soil, however, is beneficial 
even to trees having shallow root-systems, as it enables their 
roots to ramify more easily, and thus tends to produce 
longer development of the bole or stem. 

As to formation of the root-system, some species develop 
a tap-root, which is either permanently retained or becomes 
transformed into a deep heart-shaped root with strong 
ramifications as in the oak, elm, Scots pine, silver fir, 
maple and sycamore, ash, chestnut, lime, and larch; 
others have no pronounced tap-root, but develop strong 
side-roots which penetrate the soil to a moderate depth, as 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 29 


in beech, hornbeam, aspen, and birch; others, like the 
alder, throw out strong side-roots, whence proceed deep- 
reaching rootlets; and others again develop strong side- 
roots confining their whole root-system practically to the 
upper layers of the soil, as is especially the case with 
spruce. 


The following table expresses, only however in general terms, the 
depth of soil necessary for the various species of forest trees to 
thrive :— 

Up to 1 ft.—Spruce, aspen, mountain ash, birch, mountain pine. 

1 to 2 ft.—Beech, hornbeam, alder, Austrian and Weymouth pines. 

2 lo 3 ft.—Scots pine, silver fir, Douglas fir, elm, maple and 

sycamore, ash, lime, chestnut. 

3 to 4 ft.—Oak, larch. 


Comparative data are not yet available to show the 
absolute quantities of soil-moisture necessary for the various 
species of forest trees to enable them to maintain throughout 
the annual period of vegetation the requisite evaporation 
and transpiration through the foliage. Experience however 
shows that the demands for soil-moisture practically vary as 
follows :— 


Greatest—alder, ash, willow, maple, elm ; cossiderable—oak (pedun- 
culate), hornbeam, birch, aspen, larch, Weymouth pine, spruce ; 
moderate—beech, oak (sessile), lime, silver fir ; /eas‘—Scots, Austrian, 
maritime and Cembran pines. 


On the whole the broad-leaved, deciduous trees demand 
more soil-moisture than the conifers. The absolute demands 
of the various species of forest trees on the nutrient strength 
of the soil has also not yet been determined, the difficulty 
being that the mineral constitution is not the only factor, but 
that all the physical qualities exert important influence under 
every circumstance and in the most complicated concrete 
conditions. 


30 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


According to Hartig :—! 


“‘The quantity of nutriment taken up from the soil depends 
chiefly on the species, for some plants extract greater supplies than 
others. Thus the spruce, for example, when growing along with the 
beech in forests forming close canopy, extracts more raw mineral 
substance for ashes than the latter. At fifty years of age the relative 
proportion of productions between the spruce and the beech is :— 


As regards cubic contents............... 2°78 to I 
es ;; dry woody substance...... 1°80 to I 
:; ashes (mineral substance). 1°28 to 1 


** These figures prove that spruce not only withdraws more nutri- 
ment from the soil than beech, but that it also produces more timber 
than the beech with any given quantity of mineral substance. For 
the production of any given cubic quantity of beech timber more 
mineral matter is requisite than for the production of the same volume 
of spruce.” 


Experience however here again shows that the forest trees 
may be classified as follows in regard to the demands made 
on the general fertility and mineral strength of the soil :— 


Heyer (for Central Germany). Gayer (for Southern Germany). 


Elm, maple and 


sycamore, ash. 


} 
ba 
| | Greatest demands.| Elm, sycamore, ash. Most exacting. 


| 

Oak, beech, maple, | Oak, beech, lime, 
High demands. [sweet chestnut, silver Exacting. | silver fir, aspen, 

) fir. willow. 


Lime, larch, horn- 
beam, alders, 
coppice willows, 
mountain ash, horse- 
chestnut, spruce, 
Cembran pine. 


Sweet chestnut, larch 
hornbeam, birch, 
alder, spruce. 


‘Moderate demands! Little exacting. 


| Lower demands. Poplars and tree Less exacting. i? Cembran and Wey- | 


willows. | mouth pines. 


| 
| Scots, Weymouth I's d 
Least demands. | and Austrian pines, | Least exacting. cttsand Austsiin ale 


birch, acacia. pines 
| 


} Anatomie und Physiologie der Pflanzen, 1891, p. 227. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 31 


The power of accommodating themselves to situations not 
naturally suited to their growth and normal requirements is 
greatest in the Scots pine and birch, less pronounced in 
the oak, beech, spruce, silver fir, Austrian and Weymouth 
pines, and least of all in the ash, elm, maple and sycamore. 

It is impossible to say that clayey, loamy, limy or sandy 
soils are necessary for any particular species of forest tree ; 
extracts from the works of the most eminent German 
sylviculturists are often absolutely contradictory on such 
points. G. Heyer?! on the other hand even went so far to the 
other extreme as to assert that almost any soil could produce 
any kind of timber, provided it were supplied with the 
necessary and suitable quantity of moisture. Ney? ably 
summarises as follows :— 

**As regards chemical composition of the soil, even slightly sour 
marshy soils are unfavourable to all species of trees except alder, birch, 
and spruce, whilst sour soils liable to dry up at certain seasons are 
unsuited for all except birch, spruce, Scots and Weymouth pines. 
Only these last-named species thrive on pure peat, and not even the 
spruce when it is dry. Ash, maple, sycamore and elm require a 
moderate quantity of lime in the soil, and beech, hornbeam, oak, as 
also larch and Austrian pine, thrive best on soils that have at least 
some lime in their composition. The hardwoods—oak, ash, maple, 
sycamore, elm, chestnut, beech, and hornbeam—also appear to demand 
the presence of a considerable quantity of potash, whilst on the other 


hand spruce, silver fir, and especially Scots pine and birch, thrive on 
soils rich neither in lime nor potash.” 


It seems hardly open to question that the one factor in 
regard to the soil of greatest importance from the sylvi- 
cultural point of view is Aumus;* given a sufficiency of 
vegetable mouldor humus, all the physical factors are affected, 
and soils otherwise unsuited for the growth of the more 
exacting species become perfectly well adaptable to their 


1 G. Heyer, Forstliche Bodenkunde und Klimatologie, 1856, p. 488. 

2 C. E. Ney, Die Lehre vom Waldbau, 1885, p. 64. 

3 By Aumus or leaf-mould is meant a// organic matter undergoing the 
process of decomposition (Liebig). 


32 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


requirements. The immense improvement which takes place 
in soils under dense forests of beech and spruce is a striking 
proof of the invaluable soil-improving qualities of mould. 

3. Differences of Forest Trees as to Shape.—The essential 
characteristic of a tree as compared with a shrub is that a 
main stem, trunk, or bole is developed above the root-system, 
and branches are thrown out to form a crown only at some 
distance above the soil. Some species of forest trees tend 
more to the development of a long straight bole than others, 
as for example the conifers generally in comparison with 
broad-leaved deciduous trees. The individual tendencies of 
every species are further dependent on several factors 
influencing them, of which the principal are the growing 
space allowed to each individual, the age of the forest, and 
the nature and quality of the soil and situation. 

The natural tendency to assume a certain, more or less 
constant, form has free indulgence only when the individual 
tree has full enjoyment of light, warmth, and air. Some, by 
means of the development of the terminal bud of the main 
axis always taking place with much greater rapidity than the 
shoots of side branches, assume long straight stems with a 
more or less conical disposition of foliage, and have a de- 
cidedly stronger tendency upwards than sidewards ; whilst 
in regard to others the terminal shoots of the branches 
compete with that of the ascending axis, with the result that 
the stem remains short and stunted, the crown low, and the 
branch development relatively great. 


According to the tendencies exhibited in one or other of these © 
directions, the forest trees have been classified as follows by Gayer :— 
Forming undivided stems—Spruce, silver fir, larch, Weymouth pine ; 
more or less branching towards summit—Scots pine, alder, beech, 
oak (sessile), black poplar, Cembran pine ; somewhat greater tendency 
to branching—ash, maple, sycamore, elm ; decided tendency to branch- 
ing at comparatively small height above soil—oak (pedunculate), lime, 
chestnut, hornbeam, mountain pine (ef. cz¢. pp. 36, 37). 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 33 


Ney again classifies them more broadly thus :— 

Developing long stems—All conifers except Cembran pine ; sessile 
oak, chestnut, ash, maple, sycamore, birch, alder, poplars, horse-chestnut; 
developing short stems—English oak, beech, hornbeam ; limes, willows: 
elms (of. cit. p. 60). 

When the growing space for each individual is limited, however, © 
these natural tendencies are checked ; the struggle upwards 
for light and air induces growth in height, and counteracts 
the propensity towards branching development. The less 
the individual growing-space, and the more light-demanding 
the species of tree, the greater the impulse towards growth 
in height. In averagely dense forests of larch, Scots 
pine, oak, birch, and aspen, the crown of foliage extends 
a very little way down the stem,—although in the insular 
climate of Britain the Scots pine has a better crown than 
on the hot, dry, sandy North-German plain,—in spruce, 
beech, and hornbeam it reaches down about one-third of the 

. bole, whilst in silver fir it often descends to about half way 
to the ground. Thus in forests of normal density supplies 
of assimilated nourishment are available for the upper parts 
of the bole in place of being dissipated over a large branch- 
system, and are utilised in producing long, straight stems 
approaching the cylindrical form, and thereby adding to 
the value of the timber, both for technical purposes and 
from a monetary point of view. 

The Age of the Crop is a factor of little moment in the 
earlier stages of growth, as all species of trees, when grown 
in forests of normal density, assume a more or less conical 
or spindle-shaped crown until they outgrow the pole stage, 
and become, with lessened growth in height, tree-forest, 
when their individual natural tendencies begin to assert 
their influence. Following their natural tendency, spruce, 

. silver fir, and larch continue to develop more vigorously 
upwards than sidewards, thereby retaining their conical 

D 


34 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


shape of crown; Scots pine, elm, beech, maple, sycamore, 
birch, sessile oak, ash, and alder assume a crown of oval 
shape; English oak, lime, chestnut, and hornbeam tend 
rather to the formation of a broad, obovate crown. 

When the total growth in height is completed, with 
advancing age all trees, with the exception of the spruce 
and larch, assume a more or less rounded-off appearance 
varying in degree with the natural tendency towards side- 
branch development. 

The obvious conclusion from these facts is that forests of 
shade-bearing species, content with limited growing space, 
z.e. beech, hornbeam, and more particularly spruce and 
silver fir, are able to maintain close canopy more com- 
pletely, and for a much longer time, than forests formed of 
Scots pine, larch, ash, maple and sycamore. When 
further, as in the case of the oak, birch, and chestnut, 
a decided tendency to branching growth is combined 
simultaneously with strong demand for light, interruption 
of the leaf-canopy takes place early and to an injurious 
degree, and all the more when the situation generally, and 
in particular the amount of soil-moisture, varies from that 
best suited to the particular species. 

The Quality of the Soil exerts its special influence on the 
growth of trees. Fresh, fertile loams stimulate to development 
of crown, and yield fine boles though somewhat at the 
expense of their length. Deep, fresh, light sandy soils 
induce length of stem, with thinner crown, sparser branch 
development, and consequently a less girth of bole. Shallow 
and rocky soils produce short-stemmed trees, with strong 
tendency to branching and crooked growth. 

Situation. With increasing elevation the forest trees have 
a diminished tendency towards stem-development, and an 
increasing tendency towards branching growth, until finally, 
towards their limit of growth, they resemble shrubs rather 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 35 


than trees, as for example the Scots pine in Scotland at about 
2,500 feet. Similar effects are produced in localities exposed 
to constant winds, especially those that are damp and cold. 

4. Differences of Forest Trees as to Growth in Height, 
Girth, and Cubic Contents. 

(2) Growth in height varies considerably according to 
species, age, soil and situation, method of formation of 
forest, and form of treatment accorded to it. It takes place 
by means of two shoots during the annual period of active 
vegetation, namely the shoot from the spring flush beginning 
in April or May, and that from the summer flush beginning in 
July. In broad-leaved trees the latter is usually longer than 
the former, as it falls in the warmer and more energetic period 
of vegetation, but in conifers this is not usually the case, 
and the later development of the spring growth is less easily 
traceable, as no regular whorls are formed except by the spring 
buds. In warm autumnal weather, as in 1886, some trees 
also throw out autumn shoots early in October, but this is 
rather a drawback than an advantage, as the shoots have not 
time to develop, to harden naturally, and to form fresh normal 
buds for the following spring, before the early frosts set in 
and close the active period of vegetation for the season. 


The following table exhibits the maxima heights usually attainable 
in forests, according to Gayer (of. cit. pp. 38, 39) :— 


Height i ‘ 
= Attainable by 


I110—140 | Spruce, silver fir, larch, Scots and Weymouth pines. 
100—130 | Oak, ash, beech, lime maple and sycamore ; less 
frequently elm, poplar and birch. 

80—100 | Black and Cembran pines, hornbeam, alder and willow. 


These maxima heights are reached in different periods by 
different kinds of trees; thus the birch reaches its full 
attainable growth in height long before the Austrian pine, 

D2 


36 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the oak, or the spruce. For sylvicultural purposes, 
especially for the formation of mixed forests, it is important 
to know and consider the relative rates of growth at different 
periods of their development, particularly during the earlier 
stages of growth. 

Ney! gives as the results of the yield tables arranged by Baur for 


beech, Schuberg for silver fir, Lorey for spruce, and Weise for Scots 
pine, the following average heights at ten years of age :— 


Quality of soil. I. II. Ill | IV. | V. 
Average height. te ee = ty foo) 3 | = 3 a 3 ee. 
aed id oa ee 
Beech thicket .... 5 | 4| 4| 4; 3 | a ae oe Re 1; 8 
Silver fir thicket... 5 | 8) 4] 4| 3 | 4 ee nee we eS 
Spruce thicket a} Co ee ee ee a ee i | P38.) Se Poe 
Scots pine thicket) 7 4) 6} ©| 5) © | 4) 4 | 3 | 8 


The same tables show that the current annual increase in 
height on soil of the I. (best) quality was :— 


Beech. | Silver fir. | Spruce. | Scots pine. 
Period of growth. SS | | 
Ft. | In. | Ft. | In. | Ft | In. | Ft. | In 
«See, Notes ERIS AACS (Siaareet Eeeae? 
| ge | 
From 6th— roth year) o| 8/ 0] 8| 0! 8] 0 Qg/! 
;, 16th— 2oth ,, Soh te I I Cie L. £e 
», 26th— jgoth ,,; 1} 8; 1/} 8| 1] 6] 1) 3 
» 36th— goth. 5, | 3),4) 1) 7/ 1) 6] 1) 3 
» 46th— 5oth ,,| I 2 I 5 I 5 ee 
| 9 SOth— 60th 45) Ts) @P 2) 2) 71 4] oe! of 
| ,, 66th— 7oth ,, a ek Se ae I I I oO} 9 
» 76th— 8oth ,, O41 784 eso) Oo} oi | 6 
», 86th— goth ,, o}| 8 on,8) Oi F o | 5 
| ss 96th—1ooth ,,| ©] 6] o| 4/ O/] 7} of 3 
| gy LO6th—-2 10th. Sp 1 SO eR Ol oh oe 
| |, 116th—120th ,, | o| 4| 01 1} © | ea wae 
ee | 
' Lehre vom Waldbau, 1885, pp. 54—59. 


a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 37 


It appears, therefore, from the carefully compiled tables 
from which the above abstract is made, that, on soils of the 
best quality usually found under forest, the current annual 
increase in height is :— 


~ 
| Has already decreased to below 


| Attains its maximum eae 
Forest of | Pe oe 


Half of its maximum | Quarter of its maximum 
during during 


| Beech ...| 26th—3o0th year | 61st —65th year 101st —105th year 
Silver fir.) 26th—3oth ,, 76th—8oth ,, 96th—1ooth 
| Spruce...) 26th—goth ,, | 81st—85th ,, r11th—115th 
Scots pine’ 16th—2oth ,, | 56th—6oth ,, 81st — 85th 


3? 
39 


93 


On soils of inferior quality the current annual increase in 
height follows much the same curve, but usually takes some- 
what longer to culminate. The years of culmination shown 
by these tables are approximately as follows :— 


| Quality of soil. eee nae 8 Ill. IV. | v. 
GCG “sccssncincccsss) (2000 30th 40th 40th | 41st 
Silver fir ............] 28th 35th 4oth 40th | 40th 

| Spruce ............... 33rd 40th 45th 60th | — 
Scots pine............ 18th 19th 49th 20th | 21st 


The absolute average height of the trees forming the forest 
varies very considerably, however, according to the quality of 
the soil, as may be seen from the table on page 38 (in feet).. 
Thus on poor soil the Scots pine at eighty years’ growth 
has not attained the same average height as is reached on the 
best class of pine soil after forty years’ growth ; up till about 
the fiftieth year it is of quicker growth than the other species, 
but is then overtopped by the spruce and silver fir, whilst 
it is hardly at any later period dominated by the beech. 


38 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Beech, Silver fir. Spruce. Scots pine. 
Age of 
forest. 
Soil quality. Soil quality. Soil quality. Soil quality. 
Years. I Vv. I Vv. I IV. I IV. 
20 17 4 15 5 17 5 24 II 
40 50 18 49 21 48 18 52 26 
60 72 | 33 | 78 | 39 | 7 | 36 | 74 | 36 
80 87 | 47 | 97 | 47 | 99 | 52 | 87 | 43 
100 99 53 | 109 54 | 114 62 95 — 
120 106 60 | 113 57. | 123 68 | 100 — 


These changes in rate of growth in height at different ages 
are of great importance in regard to the formation and sub- 
sequent treatment of mixed forests. 

The following classifications have been made as to general 


average rapidity of growth in height during the early periods 
of development :— 


Heyer (for Central Germany). 


Gayer (for Southern Germany). 


Most 
rapid of 
' growth. 


Alder, birch, poplar, 
willow, larch, Scots, mari- 
time, and Weymouth pines. 


Birch, larch. 
Aspen, alder, maple, syca- 
more, ash, lime, elm, willow, 
Weymouth and Scots pines. 


| 


| Some- 
| what 

rapid of 
growth. 


Chestnut, elm, maple and 
black or Austrian pine. 


Oak. 
Black or Austrian pine, 
Hornbeam 
Beech. 


Beech, hornbeam, oak, 
lime, sorbus-species, syca- 
more, ash, Cembran pine, 

spruce, silver fir, yew. 


| 
| 


Spruce, Cembran pine. 
Silver fir. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 39 


A comparison of this table with that (on p. 26) exhibiting 
the requirements of the different species of forest trees as 
to light, shows that in a general way the light-loving trees 
are those also of quickest growth in height. 

Some species, ¢.g. larch, and under favourable circum- 
stances Scots and Weymouth pines and birch, maintain the 
advantage thus early won even after they have entered into 
the pole-forest stage, when growth in height is most active ; 
other species, ¢.g. ash, maple, aspen, though still active in 
growth, do not maintain their early promise, but are over- 
taken and topped by species like the spruce, silver fir, beech 
and oak, which display increased vigour on reaching the 
pole-growth stage. Continuation of growth in height at 
the more advanced periods of life is dependent on the 
influences of soil and situation, but ceteris paribus is main- 
tained longest by spruce, silver fir, and larch, which naturally 
incline towards growth in height rather than to branch 
development. Among the broad-leaved deciduous trees 
the sessile oak, elm, and beech retain the power of growth 
in height longer than other species, which early become 
rounded off in the crown on its cessation. 

Adopting the graphic method, introduced by G. Heyer, 
the table on p. 38 showing the rate of growth in height can 
be represented by co-ordinates (see table on next page), the 
ordinate being the height attainable, and the absciss the age 
at which it is obtained. 

Elevation, exposure to winds, and soil fertility all exercise 
influences on growth in- height, which may be summed 
up in the short statement that the more suitable the soil and 
situation are for any particular species of tree, the more 
active and energetic will be its growth in height. Deep, fresh, 
light soil, rich in humus, is more favourable than binding 
soil of great mineral strength ; high elevation above sea-level, 
or exposure to winds, interferes with the natural development 


40 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


in height. An uninterrupted leaf-canopy stimulates growth 
in height in such species as pines and most of the broad- 
leaved deciduous trees, which tend to branch develop- 
ment. Limitation of growing-space beyond the measure of 
density necessary to maintain an unbroken canopy acts 


Feet Feet 
120 T == 120 
Soil Quality | + bo ad 
iol eee. Il&V Soa Bete na 
. ° ~ Vz oat Fit "No 
Silver Fir____-------- IT&V | “| aevet 
Spruce-—--- Py Seon l& IV “7 g\\” oer 
100} ~ aan i =4i00 
Scots Pine_..—-—-—/1& IV “ye oar 
Ag | rae ne 
“o —ecots 
90 1 ! Mt ai S¢ 90 
| fo" ¢ | § 
Lf 7 | 
Po ee aw ‘ Sp. ars 80 
Bake | i 
| He Re 
a —_—W57 / 70 
Ley Fe } = 
| PAL uch 
| yy seh 
so.-—— PS (ERTS ae Ne a c | Pick eal 
| Ss “a | xy a Fir ted 
/ yr Fle ced 
io ea ey | _ gud give 
ee Wl te age Bees 50 
WA a 
40 ‘/ oh )e-3" Pine 0 
“ff N27 1 ot | 
4 fit C27 
os See ff ALA | 
7 ‘i Lae ‘7 ms 30 
A [4 Pr Be 2 | 
20 Ati 1-47 Ss Es ee ee ee 
/ fy 43 “ Pr i 
im eed me / H 
10 oS, OA LF | ; 
Ae OAS, j on Se = 
4 Cf 4 | 
ig | | 
= | 
io 6 2 


Oo 


1) 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 10 120 
: Years 


injuriously on the whole development, in place of stimulat- 
ing beneficially to increased growth in height. 

(4) Growth in Girth is in all species of forest trees more 
or less proportional to the growth in height, since the period 
in which the latter is greatest is also nearly coincident with 
that during which the trees are most active in increase of 
girth ; in fact, the energy displayed in both of these directions 


Beech. _Silver fir. | Spruce. | Scots pine. 
, eS See pea a te FA 
Forest : 

| | Soil quality. | Soilquality. | Soil quality. | Soil quality. 
ape | jad Rs! Sane St Foe 

Years. I. A ie | st we 2 ) Beam i, IV. 
i | | 

40 4'0 as 52  2°0 56 | » 6°4| 28 

60 | 76| 32) 92/ go! 92| 88 | 96 | 4% 

80 | 100 | 4°8 | 128 | 64 | 120] SB | 12°70 | 5§°6 

100 | 116 | 68 | 156 | 80 | 140 | SB] 1772 |... 

120 «| 136 | 8-4 | 17% | 96 | 152] °* | 180 | 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 4! 


is merely the result of the trees having reached the most 
vigorous period of their growth, the stage of pole-forest. In 
the case of most of the light-loving species of trees it 
begins early, often reaches its maximum within the 20o—3oth 
year, maintains itself often without much diminution till 
about the 50—6oth year, after which it diminishes. The 
period of most active increase in girth begins later in the 
case of oaks and in shade-bearing species, but often con- 
tinues till the 7o0—goth year, and then begins gradually to 
decline. 

The mean diameters at breast-height reckoned from the 
sources already named have been calculated to be as follows 
(in inches) :— 


} 


From this it will be seen that the Scots pine increases 
rapidly in girth in comparison with these other trees, but 
that with advancing age it is almost equalled by the silver 
fir. But, as we shall presently see, on soils of the best quality 
there are on the average about 175 stems of silver fir per acre 
at 120 years, whilst there are only 141 of Scots pine, which 
makes a great difference to the proprietor as regards material 
and financial outturn, 


42 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Increase of growth in girth is of course to a great degree 
dependent on the situation and the quality of the soil, but 
factors of almost equal importance are the degree of light, 
and the measure to which the available light can be utilised, 
or in other words, to the extent of the development of 
foliage. In crowded forests, growth in girth is injuriously 
affected by diminution of the supply of light even more 
than growth in height; in according growing-space to the 
individual beyond a certain degree, however, growth in girth 
takes place somewhat at the expense of growth in length. 
When trees in the full vigour of growth are given an in- 
crease of growing-space after having been accustomed only to 
a limited space, the influence of the larger measure of enjoy- 
ment of light and air becomes marked in the rapid increase 
in girth, Even when the trees are advanced in age, and 
have already begun to decrease in the rate of girth incre- 
ment—as for example in the case of beech or silver fir, 
during gradual clearances at the time of natural reproduction 
from seed under standards—a revival of vigorous increment 
can be induced by giving them free access to light and air. 
Such ability is, however, dependent on the trees not yet 
having completed their growth in height, as the energy 
employed in extending the foliage-bearing crown is really 
diverted from growth in height and utilised in branch 
development. Silver fir, spruce, larch, oak, and beech, 
endowed with long-continued capacity for growth in height, 
also retain longest the power of benefiting by increased 
supplies of light and air. 

The largest girths are attainable by oak, elm, chestnut, 
lime, beech and black poplar among broad-leaved trees, and 
silver fir, spruce, Weymouth and Scots pines, Douglas 
fir, and larch among conifers. 

(c) Growth in Cubic Contents, or Total Increment, is the 
complete result attained by the sums total of growth in height 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 


and growth in girth. 
general energy of growth, expressed either by the quantity of 
timber of a given species produced on a given area within a 
given period, or by the time necessary to produce a given 
quantity of timber of any particular species on a given area. 

From the sources already mentioned on page 36 the 
average total number of stems per acre is calculated to be :— 


43 


It is a convenient measure of the 


Beech. Silver fir. Spruce. Scots pine. 
Age of S rateak 
forest. 
Soil quality. Soil quality. Soil quality. Soil quality. 
Years. I. | Vv. 5 ol a I. IV. I Vv. 
} 
20 eas | <a SSS | -.. | 2,560 sa ‘s 
| 40 1,360| ... | 1,375 | 4,472|1,053| 20 | 727 | 1,814 
| 60 504 1,480) 529 1,783) 509] E:2 | 377 | 1,040 
80 328! 736) 316 890) 317| &= | 244/| 731 
100 256! 456] 223) 561} 240| 9&9 | 171|{ ... 
120 192, 352) 175 | 409| 224 141 


The average cubic contents of the entire individual tree 
grown in pure forests and in close canopy have been found 
to be (in cubic feet) :— 


| Beech. Silver fir. - Spruce. Scots pine. 
Age of 
forest. | 
z Soil quality. | Soil quality, | Soil quality. | Soil quality, 
| —— 
Years, | V. ae A, I IV. I V. 
40 rt ie 4°68 0°36| 6°12) » 6°48| 1°08 
60 II" 1°08 | 19°44 2°16 | 18°36 39 18°00 | 2°52 | 
80 25°20) 3°60| 41°04) 5°76 | 42°12) SB | 33°48) 4°32. 
100 40°68 | 7°56 | 64°44 11°88 | 61°92} ZB | 54°00) ... 
| 120. 6300 | 12°24 ag nh 70°56 | ® = | 70°20 


44 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Exclusive of timber extracted during thinnings, but includ- 
ing branches below 2°8 inches in diameter as well as timber, 
the total average production of pure forest per acre is (in 
cubic feet) approximately :— 


Beech. | Silver fir. Spruce. Scots pine. 
Ase Of. N.- Pe = 
forest 
‘Soil quality. Soil quality. Soil quality. Soil quality. 
} a ee j Pare es | ak ee a eae ake 
|. ears I | V. | I. v; I av: I, ¥. 
fa Se Be ey ee = = ee 
Seay Soe | | 
| 20 | 1,160| 246 1,015 174] 2,204 507/| 2,349] 826) 
40 | 3,596; 928) 6,742 1,508 | 6,467 1,856 | 4,872 | 1,928, 
60 6,119) 1,628 10,498 3,552 10,773 3,813 6,844 | 2,711 | 
| 80 | 8,410 2,624 12,934 5,305 |13,398 5,321 8,250 | 3,233 
_ 100 10,454 | 3,494 14,442, 6,728 |14,920 6,336 | 9,236| ... 
evs Pe neccal apa 15,370 7,656 |15,950 11250 | 2918 


A comparison of these various tables will show that although 
on poor soil there is frequently more than double the 
number of stems per acre that is to be found on soils of 
the best quality, yet the growth in height and the growth 
in girth are, up till near the eightieth year, each under the 
half of that exhibited on the more favourable localities, and 
though the proportion improves from the 8o0—r12oth 
year, its advance is only slightly in excess of one half, 
whilst the total production of wood exhibits very great 
differences up till the end of the pole-forest stage, and at 
no time amounts on inferior soil to half of that attained on 
soil of the best quality. 

Great differences are exhibited according to soil and 
situation by the various species of trees in regard to current 
and average annual increment, as may be seen from the 
following table ‘<a the total Bsneion of wood (in 
cubic feet) :-— 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 45 
Age of forest. | Beech. Silver fir. | _ Spruce. ' Scots pine. | 
* | SS OAL ee 
| Years. | Soil quality. | Soil quality. | Soil quality. | Soil quality. 


} | 


ment. 


! 
| Current annual incre- 
' 
| 


| At 20 years 97 | 26. * 203 49 | 189 | 58 
99 4D 49 soreneees 130 36 217 6 229 93 113 | 49° 
SO RAR anes 117. | 43 145 | 174 (9 93 | 35 

on aie -acemaenas _ 108 8 90 7 | 52} 61 | 20 
Goce eee ae 94 | 43) 58 is 61 | 46/| 43 |— 
99120 55 wee | 79 | 29) 35 | 35] 40 | 41) 26 | — 

| 
| Average annual incre- | | | 
ment. | 
| } 
Up till 2oth year. 58 | 12} 50 9| 110 | 25 | 117 | 41 
» 40th ,, |- 38> | 23} 168 | 38'| 161 | 46 | 122 | 48 
» 60th ,, | ror | 28 174 | 59|179 | 63 | 114 | 45 
»  Soth ,, | 105 | 32 | “fe 7 167 | 66 103 | 40 
» tooth ,, | 104 67 | 149 | 63| 92 |—| 
36 138 128 | 63 | 133 60, 82 | —| 
i | 


~~  (2ateh ©, ni ad 


From the edad it will be seen that the Scots pine reaches 
its maximum annual and maximum average increment in 
cubic contents much earlier than the shade-bearing species 
that do not make great demands on increase of growing- 
space until the later stage of their development. 

Comparing the average production of timber in forests 
growing on localities similar as to quality of soil, Gayer 
classifies the various species of trees in the following order 
as to general energy displayed in growth of cubic con- 
tents (of. cit. p. 43) :— 


Spruce forest, silver fir forest. 
Larch forest, Weymouth pine! forest, Scots pine forest. 


? Burckhardt, Sden und Pflanzen, 5th edition, 1880, p. 426, says po 
**In growth of cubic contents the Weymouth pine is surpassed by no 
other species of tree, except perhaps the poplar.” 


46 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Beech forest. 
Oak forest, ash forest, hornbeam forest. 
Birch forest. 


The conifers in general are more energetic in growth of 
cubic contents than the broad-leaved deciduous trees, and 
Gayer estimates that on the average the vital energy of 
crops of silver fir and spruce is about 100 per cent. and that 
of pine about 50 per cent. greater than beech, which is 
the broad-leaved species best endowed in this respect. 

5. Differences of forest trees as to reproductive power.—In 
the vegetable as also in the animal world the effort made 
in reproducing and increasing the species is under certain 
circumstances even greater than that devoted to the main- 
tenance of individual existence for the longest possible 
period. The tendency to reproduction is seen in all forest 
trees, as when treated in a natural manner they yield rich 
supplies of seed at short intervals during a great portion of 
their term of existence. | 

The natural process of reproduction takes place either 
from seed shed by the trees, or else by means of shoots 
from the stool, or stoles or suckers from the roots. 

(a) Reproduction from seed is the chief method of propa- 
gation, and that in which the various forms of high forest 
are usually produced. The quantity of seed formed 
depends on many factors, the principal of which are the 
species of tree, the age of the trees, the nature of soil and 
situation, and the amount of light enjoyed. 

The various species of trees show great differences in repro- 
ductive capacity as measured by the total quantity of 
germinable seed produced during a period of several decades ; 
while again this total is dependent on the average quantity 
of good seed produced in each seed-year, and on the 
frequency with which seed-years recur. ‘The moncecious 
species (¢.g. oak, beech, conifers), in which pollination 


-_ 


BRITISH FOREST TREES ar 


may be interfered with by rain, and the dicecious species 
(e.g. willows and poplars), bear seed on the whole less 
frequently than trees with hermaphrodite flowers (¢.g. ash, 
elms, maples), whilst of the latter those bear seed less 
frequently which are liable to suffer from frost, or which, 
as is also the case with oak and beech, require a favour- 
able preceding year’s growth to enable them to form 
flower-buds. Whereas the seed of spruce, silver fir, and 
larch ripen in about six months after flowering, the seed 
of pines is not mature until the autumn of the following 
year, or about eighteen months after flowering. 


As to average yield of good seed in each seed-year, the forest trees 
may be classed as follows :—Good seed-producers—Beech, oak, spruce 
Scots pine, birch, hornbeam, elm, alder, aspen, willow ; indifferent 
seed-producers—ash, maple, sycamore, silver fir, larch. 


But as beech has on the average good seed-years only every 
5—8 years, and as oak, spruce, Scots pine, alder, and ash 
have them only every 3—5 years, while the other species 
fructify in shorter intervals, they have been ranged by Gayer 
with regard to the total average annual production of seed 
as follows (of. cit. p. 47) :— 


Producing most—Birch, aspen, willow. 
then—Pines, spruce, elm, hornbeam, alder. 
then—Maple and sycamore, silver fir, larch, lime, 
oak, alder, ash. 
a least— Beech. 


In Britain, the English elm does not produce germinable 
seed, and the lime and chestnut only infrequently, but 
they compensate for this by their capacity of throwing out 
root-suckers. 

Species having small, light, winged seeds produce more 
seed than others with heavy or with wingless seeds. It is 


48 - BRITISH FOREST TREES 


worthy of note that the former, including birch, aspen, 
willows, Scots pine, and spruce, make more moderate de- 
mands as to soil and situation than the species with heavy 
seeds such as oak, beech, silver fir, maple, and sycamore. 
With their seed wafted to considerable distances by the 
wind, and easily satisfied as to soil and situation, they must 
be acknowledged to possess a considerably greater repro- 
ductive capacity than species with heavy seeds. In many 
parts of the Continent it may be observed how the domain 
of oak and beech is gradually being invaded by the Scots 
pine and the spruce, whilst in other localities these latter 
have themselves to maintain a struggle against the en- 
croachments of the still more easily satisfied birch, aspen, 
and willow. 

_ The germinative capacity of the different kinds of seed 
varies greatly. Ney gives the following as satisfactory 
percentages in experiments for testing the quality of 
deliveries by seedsmen (of. cit. p. 52). 

Birch ....10 | Larch. ...35 | Hornbeam | Oak ...... 60 | Scots pine 
' 50 60 


Alder ...15 | Weymouth | Silver fir. 50 | Chestnut 60 | Spruce .. 60 
pine ...50 | :. 


Elm...... 20 | Ash ...... 50 | Maples ..50 | Beech....60 | Austrian 
pine ...70 

The seed of most species germinates in the spring after it 
is shed, but that of birch, elm, aspen, and willows germinates 
in the spring in which it falls, and that of ash and 
hornbeam only in the second spring after its fall if it has 
been stored. 

The Age of the Trees at which seed is produced in greatest 
quantity is generally that at which, having just completed the 
period when growth in height is most active, the individual 
tree begins to develop its crown, and to display greatest 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 49 


energy in increase of cubic contents. The power of seed- 
bearing is maintained up till near the close of life; the 
quality, however, of seed produced near both extremes of 
the reproductive period, but especially at the younger 
extreme, is poor, it being usually deficient in germinative 
capacity. Birch, alder, larch, and Scots pine begin to bear 
seed earliest, often from their 15-20th year, whilst oak and 
beech, the latest to enter the reproductive period, only 
commence to produce about the 60—7oth year under normal 
conditions of forest growth. 

Soil.:and Situation exhibit their influence mainly in 
regard to the amount of warmth afforded to the trees. At 
high elevations or at latitudes distant from their proper 
home, the seed-producing capacity of forest trees becomes 
weakened, and finally no longer possible. Warm southern 
and south-western aspects yield more seed than the colder 
northern and north-eastern exposures. 

As an increased assimilation of mineral nutriment is 
necessitated for the formation of seed, judging by the 
comparatively high percentage of ashes contained in it, 
fresh soils, rich in mineral constituents, yield more and 
better germinating seed than those of inferior quality ; the 
formation of flower-buds can only take place when towards 
the close of the period of vegetation a surplus of nourishment 
is available after the production of wood for the year is com- 
pleted and the reserves of starchy matters for the commence- 
ment of next year’s growth have already been provided for. 

The Enjoyment of a large Amount of Light, by stimulating 
to increased assimilation of nutrients and to the production 
of reserves of starchy matter towards the close of the annual 
period of vegetation, has a beneficial effect in increasing the 
production of seed, as also a considerable influence on the 
quality of seed produced. Only trees with well-developed 
crowns are fully capable of utilizing the advantages to be 

E 


50 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


gained from the free diffusion of sunshine and warmth through- 
out the foliage ; dominated trees, or those whose crowns are 
deprived of free access to light and air, bear little or no seed, 
as also those non-indigenous forest trees, like the sweet 
chestnut, lime, and English elm, which have never been able 
to accommodate themselves thoroughly to the climate of 


Britain as regards reproduction by seed. 


Ney? gives the following as* about the usual amount of wingless and 
clean seed of fair average germinative capacity requisite per acre for the 
production of a crop of seedlings of average moderate density on soils 


of average quality :— 


Species. 


Maple and sycamore... 
E 


Be CR 8. casas dhs pate cee 
Sweet chestnut ......... 
SPTUCE si ic'en oo ueeen es 
SUT Hit siecer eae 
Scots Pie. 16560. 4vuns- 
Black pie :.: sssscsisace 
(Tee | eRe i 


1 Die Lehre vom Waldbau, 1885, p. 181 


Broadcast Sowing in rills rk ee 
sowing. or fecvens Dibbling in. 
: vi | é 
: } > - os 
a ite} = 3 3 a 
a = x sr] x = 
ro) ° ro) p= re) & 
a wu a cS <8 
ie he ee “Se eee 
oO 74 o 5 v = 
6 s 6 ss oy c 
Ibs. lbs. lbs. Ibs Ibs. Ibs. 
720 | 540 | 450 | 360 | 225 | 180 
225 | 180 aa 54 
54 | 36 | | 
54 | 403 | | 
45 36 | 
Se oe ee 
18 133 
45 3135 
~ ins 630 180 | 180 
ee 
63. | 54. | 45 | 36 | | 
675 53 53 
105 | 844 | 
138 | 108 | | 
| 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 51 


(4) Reproduction from Shoots and Suckers is the method 
which usually takes place incoppice. Itis the natural effort 
of young trees to replace the ascending axis or stem, when 
this has been removed by cutting, by means of calling into 
activity the dormant or adventitious buds situated either at 
the base of the stem just over the soil (shoots), or by 
stimulating those situated along the roots into growth 
towards the surface of the soil, and thence upwards to form 
fresh ascending axes, which may be detached from the 
parent plant and transplanted elsewhere (séo/es or suckers). 
In both cases this natural effort is the result of the root- 
system remaining in activity, and drawing supplies of 
nutriment from the soil, which can only be duly utilised 
when a fresh stem, or stems, bear foliage to carry on the 
necessary work of assimilation. 

The power of replacing the stem is greatest whilst the 
forest is in the full vigour of youth, and continues in general 
as long as the parent tree is in lively growth; a shallow 
soil produces more but less vigorous shoots than a deep soil ; 
freshness of soil and mineral strength increase the number 
and vigour of the shoots ; abundance of light is an essential 
condition for their production, as suppressed stools and 
roots develop at best but poor shoots and suckers. 

The only trees suitable for reproduction in this manner are 
the broad-leaved species. Oak yields most shoots, while 
beech and birch after being coppiced several times weaken 
in reproductive power. Gayer makes the following classifi- 
cation :— 


Producing shoots principally—Oak, hornbeam, beech, elm, chestnut, 
lime, black poplar, alder, ash, maple and sycamore, willow, birch ; 
producing suckers principally—aspen, white alder, acacia (of. cit. p. 49). 


Willow, poplar, lime, elm, and in a less degree chestnut, 
-—the trees not originally indigenous to Britain,—have also 
E 2 


52 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


considerable reproductive power by means of root-suckers 
in compensation for the natural disadvantages they are at 
in this country in regard to the production of abundant 
supplies of germinable seed. Of shrubs grown along with 
forest trees in coppice, hazel and hawthorn chiefly produce 
shoots from the stool, blackthorn mostly suckers, and field 
maple, and most shrubs, quantities of both. Chestnut, oak, 
hornbeam, elm, and alder retain the capacity for reproduction 
longest! : beech, birch, maple, sycamore and ash lose it 
soonest. Conifers have no reproductive power of this nature 
to speak of, or which can be utilised for practical sylvicul- 
tural purposes, although the larch in its period of youthful 
growth can throw out shoots, and also, but to a less 
extent, the three-needled species of pine,? none of which 
form forests in Britain. 

Pollarding represents the same effort of nature to replace 
portions of the stem cut away at some height above the soil, 
by calling into activity the dormant buds situated below the 
parts removed. 

6. Difference as to Age attainable.—In order that in- 
dividual trees may reach the normal limit of life in healthy 
condition, the proper development of all the organs of 
nourishment is primarily essential; they must have the 
opportunity of extending their crowns and root-systems in 
accordance with the different demands made in this respect 


1 Recent experiments conducted by M. Bartet at Nancy show that 
oak and hornbeam are capable of producing stool shoots up to sixty or 
even eighty-five years of age. 

* The leaves of pines in each sheath are divided as follows : 

Whole leaf in each sheath divided into two needles in P. sylvestris, 
Laricio, maritima, pumilio, pinea. 

Whole leaf in each sheath divided into three needles in P. australis, 
Coulteri, taeda, longifolia. 

Whole leaf in each sheath divided into five needles in P. strodus, 
Cembra, Lambertiana, 


on 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 53 


by the various species when advancingin age. Light-loving 
species, like the Scots pine or the oak, have earlier and 
greater requirements as to growing-space than those with 
denser foliage, like the spruce or beech. Trees grown in 
the close canopy of high forest have not the same freedom 
and enjoyment of light and air, and in consequence are less 
vigorous than, and do not attain so high an age as, those 
grown in a more isolated position, or in the open. Unless 
due development of all assimilative organs takes place, 
full vigour and health are not attainable; but the capacity 
for regaining normal vigour on being admitted to larger 
growing-space differs considerably in the various species 
of trees, being greater in oak, lime, willow, elm and Cembran 
pine than in alder, aspen, maple, sycamore, beech, horn- 
beam and spruce (Gayer, of. cit. p. 44). 

The second essential condition is that soil and situation 
must continue to supply the demands made by each species 
relative to its normal development. In general the locality 
where a certain species is indigenous affords it all the 
conditions necessary for the maintenance of healthy vigor- 
ous growth, and the attainment of sound old age. The 
longer the natural term of life, and the greater the demands 
of the species on the qualities of the soil, the more danger 
there is of its healthy development being interfered with, 
and at the same time the greater the risk of the soil deterio- 
rating, and losing its moisture and power of decomposing 
humus. Localities differing from that in which the species 
is indigenous may offer too much or too little warmth of 
soil and air, considerable variations from the normal 
requirements being in either direction injurious ; or the soil 
may offer more or less than the favourable degree of moisture, 
mineral strength, or depth,—richness of soil tending towards 
precocity and immature development beyond the limits of 
healthy vigour and power of resisting the action of conditions 


54 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


of growing-space, &c., unfavourable to the due extension 
and steady development of the assimilative organs, and 
thereby affecting the quality of the timber produced. Thus 
when larch and spruce, both indigenous to the cool, moist 
northern slopes of the Bavarian Alps, are grown in the dry 
warm climate of the lowlands, their growth and development 
are stimulated, but their period of life is considerably 
shortened, the timber yielded is inferior, their power of 
resisting injuries is weakened, and they are more liable to 
be attacked by insect enemies and by fungoid diseases. 

As regards the attainable limits of healthy, vigorous age 


the following classification (mainly based on Gayer’s) may 


be made :— 


Attaining 500 years and more—yew, oak, lime, Scots elm, chestnut. 

300—400 years—English elm, silver fir, beech. 

about 200 years—ash, maple, sycamore, spruce, larch, Scots 
pine, hornbeam. 

Seldom attaining over 100 years—aspen, birch, alders, willows, poplars. 


39 


Many historical trees throughout Britain are known to be 
much older than any of the limits above assigned, but to 
attain the ages of the above classification presupposes that 
the individual trees have grown under circumstances un- 
usually favourable to their development. 

For trees grown in forests the attainment of an age even 
approaching these limits is out of the question, as being 
opposed to the economic and financial considerations which 
ought in general to form the basis of sylvicultural operations. 
In fixing the fall of the timber (the period of rotation or 
reproduction, the Zurnus) the object of the proprietor may 
be to obtain the greatest quantity of timber generally, or 
the greatest outturn of certain dimensions, or the greatest 
returns for the capital represented by soil and growing stock 
of timber ; but under all circumstances the due protection of 
the soil from the deteriorating influences of sun and wind 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 55 


must always be one of the primary considerations in deter- 
mining the period at which the forest can be most advanta- 
geously utilized and reproduced. 


SpEcIAL INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE 
GROWTH OF ForREST TREES 


These are necessary in order to know under what conditions 
each species is likely to thrive. Trees like the acacia (Robinia 
pseudoacacia), the horse-chestnut (4sculus hippocastanum), 
the plane tree (Platanus occidentalis), the walnut (Juglans 
regia), and coniferous exotics cultivated more for ornament 
than for profit are here left out of account, as belonging 
rather to the province of arboriculture than to that of 
sylviculture. The individual species are treated of in the 
order of enumeration on pages 13 and 14. 


CHIEF SPECIES, forming, or capable of forming, Pure Forests. 


Conifers. 


1. ScoTrs oR CoMMON PINE, oR Scots Fir (Pinus 
SYLVESTRIS, Z.). 


Distribution’\—Scots pine is the most widely dis- 
tributed of all the European conifers, being found over 
nearly the whole of Europe and the greater part of northern 
Asia, from 70°N. latitude in Scandinavia, where it even 


1 The details as to distribution have generally been taken from 
Luerssen’s Forstbotantk in Lorey’s Handbuch, &c., but such as refer to 
distribution throughout Great Britain and Ireland have been mostly 
extracted from Loudon’s Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 1838, 
and Selby’s History of British Forest Trees, 1842. 


56 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


ascends to goo ft. above sea-level, southwards to the Sierra 
Nevada and the Pyrenees, where it reaches an altitude of 
5,400 ft. on the latter and 7,000 ft. on the former. No 
other forest tree covers such extensive tracts as the Scots 
pine. It covers more than 80 per cent. of the wooded area 
on the great North German plain, and forms forests of 
enormous extent in Russia. In Germany it is emphatically 
a tree of the plain, and not of the mountain, or even of the 
lower hills and uplands, as in Scotland. ‘Towards the south 
the tree is not characterised by that straight growth which 
distinguishes it in its northern home. 

In ancient times it was one of the three principal forest. 
trees (oak, beech, pine) of Britain, occuping the hilly tracts 
of northern England, Scotland, and Ireland. It is the only 
species of the Adietinee indigenous to Great Britain and 
Ireland. In the Scottish Highlands it attains an elevation 
of 2,700 ft. but is then, however, merely a shrub and no 
longer a forest tree. 

On account of its exceedingly moderate demands as to 
soil and situation, its rich seed production, the cheapness of 
its cultivation, its ability to yield a fair monetary return in 
less time than most other forest trees, and the possibility of 
planting up waste areas with better species when once the 
soil has been improved by the Scots pine, its distribution 
has been considerably extended by artificial means. 

Tree-form and Root-system are both to a greater extent 
dependent on the soil and situation than in the case of 
spruce or silver: fir. On the better classes of soil it attains 
almost as straight growth as these, but always unfortunately 
deviates more than they do from the cylindrical form of bole, 
and in approaching more to the conical has diminished value 
for technical purposes requiring large-sized squares. The 
development of the crown is comparatively slight at all 
stages of its growth, but on favourable soils the leaves or 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 57 


needles (formerly called spines in old works on woodcraft) 
remain on for three years, whereas on the poorer localities 
often only one-year-old sprays bear foliage, short in growth.! 
Scots pine is one of the deep-rooted species of trees, and 
develops a strong tap-root in good deep soil; where the 
latter is wanting in depth or strength the side-roots expand 
in growth, and when soil-moisture also fails, surface 
roots are extensively developed. On shallow lime, or coarse 
sand with unfavourable subsoil, and on moors, the otherwise 
deep-rooted Scots pine becomes a shallow-rooting tree like 
the spruce. When abnormal and excessive root-production 
is induced by poverty of soil, the crown still remains com- 
paratively small, but ample for assimilating scanty food. 
Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—Among the forest 
trees there is no species whose demands are so moderate as 
those of the Scots pine in regard to soil and situation, 
although for the natural development of its tap-root the 
deep, loose, sandy soil found on plains formerly forming the 
bed of the sea is that most favourable. On hard, binding 
soil the growth of a normal root-system is interfered with 
which often leads to fungoid disease ; on stiff loam the 
growth in height suffers, and on shallow rocky soil there is 
decided tendency towards malformation of the bole. 
Between extremes, however, there are many gradations of 


1 Burckhardt, Sden und Pflanzen, 1880, p. 237, gives the following 
details as to defoliation :—Whilst the larch bears foliage only in summer, 
breaking into leaf, however, early in spring, the other conifers usually 
retain their needles for the following periods :— 


Scots and Weymouth pines... . . 2— 3 years. 
Austrian and maritime pines ... . 3— 4 5, 
Cembran and mountain pines . . . . 4— 5 ;; 
Spruce ; Adzes balsamea, albaand nigra 5— 7 ,, 
eNOR Ms cams gk cs vee cele 6— 9 ,; 
hy a ea te Bee a T= 52 «55 


Spanish fir (Adzes Pinsapo) . . . . . WO “15 


58 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


quality of soil to which this most useful tree readily accom- 
modates itself. 

The mineral quality of the soil finds its expression rather 
in the quality of the timber, and the duration of life of the 
tree, than in the cubic contents produced. The attainment 
of great height is with it, as with the other trees of the forest, 
one of the chief outward signs of the suitability of the 
situation. Its highest development and greatest production 
of resin take place on loamy sand, especially if humus be 
contained in it, and when the subsoil retains a constant 
moderate supply of moisture. 


No other species is content with so little soil-moisture as 


the Scots pine, which can be made to form forests on dry, 
shifting sand, or on hot, southern slopes where even the 
very weeds find life difficult. In such unsuitable localities 
its growth is naturally not good, but by improving the soil 
through the shade and shelter of its foliage preventing 
insolation, and through the humus formed by the defoliated 


needles, it paves the way for a better subsequent growth or 


for other trees that could not be planted out in the first 
instance. It also, on the other hand, is capable of being 
grown on peat moors and bogs, and even endures stagnant 
water better than the spruce which demands soil-moisture ; 
but under these unfavourable circumstances its growth is not 
vigorous. ‘To the attainment of a long period of life, of 
large cubic contents, and of timber of first-rate quality a 
constant moderate degree of freshness in the soil is 
essential ; dry soil yields good timber, but little of it ; moist 
soil yields large cubic contents, but of inferior quality as 
timber. It is sensitive to changes in the quantity of soil- 
moisture, and when growing on a soil usually moist, suffers 
in growth if either inundations take place or the soil gets 
dried up in unusually hot seasons, or in consequence 
of neighbouring drainage, the root-system being unable in 


ow) 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 59 


either case to accommodate itself all at once to the altered 
conditions. 

In relation to warmth, however, it possesses great power 
of accommodation, thriving in localities where the summer 
heat and the winter cold are both very considerable. Whilst in 
Germany it prefers the dry air of the North German plain to 
damp hilly climates, and shows decided signs of falling off in 
development in the moist atmosphere of Schleswig-Holstein, 
yet it thrives well in damp localities in Scotland and north- 
western Norway, producing timber of excellent quality. 

Except at high altitudes, where the greater dampness of 
these exposures would cause it naturally to seek the drier 
southern aspects, the northern and eastern slopes are best 
suited for the Scots pine on account of their better retention 
of soil-moisture, which compensates to a certain extent for 
the loss of light and warmth. 

Requirements as to Light.—Decidedly a light-loving tree, 
the Scots pine is very sensitive to shade, whether from 
above or from the side,—more so, in fact, than any other 
conifer except the larch. On the poorer qualities of soil even 
a slight degree of over-shadowing affects the development 
of the leading shoot, whilst if the trees are cleared so as to 
enjoy free light and sunshine after having long stood in 
shade their recuperative power seems weak, and unable to 
induce a return to normal straight growth. Its ability to 
withstand the bad effects of shade is greater when the soil 
is deep, powerful, and fresh. Even in pure forests of Scots 
pine too close sowing or planting is unadvisable, especially 
on the poorer soils, as the individuals influence each other 
disadvantageously by side shade; on better soils, the 
dominating saplings assert themselves sooner above the 
others, which soon become suppressed and killed off. ? 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.—No 

1 Vide note at foot of p. 57. 


60 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


species of forest tree grown in high forest is subject to more 
different treatment as to its economic maturity as the Scots 
pine, the periods of rotation varying from sixty to one 
hundred years and more. Under average conditions as to 
soil, an eighty years’ rotation frequently obtains, but where the 
larger dimensions of timber command high prices, higher 
rotations are fixed if the soil is not exposed to deteriorating 
influences. Good timber for ordinary building purposes is 
often produced by forests of seventy years of age. On 
poorer soils a rotation of fifty to sixty years is frequently more 
remunerative than one fixed at a later age, as increase in con 
tents and value of the timber on such localities is very slow. 
From about the fortieth to fiftieth year, and on indifferent 
soils much earlier, good seed years are frequent, six being 
expected in every ten years, and in addition there is generally 
some production of seed in the intervening years. The cones 
ripen in the second October after flowering, and in the suc- 
ceeding spring the approach of warm weather causes them 
to open so that the seed may be wafted away by the wind. 
The germinative power of the seed is good, experimental 
tests generally yielding sixty to seventy per cent., although 
of course somewhat less favourable results must be expected 
when sowing is carried out in the open. The cones usually 
contain from forty to forty-five seeds, and one pound of seed 
without wings represents about 75,000 seeds,” which retain 
their germinative power for between two to three years. 


1 Burckhardt, Saenx und Pflanzen, 1880, p. 418, gives the following 
comparative table for the relative number of seeds contained per unit of 
volume :—- 


Scots Pe 0. 5 he ete oe 100 
Sprace: oo he ea et aa ek 95 
Latch. 72) Cee ee ne 93 
Austrian pie’ 03.5) hes. 5 i 56 
Weymouth pine. . ...... 28 
Maritime pine 5... os BS 
Silver. ff. See eee eee 


i a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 61 


Liability to suffer from External Dangers is wun- 
fortunately characteristic of the Scots pine at all stages of 
its growth. In its earliest years it is apt to suffer seriously 
from the larve of species of Agrotis and Gryllotalpa at time 
of germinating, then of AZ¢/olontha gnawing the roots, whilst 
the bark is attacked by the fully developed weevils of 
fTylobius and Pissodes species. The cortex and sap-wood of 
young plantations suffer through the larve of Aylurgus, 
and those of poles and trees from Sostrychus, Hylurgus, 
Hylastes and Polygraphus ; Gastropacha and Retinia cater- 
pillars often decimate the buds; young shoots are badly 
damaged by species of Hy/urgus and Retinia ; and finally the 
leaves form too often a favourite grazing ground for the 
caterpillars of Gastropacha pini, Liparis monacha, Trachea 
piniperda, Fidonia piniaria, Lophyrus pint and Lyda 
pratensis. 

Leaf-shedding, or the loss of foliage, a fatal disease to 
which Scots pine is liable, and particularly so at the 
age of three to five years, is caused by drought (according 
to Ebermayer), or by frost (according to Nordlinger), or 
(according to R. Hartig), in many cases either by a process 
of drying up due to transpiration through the leaves on 
sunny days in winter whilst the frost-bound soil can yield no 
supplies of moisture to replace that evaporated, or else by a 
fungoid disease from infection with Hysterium pinastri. 

From fungoid diseases, too, the Scots pine has to bear 
somewhat more than its fair share. The leaves of young 
seedlings are attacked by Aysterium pinastri, and Atcidium 
pini, the branches and stems of poles and trees by 7rametes 
pini, 4icidium pini, and Caoma pinitorqguum, and the roots 
and base of the stem by Agaricus melleus and Trametes 
radiciperda, whilst cotyledons and leaves of seedlings 

1 R. Hartig’s Lehrbuch der Baumkrankheiten, 2nd edition, 1889, 
pp. 103—109. 


62 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


become infected by Phytophthora omnivora. Red-rot! in 
the timber is caused by Polyporus vaporarius and P. mollis. 

The above-mentioned insect enemies of the Scots pine 
also endanger to a greater or less extent the well being of 
the other species of pine—black or Austrian, Cembran, 
maritime, Weymouth,—but their attacks are usually neither 
so frequent nor so serious. A similar remark also obtains 
with reference to the fungoid diseases. 

Accumulations of snow and ice on the branches, also heavy 
storms of wind and rain, oftencause much damage, as 
during the sapling- and pole-stages of growth the wood of 
the branches is very brittle. In spite of the thin crown of 
foliage, on shallow-soiled, exposed localities the danger’ of 
trees being thrown altogether (windfall) is greater than on 
the sandy plains where the deep, strong tap-root lends 
security to the stem. 

Very serious damage can be caused by forest fires in the 
dry months of summer, especially when the thicket age has 
not yet been passed ; no tree suffers so much from this 


danger as the Scots pine, owing to its richness in resin. 


Protected by its rough bark it is not after the twentieth year 
liable to be much damaged by deer, but wounds occasioned 
by red-deer stripping the bark with their teeth, both in 
winter and summer, and rubbing the velvet from their 
antlers in early summer, heal better than those inflicted on 


1 Hess, Der Forstschutz, 1890, vol. ii. p. 185, says :—‘‘ Red-rot is 
occasioned by the solution of cellulose in a decomposing ferment formed 
in the protoplasm of the fungus and communicated by the mycelium to 
the surrounding cells ; a resinous or tannic residuum is formed, which 
in oxidizing assumes a reddish-brown appearance. In white-vot the 
ferment of the mycelium dissolves the lignine, and leaves the bright- 
coloured cellulose untouched, hence the whitish colour of the diseased 
wood.” 

The details concerning insect enemies and fungoid diseases are 
mainly drawn from Hess’s Forstschutz, 2nd Edit., 1887—1890, 


— ee . 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 63 


other coniferous species, owing to its superior recuperative 
capacity in this respect. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Scots Pine-—As a light- 
loving species, hardy in respect to frost, Scots pine offers 
many contrasts to spruce and silver fir. Pure forests of 
pine are usually to be found only on the poorer classes of 
soil, where of course it does not attain anything like so good 
growth as on more favourable soils and situations. How 
great are the differences in average yield between the best 
and the poorest classes of pine soil may be seen from the 
table on page 44, the outturn on the latter at no time even 
approaching the half of that on the former, the average on 
soils of medium quality being, however, about 4,700 cubic 
feet per acre, at sixty years of age, and 5,700 cubic feet 
at eighty years. 

The influences or soil and situation are apparent in every 
aspect of its development. ‘The root-system is cramped, 
short, and branching on loam, and quite a contrast to the 
well-formed tap-root in deep, fresh, light sand, whilst moor- 
pan and poor, dry situations, as well as those which are 
too marshy and wet, cause the formation of long, thin 
strands that ramify in all directions throughout the surface- 
soil. Even in the foliage the quality of the soil and 
situation may at once be noted from the length of the 
needles and from their persistence, for whilst on the average 
and better situations they still depend from the two-year-old 
twigs, on the poorer sites they are mainly confined to the 
one-year-old sprays,—a circumstance of no little importance 
with regard to the sheltering of the soil and the retention 
of soil-moisture. The amount of resin contained in the 
timber, its length of bole, and its general quality, are all in 
like manner greatly dependent on the nature of the soil 
and situation, which also to a very great extent determine, 
or at any rate unmistakably indicate, the period at which 


64 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the utilisation and reproduction of the growing crop can 
take place most advantageously and remuneratively. 

In general the growth of the Scots pine is most 
vigorous throughout the thicket, and the pole-forest, and 
until after it enters the tree-forest stage of growth, in the 
latter two of which it also yields the largest returns from 
thinnings. But the poorer the soil, the sooner the average 
increment culminates and begins to diminish, the earlier 
the growth in height declines, and the rounding off of the 
crown begins. Along with the latter comes increased 


demand for growing-space, trees die off, and weevils, beetles, _ 


and caterpillars at once become attracted towards .them 
as breeding places, frequently combined with simultaneous 
infection with fungoid disease, whilst the process of regular 
and judicious thinning out is somewhat interfered with, as 
the sickly and diseased stems must be removed first of all. 
Owing to the greater amount of light playing over the soil, 
this becomes covered with a growth of mosses, grasses, 
whortleberries, or heather according to its quality, and soon 
the canopy, from being at first merely interrupted, gradually 
becomes completely broken, the annual increment sinks, 
and the question of reproduction and clearance,—or too 
often merely its alternative, clearance and reproduction,— 
inevitably presents itself for consideration. 

The poorer classes of pine soil exhibit these changes in so 
short a time that low periods of rotation are those most 
advantageous both in regard to outturn and with respect to 
the soil, but on the better classes the quantity of the out- 
turn in timber, as well as its quality, points to the remunera- 
tive advantage offered by a fall fixed at from eighty to one- 
hundred and twenty years according to the circumstances of 
each case. 

In comparison with spruce and silver fir, Scots pine 
has a rapid growth in early youth and often succeeds in 


-_ =, °°» 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 65 


forming canopy at about the age of five to six years, if it 
manages to escape the ailments peculiar to its species, which 
are unfortunately numerous. Should the young seedlings or 
transplants, before being able to develop their tap-root, 
suffer from long-continued drought, or should strong dry 
east winds dissipate the soil-moisture, the stock on the 
ground may be sadly diminished, or even decimated, 
especially when the quality of the soil is poor. A severe 
winter following a dry summer finds the young plants in a 
weakly condition and little able to withstand hard frosts, 
especially if following rapidly after heavy rain ; for although 
pine is hardy as regards frost, the exposure of the roots 
after a sudden thaw kills the plant outright. Fungous 
disease (Hysterium pinastri) may then gain an easy foot- 
hold on the foliage in its sickly condition, and even 
perfectly healthy plants are liable to attacks from insects of 
various kinds, the most dangerous and destructive being 
cockchafer grubs (J/elolontha) on light sandy soil, and 
various species of weevils (Curculionidae), particularly where 
the stumps of the old crop of trees have not been grubbed 
up, as some of the worst beetles have their breeding-places 
there. ‘These youthful ailments of the pine often neces- 
sitate extensive planting operations. in the filling up of 
blanks resulting from one or other of these causes, or from 
the browsing of sheep, which prefer pine sprays to heather 
and tough wiry mountain grass, when they can force a way 
through the fencing into plantations. 

When once the young pine woods, however, have fairly 
established themselves, and have with close planting in 
about five to seven years attained the canopy usual in 
the thicket stage, their growth in height soon becomes 
vigorous. From heights varying at ten years of age from 
38” to 7’4”, according to the quality of the soil, it quickly 
shoots up to from ten to twenty-four feet at twenty years of 

F 


66 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


age, and twenty-five to fifty-two feet at forty years of age, 
during which time of greatest energy of growth in height 
the pine surpasses most other trees of the forest, annual 
shoots of two feet in length throughout all the dominating 
poles being common enough on good situations. The 
energy of the Weymouth pine is even greater in this 
direction than that of the Scots pine, whilst that of the 
black or Austrian and maritime pines is somewhat less. At 
this stage of growth, unless the density of canopy be in- 


terfered with by accidents due to climate, such as breakage. 


owing to accumulations of snow on the branches, or the 
foliage be eaten up by swarms of caterpillars, or the bark 
and sap-wood be destroyed by the larve of Bostrichinz, the 
soil being well protected becomes greatly improved by the 
rich fall of needles annually, which on decomposition form 
good humus, and stimulate the soil to increased timber 
production. ‘The impetus thus given to the general energy 
in growth favours, on the better classes of soil, the self- 
assertion of the dominating and predominating poles 
throughout the whole crop; but on soils of the poorer 
class the improvement thus brought about is apt to be 
frittered away and dissipated in prolonging the struggle 
between the dominating and the dominated classes, so 


that what on one situation may be gained by close planting - 


in forcing up the poles and favouring the early development 
of a distinctly dominating class, may lead to exactly the 
opposite result on a poorer situation. Poles that have once 
stood in shade seldom develop into good normal stems. 
The age at which a natural interruption of the canopy 
begins, and the rate at and extent to which it continues, 
are matters varying in general according to the quality 
of the soil, and the suitability of the situation for the 
pine. On shallow soils, or those which, like lime or poor 


sand, are easily heated, it begins to take place about the 


eet ih A As?! oe 


—~s 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 67 


fortieth to the fiftieth year, whilst on deeper, fresher, more 
humose sands and loams, and milder soils generally, the 
tendency does not make itself so apparent until about the 
sixtieth to eightieth year. It is only under such circumstances 
as in the latter case that the pine gets fair play as a forest 
tree, and has the opportunity of developing normally into 
the fine and profitable timber tree that it unquestionably is. 
The characteristic reddening of the pine stems along the 
upper portion of the bole and near the crown takes place at 
the time when forests begin to thin themselves strongly. 

With continued interruption of the canopy two points of 
interest press themselves on the attention of the owner ; 
first, that in consequence of the diminution of the number 
of stems the total annual increment begins to fall below the 
average maximum that the soil can and should yield, and 
secondly, that insolation of the soil and its exposure to the 
wasting influence of dry winds must lead to deterioration 
and impoverishment. Both of these circumstances indicate 
the proper and prudent time for reproduction, which can 
then be most advantageously undertaken either before or 
after the crop on the ground has been utilised. 

As already remarked, with no other species of high 
forest does the period of rotation or fall of the timber 
range between more varying limits than in the case of the 
Scots pine. Sometimes the indications above referred to 
recommend the utilisation of the crop at fifty to sixty years 
on the poorer situations, when the total average annual 
yield is often much greater than at a higher age, and where 
advancing years do not necessarily bring with them a finer 
development of large timber; on soils of such quality, 
however, the outturn yielded is more generally suitable for 
petty requirements than for building purposes, or works 
requiring large squares. Many pine forests give good useful 
building timber at seventy years of age, yielding at the same 

F 


68 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


time fair returns for the capital represented by soil and 
growing-stock. For medium circumstances a rotation of 
seventy to eighty years is what is naturally indicated as the 
most remunerative, although, where large timber is well paid 
for and in good demand, the fall may often profitably be 
delayed till the hundredth, or even the hundred and 
twentieth year ; for such long periods of rotation, however, 
favourable soils and situations are a size gud non, both from 
the sylvicultural and the monetary points of view. 

Pure Forests of Scots Pine.-—It cannot be dénied that 
under certain circumstances pure forests of pine offer 
distinct advantages. They make little demand on the 
soil, are easily formed, tended, and worked, and yield 
both in the thinnings, and at the final harvesting of the 
crop, good useful kinds of timber generally saleable, and 
capable of supplying requirements of the most various 
descriptions. Where, however, accumulations of snow and 
ice are likely to occur in exposed localities, the formation 
of pure forests of Scots pine is not to be recommended ; 
the interest of the owner will most probably be better served 


by the formation of mixed forests. But the greatest draw-— 


back of pure forests of equal age, which the usual system of 
total clearance with artificial reproduction entails, lies in 


the defective and only partial protection which the older 


woods are able to afford the soil; this is more especially 
the case on poor dry soils unsuited for the growth of other 
species along with the pine, and where it is not possible to 
regenerate the pinewoods naturally under parent standards. 
For the production of large and valuable stems of Scots 
pine, prolongation of the fall of the whole crop would be 
a costly and unremunerative measure ; but a choice always 
remains between retaining well-grown groups on good patches 
of soil, or the selection of healthy, well-developed trees as 
standards here and there over the area being reproduced. 


2a " 


> ee 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 69 


In general the latter practice has most to recommend it, but 
the number of standards selected must be small, not exceed- 
ing ten to fifteen per acre, and for some time previous to 
the clearance of the crop they should gradually be accus- 
tomed to greater light and air, and prepared for standing 
isolated by being cut free from neighbouring trees. Even 
with such preliminary precautions, however, the standards 
often become windfall, and that too in localities not unduly 
exposed to heavy and violent storms, besides being liable to 
the attacks of insects and of fungous disease in the crown 
(Peridermium pini), whilst the young growth around such 
standards is always more or less interfered with. But 
where the standards maintain themselves healthy till 
the close of the second period of rotation, they yield a 
good return. The retention of standards is only advisable 
on the better classes of soil, where there is least danger of 
the younger generation of trees being too much retarded in 
growth by the light shadow cast around by the former. 
Without doubt the same object can perhaps be better 
attained by growing the pine in admixture with spruce or 
silver fir, and on the whole pure pine forests are only to be 
recommended on soils unsuited for the formation of 
mixed forests in which the shade-bearing conifers form. the 
ruling species or matrix. 

Mixed Forests with Scots Pine as the ruling Species.— 
Spruce is the tree most frequently grown in admixture 
with Scots pine, and even where it is not able to develop 
as well as the latter, it still performs good service as a 
subordinate species protecting the soil. In some localities 
it grows as quickly as the pine ; in others it is at first slower 
in growth, but ultimately succeeds in forming canopy along 
with the pine. When this begins to slacken in growth in 
height and gets overtaken at about thirty to fifty years of 
age, the spruce often threatens to crush out the pine unless 


70 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the axe is freely used. On the poorer qualities of soil 
spruce never really ranks much higher than underwood, but 
is even then of great advantage to the pine in maintaining 
and stimulating the productive power of the soil, and in 
hindering the formation of a rank growth of whortleberry or 
heather. 

When older forests of Scots pine have an admixture 
of spruce forming canopy along with them, they are 
usually characterised by a good cylindrical form of bole 
and large production of cubic contents per acre. .They 
also suffer far less than pure forests from vafious dangers, 
and when the foliage of the pine has been stripped by the 
caterpillars of swarms of moths, the spruce can often take its 
place in the blanks formed, except when the ‘Nun’ moth 
(Liparis monacha) has been the cause, for then spruce is 
usually much more injured than pine. In such mixed 
forests breakage from snow is much less frequent than in 
woods of pure Scots pine. Although in general advan- 
tageous, there are however two cases in which an admixture 
of spruce is not advisable; namely, in the first instance, 
on the better class of pine soils, where the pine is of deci- 
dedly quicker growth than the spruce, and where the 
interests of the proprietor are best served by growing the 
pine pure and then later on under-planting with spruce, . 
and in the second instance, on the poorer classes of pine 
soil where the spruce is unable to thrive. Buton dry, im- 
poverished mountain soil a mixture is often preferable, as 
in pure forests the pine soon thins itself and does not pro- 
tect the soil sufficiently, whilst the spruce has only a sickly 
growth without any nurse. In such cases it depends on 
circumstances whether the treatment to be accorded will 
result in the mixed forest being pine with spruce, or spruce 
with pine. Many of the present middle-aged mixed crops 
of Scots pine and spruce in Germany arose from the 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 71 


malpractices of seedsmen formerly in mixing the cheaper 
spruce seed with that of the pine at a time when communi- 
cations were not so good as they are now, and the errors 
could not conveniently be rectified immediately. 

In what proportion the admixture of the spruce should 
take place is mainly dependent on the nature of the soil 
and situation. Ifthe pine is towards the maturity of the 
crop to be unmistakably the chief or ruling species, then 
the spruce should not be introduced in greater quantity than 
from one-sixth to one-fourth. Where past experience, how- 
ever, has shown that the pine can easily be protected from 
being overgrown and suppressed by the spruce about its 
fiftieth year, the latter can be planted in equal quantity in 
alternating squares or rows, in which case the spruce will 
at first require most attention, whilst later on measures will 
have to be taken to protect the pine against the other. 
Where spruce forms only a small proportion of the stock 
it is better to introduce it as individuals or in small patches 
than to plant it out in rows. 

In mixed forests of pine and silver fir the latter is almost 
always the ruling species, so that this mixture will be con- 
sidered later on (vide page 125). 

In the Scottish highlands a mixture of birch with the 
pine seems a most natural one. They are both species with 
a considerable power of accommodation, and whose natural 
habitat ranges from moors to sandy soils; as the light 
winged seed is easily wafted into the pine woods, birch is 
very often found growing there. But in general the in- 
troduction of birch into pine forests has not much to 
recommend it, as it leads to interruption of the canopy and 
insolation of the soil. Even on poor soils birch is the more 
rapid in growth up till about the fifteenth to twentieth year, 
when it is outstripped in height by the pine ; but until this 
has taken place the leading shoots of the latter are liable to 


72 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


be damaged by the whip-like twigs of the former. Under 
certain circumstances, however, the birch is a welcome guest 
in pine woods, only its stay must not be too prolonged. On 
soils of somewhat inferior quality, which suffice for the birch 
but are hardly good enough to ensure the thriving of other 
species, an admixture of birch protects the pine against insects, 
snow, and fire. Where, again, the pine is likelyto find difficulty 
in establishing itself, an admixture of birch as a nurse often 
yields good results, as on very dry, almost shifting, sandy 
soils and on moors and marshes, on which experience shows 
that such mixed forests thrive better during the younger 
stages of growth. But in these cases the birch should be 
removed early in the way of thinning, especially on the 
more sandy varieties of soil. 

The admixture of larch with Scots pine was formerly 
not at all infrequent, but has now pretty generally fallen 
into disrepute in most countries except Scotland, as might 
from the very first have been expected from the natural 
characteristics of the two species. Even on soils below the 
average in quality, the larch is the quicker in growth till 
between the tenth to the twentieth year, when it is caught up 
by the pine, and the one condition of its growth—absolute 
freedom of crown—can no longer be satisfied unless at the 
sacrifice of the surrounding pines ; at such a stage of growth 
the almost inevitable measure to be adopted is the removal of 
the larch poles before they fall a prey to canker (Peziza 
Willkommit). But in any case the poorer classes of pine 
soil are no suitable situation for the larch, which requires a 
deep, fresh, and strong soil, such as will seldom be best utilised 
by being planted up with Scots pine. Where, however, 
the larch is desired in pine woods, it can better be reared 
and tended if planted in patches or groups than individually 
or in rows. 

On peat-moors or sour boggy soils Scots pine has often 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 73 


aspen and alder mixed with it, but on the whole the 
appearance of crops of this kind is seldom satisfactory. 

Scots pine woods are often the matrix throughout which 
other varieties of pine, in particular Weymouth and also 
black or Austrian pine, are grown with satisfactory results. 
The former often assists materially in maintaining the 
canopy, and both are less impatient of shade than our in- 
digenous species. ‘The Weymouth pine is, however, apt to 
overtop and crowd out the Scots pine, so that it should 
be introduced in clumps for more easy tending in favour of 
the latter. The black pine is notably backward in growth 
during its tenth to fifteenth year, but can beara light shade 
well, and improves the soil considerably through its heavy 
fall of needles and its thicker foliage. 

Formation and Reproduction of Pine Forests—The methods 
of reproduction of pure pine forests are various. Natural 
regeneration under parent standard trees was long the rule, 
and is even now, in extensive pine tracts where low local 
timber rates, or a limited demand for timber, did and do not 
seem to call for or justify the outlay of large sums on artificial 
reproduction, although it cannot be denied that the latter 
leads to more regular and complete results. But wherever 
the whole crop can be profitably disposed of, natural repro- 
duction of this species—and, indeed, of every species of 
forest tree except the beech and the silver fir, which are 
shade-demanding during the first two or three years of their 
existence—has come to be the exception in place of, as 
formerly, the rule, though .some maintain that in many 
cases natural regeneration is the preferable method, and 
that better timber crops of pine can be raised from seed 
shed by parent standards, if blanks and unregenerated 
patches be promptly filled up artificially. Large pine forests 
on light sandy soil, where sudden clearance might render 
it a prey to the winds, ought certainly to be reproduced 


74 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


naturally, and in general such as show by self-sown seedlings 
a good capacity for regeneration, even if it be only in 
order to escape from the often serious damage caused in 
very young plantations by cockchafer grubs (/e/olontha). 
From the actuarial point of view however—which must always 
be the principal one, and that most deserving of attention 
in the private forests of Britain—speedy. artificial reproduc- 
tion of regular, equal-aged crops holds out better promise 
of remunerative results than the doubtful success of naturally 
regenerated woodlands of a light-demanding species on any 
poor soil liable to deteriorate. And natural reproduction 
of our pine forests is seldom quite satisfactory ; here the 
self-sown seedlings stand too thick, there too sparsely and 
irregularly, while in other places again they fail altogether, 
and the soil becomes covered with rank undergrowth, which 
effectually puts an end to all hope of future spontaneous 
growth ; at best the results are generally such that expensive 
assistance has usually to be given by sowing or planting. 
Natural Reproduction—No protective standards are 
necessary for the natural reproduction of the Scots pine, 
for on the poorer classes of soil the seedling growth will 
not bear shade, and on the better situations it can thrive 
without shelter and soon demands, as a light-loving species, 
the removal of the parent trees. Natural reproduction | 
under parent standards is therefore only possible on soils 
above the average in quality, and can be recommended only 
on the very best situations, as otherwise the increase in 
growth on the standards does not outweigh the damage 
done by overshadowing the younger generation. Where, 
however, a natural, self-sown growth is to be found with 
normally-formed leading shoots, the standing timber should 
be removed sooner than in other parts of the forest, so as to 
ensure the normal development of the young seedlings in 
groups or patches: for if once crippled in growth, or hindered 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 75 


in development, such seedlings never recover completely. 
Thus a young self-sown crop, which has stood for more than 
two or three years under the shade of close canopy, or older 
plants under more open cover which show a shortened and 
impaired growth of the leading shoot, do not yield suitable 
material for the formation of future crops, in addition to 
which the extraction of the parent trees can seldom be 
effected without causing a good deal of damage to the young 
undergrowth. The retention of self-sown seedlings occur- 
ring only singly here and there on areas that are intended to 
be stocked with pure forest of pine, is not advisable, as they 
are apt to break into undue branch development; do not 
form good boles, and generally interfere with the growth of 
their neighbours. 

In mixed forests where the pine is grown along with 
thickly-foliaged trees, or in pine forests that have been 
underplanted with shade-bearing species, some soil pre- 
paration is necessary for the purpose of accelerating the 
decomposition of the layer of leaves on the ground, and the 
formation of humus. In pure forests of Scots pine, how- 
ever, it is more often the case that reproduction is hindered 
by a heavy growth of grass and weeds, amongst which 
germination of the seed is difficult and the malformation of 
the seedling almost certain ; for good development of the 
young plant can only be expected where the seed rests on 
the naked soil, and the rootlets can penetrate immediately 
into the earth. Even where the ground is only covered with 
weeds here and there, some soil preparation is requisite, 
otherwise the young crop is patchy, broken, and at best 
unequal in height, conditions not at all suitable for the 
formation of pure forests of a light-loving species like Scots 
pine, which only forms good stems when the density of the 
crop is sufficient to stimulate growth in height by interfering 
with and checking the natural, strongly-marked tendency to 


76 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


ramification and coronal development. Such soil-preparation 
need not take place over the whole area, but is at least advis- 
able in bands or strips of twelve to twenty inches broad, occur- 
ring at intervals of three to four feet ; the covering of weeds 
should be removed till the soil is reached, and this should 
if possible be broken up slightly early in spring, so that the 
seed may find a good bed for germination on being shed 
from the cones with the advent of somewhat warmer weather. 

Where the quality of the soil is good enough to make 
natural reproduction advisable, twelve to twenty parent 
standards per acre, equally distributed over the area, will be 
found sufficient, especially if high forest of the same species 
be near the fall and assist in the distribution of seed. Where, 
however, it is desirable that the advantages of increased 
growth in girth, through freer exposure to light and air, 
should be attained by a greater number of stems before they 
are felled and extracted, this can be arranged for by re- 
producing in circles of forty to fifty yards diameter with very 
few standards surrounded by a belt or girdle of ten to twenty 
yards broad in which the seed-shedding parent trees are 
more numerous. ‘The standards are first removed in three 
to four years from the central area, and those from the girdle 
gradually during the next ten to twelve years. If under the 


latter the germination and establishment of the Scots pine - 


has not been successful other species can be sown, and 
thus at the end of the period of reproduction the area will 
be covered with circular groups, of about one-third of an 
acre each, consisting of pine of equal age, surrounded by 
belts, ten to twenty yards broad, of shade-bearing species like 
spruce or silver fir, in which patches of pine also occur, 
whereby to a certain extent the advantages of mixed forests 
over pure crops will be attained. 

On the poorer classes of soil natural reproduction is not 
advisable, although where groups or large patches of well- 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 77 


developed self-sown seedlings have asserted themselves on 
blanks occasioned by windfall, &c., their retention is often 
advisable. Where a recent fall of timber has taken place, a 
natural growth can often be obtained if bands be prepared 
for the reception of seed whenever numerous cones on the 
neighbouring trees to the windward side show prospect of a 
large supply of seed being shed in the following spring in 
the direction of the area to be re-wooded. But such natural 
reproduction cannot be relied on for more than too to 120 
yards, and is often extremely irregular and unsatisfactory, 
necessitating considerable outlay for the filling up of blanks. 
As germination can only be secured on dry soil when the 
seed has some soil-covering, it is advisable either to break 
up the soil before the time of seed-shedding, or to go over it 
lightly with the rake or harrow after the seed has fallen. A 
favourable germinating-bed is afforded by places where the 
stumps of the trees have been grubbed out to decrease the 
number of breeding-places available for such dangerous insect 
enemies as are foundamong the Curculionidae and Bostrichint. 
In the enormous pine forests of northern Germany, 
natural reproduction over large areas has long been given up, 
and total clearance of the mature crop is at once followed by 
sowing or planting operations, except near the edge of next 
year’s fall, where, for the distance of about 100 to 200 yards, 
there is sometimes a growth of self-sown seedlings from the 
seed shed during the last year, which is often capable of form- 
ing close canopy with more or less of artificial assistance. 
Artificial Formation and Reproduction.—Whether the 
artificial formation or reproduction should take place by 
sowing or planting is a question dependent mainly on local 
circumstances in each case. In northern Germany, for 
example, it has received a practical answer in the fact that 
whilst about twenty or thirty years ago there was at least as 
much sowing as planting, the latter has now become the 


78 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


rule, except where want of available labour has settled the 
question in favour of sowing. No hard and fast rules can 
be framed for the pine more than for any other kind of 
forest tree, as in each case soil and situation and other 
circumstances must all be taken into consideration before 
any dictum can have genuine practical value ; but in general 
the formation or the reproduction of ‘pine forests is best 
undertaken by means of planting, as then the distances at 
which the plants shall stand, and the time at which the 
young crop shall form canopy, are most easily determinable 
by the owner. When the first and early thinnings are 
remunerative, tolerably close planting and dense plantations 
will naturally recommend themselves. 

Sowing.—Under certain circumstances, however, sowing 
has its recommendations. The supply of seedlings may 
fail owing to grubs in the nurseries or other causes, the 
available supply of labour may not be securable, or the soil 
is perhaps not suitable for planting out young seedlings, 
whilst the necessarily higher costs of planting up with 
older transplants from nurseries may for one reason or 
another not be considered desirable. 

Sowings are not always cheaper than planting, for a 
certain amount of preparation of the soil for the reception of 
seed is imperative to secure any fair measure of success ; 
the filling up of blanks may at times be costly, and after all 
the results may show that it would have proved a saving 
both in time and money to have determined in favour of 
planting at the outset. 

It is difficult to hit the happy medium in sowings of the 
pine ; they are usually either too dense or too thin. In 
the latter case, even with some assistance in the way of 
planting, the crops often stand too open, and from the very 
first, branch-development is unduly great; in the former, 
even with the frequent assistance of the bill in the way of 


Ss ss CO 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 79 


weeding and clearing, the individual struggle for predomi- 
ance begins early and is long continued, especially on the 
poorer classes of soil, and in it is often dissipated the general 
energy in growth during the period when that vital energy 
is at its greatest. 

Where pure forests of Scots pine are desired, sowing? 
in mountainous tracts usually takes place broadcast along 
lines cleared of weeds to a breadth of 1 to 13 feet and 3} to 
4 feet apart. Where the soil is dry, hard, or covered 
with a thick layer of incompletely formed or inferior 
humus, some little soil-preparation is advisable in order 
to enable the rootlets to penetrate quickly into the 
ground, so that they may the better withstand drought. 
Where there is a strong growth of heath, heather or weeds, 
the area should be burned over before any soil-preparation 
takes place, but caution must be used to ensure that the fire 
does not spread into the forests. On level tracts the 
best soil-preparation can be effected by the plough during 
autumn, when sowing follows in spring, about 5 to 6 lbs. 
per acre being used, and germination assisted by the use of 
the rake or the harrow. On low-lying tracts where the soil 
is wet, or in localities with impermeable subsoil of moorpan 
or ironband, trenching with the subsoil plough is requisite, 
the seed being sown on the top and sides of the beds or 
mounds between the trenches. 

Cones were often formerly sown out, but as in cold wet 
weather the scales did not open to let the seed issue, the 
results were at times very unsatisfactory. 

Planting.—A great impetus was given to planting by the 
use of one, or at most two-year-old naked seedlings in 
districts with loose or mild soils, where notching could be 
carried out. Nursery costs, and the dangers incident to life 
in a nursery, were thereby reduced to a minimum, packing 

? See table on p. 50. 


So BRITISH FOREST TREES 


and transport were rendered cheap and easy, the actual 
operation of planting was of the simplest and cheapest 
possible description, and the success was satisfactory, as 
good results could be achieved with the young material at a 
very reasonable outlay. And whenever possible, notching 
of naked seedlings has other advantages besides cheapness 
over planting with transplants having balls of earth attached, 
for in the loose or light soils where alone it is practicable, 
the seedlings maintain themselves better against drought 
than if planted out with earth around the roots,—a fact 
that has its explanation in the greater ease with which 
the comparatively undamaged and undiminished tender 
root-system can establish itself in the easily penetrable soil. 

When notching is the method employed, as is usual on 
moist soils except those that are tenacious, the use of yearling 
seedlings has a decided advantage over older plants, as the 
roots are much less likely to get damaged during the planting 
operations. Yearling seedlings should be pricked out in 
rows not more than 4% feet apart, and should be set from 
24 to 34 feet apart in the rows; but where trenching has been 
carried out, the rows are usually further apart, and the plants 
closer together in the lines. Long, thick, wedge-shaped 
notching spades should be used, so that the rootlets may not 
'be damaged, and because planting too deep is in the case of. 
the Scots pine less of a mistake than planting too shallow. 
On very dry or light soils, indeed, the seedlings are put in 
so far that only the top bud appears above the ground—a 
method that would of course not be applicable in moist 
localities or on stiff soils. 

Planting with two-year-old plants is dearer, without being 
necessarily more successful, than when good yearling seed- 
lings have been used. ‘Transplants over two years old, and in 
unfavourable circumstances even two-year-old plants, are put 
out with balls of earth attached to the roots; but as this 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 81 


method is comparatively more expensive, it is usually adopted 
only on wet moors and other places where there is danger of 
the plants being lifted out of the ground by frost, or where, 
as in the case of shifting sand, the soil is extremely poor. 
The larger transplants are, however, to be recommended in 
the filling up of blanks,—a measure that should be promptly 
attended to in the formation of young pine woods, as can 
easily be understood when one considers their rapid growth in 
early years, and the tendency towards branch-development on 
any side offering the enjoyment of light and air. Young plants 
round blanks soon tend to assume branching and abnormal 
development, and if they have an advantage of two or three 
years in growth, they prevent younger plants from thriving. 
The filling up of blanks with transplants of four and five-year- 
old and older plants can only take place with large balls of 
earth, owing to the development of the tap-root, and is as a 
rule very expensive. But in such cases the filling up of 
blanks with Weymouth pine, black pine, spruce, or silver fir 
will generally recommend itself in preference to Scots pine, 
unless the soil and situation be distinctly unsuitable for any 
of these other species. 

In its demand for light is explainable the mistake of too 
close planting of the pine. Thick sowing or dibbling in of 
many seeds in patches here and there is contrary to the 
natural habit of the species, more especially on the poorer 
classes of soil where the youthful energy of the pole stage 
of growth is squandered in an unprofitable struggle for 
individual supremacy. One or two-year-old seedlings should 
not be put out closer than 3 feet x 3 feet, three and four-year- 
old transplants with balls of earth attached not nearer than 
4 feet x 4 feet., or in rows of 5 feet x 3 feet to make clearing 
and thinning out easier and cheaper. 

When seedlings are to be used, they can be raised in 
temporary nurseries in any sheltered locality with good mild 

G 


82 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


soil. The seed is sown in rills about one inch deep and 
4 to 4} inches apart, and lightly covered with soil. If 
two-year-old seedlings are to be used, the rows are put 
six inches apart, the quantity of seed being of course re- 
duced to } to 4 of what is found most suitable in the former 
case. When the seedlings are intended for very dry soil, 
bastard-trenching is advisable in order to loosen the soil and 
stimulate the young plants to the development of long roots ; 
the work of trenching should be carried out as early as 


possible, so as to let the ground settle again before the seed 


is sown. If no sheltered locality be available, the nursery 
must have some artificial protection from the wind, such as 
dykes or hedges, whilst on poor soil manuring with leaf- 
mould or the ashes of weeds is advisable. Where such 
temporary nurseries have been well chosen, no covering or 
protection for the young seedlings is necessary, and in no case 
should twigs or sprays of Scots pine be used for sucha 
purpose, as their needles are often infected with the fungous 
disease occasioned by Aysterium pinastri, which may only 
too easily be thus communicated to the seedlings. 

In order to provide a supply of transplants for the filling 
up of blanks, or for the introduction of Scots pine as a 
subordinate tree in forests of other species, one must adopt 
the usual method of schooling the plants in nurseries, which 
should of course be located as near to the ultimate desti- 
nation as practicable, in order to reduce to a minimum the 
costs of transport and the risk of damage during the final 
operations of planting out. 

All planting operations with Scots pine on dry soils 
should be carried out as early as possible in spring, so that the 
young plants may have a fair chance of establishing them- 
selves before the usual period of drought sets in. The better 
and the fresher the soil, the less danger is there of late 
operations proving unsuccessful. 


—_— 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 83 


2. SPRUCE, NORWAY SPRUCE, OR SPRUCE FIR (Pinus abies, 
L. = Pinus picea, Du Roi = Pinus excelsa, Lam. = Abies excelsa, 
D.C. = PICEA EXCELSA, Link). 


Distribution.—In this respect the spruce is inferior only to 
the Scots pine. It extends from latitude 69° N. through- 
out the whole of northern and central Europe, southwards 
to the slopes of the Alps, Cevennes and Pyrenees. It forms 
extensive forests in Scandinavia, Finland, Lapland, and 
Russia, although its growth there is not to be compared with 
that attained on the hilly land and mountain masses in 
central Germany. It seems not to have been indigenous to 
Scotland or England, for no fossil traces of it have been 
found, and no historical record exists of it having ever formed 
forests on the hills of ancient Britain ; it was probably only 
introduced toward the middle of the sixteenth century. 

In France, as well as in Scotland on an altogether smaller 
scale, it has been cultivated to a much less extent than other 
conifers, and in Spain, Italy and Greece it is seldom met with 
forming forests. The eastern limit of the species 1s not easy 
to fix, as it gradually"erges into another variety, the Siberian 
spruce (Picea obovata), 

It ascends the Harz mountains to about 3,300 feet, the 
Black Forest and the mountains of Silesia to 3500-4000 
feet, the Bavarian Alps to nearly 6,000 feet, and the central 
Alpine ranges to over 6,600 feet. In Germany and Switzer- 
land the’spruce is the principal forest tree on all mountain 
ranges and hilly tracts, often forming pure forests over large 
tracts of country, whilst below it there is a girdle of decid- 
uous broad-leaved trees into whose domain it is always 
trying to extend its frontiers. 

On the lower hills it is frequently found mixed with the 
silver fir and the beech, and at higher elevations in lower 

G 2 


84 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


latitudes with the larch ; in Silesia and East Prussia it forms 
extensive forests, often in company with the Scots pine. 
It is emphatically a tree of the upper hilly region, the more 
so in proportion asthe hills and mountains are massive in 
formation, instead of consisting of a series of ridges and 
chains ; it ascends to its greatest height when the general 
elevation of the surrounding country is considerably above 
the sea-level. Where the uplands fall away towards warm, 
dry, lowland tracts the spruce is not indigenous, and though 
pure foresis of it are frequently to be found on indifferent 
soils in these localities, they are almost always the result of 
artificial production, and too often but poor in their produc- 
tion of timber. 

Treeform and Root-system of the spruce exhibit many 
differences from, and indeed direct contrasts to, those of the 
Scots pine. Its roots are mostly confined to the upper 
layer of the soil, and these of one tree often interlace with 
those of its nearest neighbours, thus obtaining some little 
protection during high winds. Its horizontal root-system, 
seldom going lower than 18-20 inches, and unprovided with 
any deep-reaching tap-root, stamps it indeed as the tree of 
shallow-soiled mountains, but offers it too often a sacrifice 
to the winds. It develops great numbers of rootlets, and as 
it also possesses the property of extending its roots to a great 
distance, it has a comparatively large area from which to 
draw supplies of nutriment, although owing to its density 
when forming pure forests the individual growing-space 
is limited beyond that of any other tree except perhaps the 
silver fir. 

Although slower in growth during youth than the Scots 
pine, it maintains a much steadier rate of increase in height 
and grows up in dense canopy without much tendency to 
branch formation or interruption. In height, length of 
bole, straightness and full-woodedness of stem, freedom 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 85 


from branches, greatest quantitative production of wood and 
of useful timber per acre, it is rivalled only by the silver fir. 
Its crown is cone-shaped, and when grown in isolated 
positions the whole foliagé is retained in more or less conical 
form from the summit downwards to near the ground; the 
short leaves or needles on the branches are retained for five 
to seven years. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—-Shallow-rooted 
though the spruce undoubtedly be, yet it demands freshness 
in the soil, and cool, damp, mountain atmosphere is_bene- 
ficial to its growth. Where other woods shelter it from the 
wind it also finds a suitable abode in the vicinity of the sea- 
coast, but its best development is attained in protected 
localities on mountain sides. In its true home the average 
temperature in July does not much exceed 66° Fahr.? and 
the total minimum warmth requisite during each annual 
period of active vegetation has been ascertained to be about 
2,610° Fahr., which is about the annual average quantity of 
warmth developed at latitude 69° north. Its growth seems 
best when the enjoyment of the warmth, and thereby the 
period of active vegetation, is confined to a short summer 
season, during which there is daylight for the longest possible 
time, as in the north of Scotland and in Norway and 
Sweden. Drought is less easily borne by the spruce than 
by any other tree. 

In regard to the quality of the soil, spruce shows a con- 
siderable degree of indifference, or at any rate adaptability ; 
it makes greater demands on mineral strength than the 
Scots pine, but is content with less than the silver fir. 
Being at the same time one of the thickly-foliaged species of 
trees that improve the soil, and recruit such soils as have 
become impoverished, it is frequently found where broad- 


1 Willkomm, Die forstliche Flora Deutschlands und Oesterreichs, 
887, p. 81. 


86 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


leaved deciduous trees have previously allowed the soil to 
become deteriorated and impoverished. 

Spruce thrives on soils of the most varied description, 
from the strong, friable mountain soil down through the 
binding varieties to the sandy-loamy, and the drained moors 
and bogs. Soils that show any good growth of weeds like 
Epilobium, Senecto, Atropa, or Digitalis, or of grasses like 
Carex are generally fresh and capable of producing good 
spruce forests, as also are those with high growth of whortle- 
berry ; but on tracts covered with heath and heather plan- 
tations should more frequently be made with spruce and 
Scots pine, than with spruce alone. It is not indifferent 
to mineral strength, but the chief factor in determining the 
suitability or non-suitability of any particular locality is 
certainly the equable distribution of a moderate quantity of 
moisture throughout the soil. The older sand formations, 
and loamy deposits resting on limy subsoil found in Alpine 
districts bear good spruce forests, but on limy soils it is apt 
to suffer from fungous diseases. On marls, loams, and rich 
clayey soils, deciduous broad-leaved trees find a more suit- 
able home than the spruce. Low sandy plains with dry 
gravelly soil, soured undrained stretches with stagnant soil- 
moisture, moorpan with excess of sesquioxide of iron, or 


tracts liable to inundation are not the localities on which 


spruce can be expected to attain its normal development. 

The most suitable aspect depends on the locality, and the 
elevation above the sea-level. ‘Towards the lower limit of 
its proper region it prefers the cool, moist, north and north- 
east exposures, whilst towards the upper limit it seeks the 
southern and south-western aspects in order to obtain the 
requisite degree of warmth, and to escape from the drying-up 
influence of the east winds. 

Requirements as to Light.—The ability to retain its 
branches in foliage for five to seven years, and the conse- 


i 1 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 87 


quent density of its crown, give indication of the large capacity 
with which the spruce is endowed as regards bearing shade ; but 
the extent to which the demand for some measure of enjoy- 
ment of light exists, is mainly dependent on how far any par- 
ticular locality varies from the normal situations suitable to it. 
Where these various climatic changes are distinctly discern- 
ible, the demand for light becomes greater, and the capacity 
for bearing shade smaller. Where soils are wanting in 
moisture, young spruce cannot thrive under standards 
which intercept and partially retain the atmospheric precipi- 
tations. Excess of light on the other hand stimulates to 
increased assimilation of sap and too rapid growth in the 
earlier stages, which in consequence seriously affects the 
quality of the timber produced. In its true home, as, for 
example, on the fresh loamy soil of the Bavarian plateau, it 
frequently has to content itself for the first fifteen to twenty 
years of its existence with only a moderate supply of light 
under scattered standard parent trees, before being gradually 
admitted to the full enjoyment of unrestricted light and 
sunshine and the opportunity of normal development. 
Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
Spruce is generally grown with a rotation of seventy to 
eighty years for ordinary timber, or one hundred to one 
hundred and twenty years for the production of larger assort- 
ments, but local market considerations must determine when 
the fall can most advantageously take place ; higher periods 
of rotation are only advisable where the quality of the soil 
is above the average. Good money returns on the capital re- 
presented point decidedly towards the growth of spruce (and 
Douglas Fir) as being one of the most remunerative and pro- 
fitable ways of utilising forest soils of about average quality. 
Good:seed years are less frequent with the spruce than 
the Scots pine, but are generally—reckoning from the 
fiftieth to sixtieth year—more productive when they occur : 


88 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


on the Harz mountains one good and one minor seed year 
are expected in every six years. Seed years can be foretold 
by the flower-buds, and the twigs showing these, broken off by 
squirrels and birds which feed on.them. The ruddy-brown 
seed ripens in the October after the flowering, and is 
scattered from the cones in spring ; it is somewhat larger and 
heavier than the greenish-black or brownish seed of Scots 
pine, and is reckoned good in quality when test experiments 
show a germinative power of seventy-five to eighty per cent. 
It thus has not only a greater germinative power than the 
Scots pine, but it retains this somewhat longer, especially 
when kept in the cone. Each cone has 200 to 250 seeds, 
and one pound contains from 55,000 to 60,000 seeds. 

Liability to suffer from External Dangers.—As an offset — 
against its many excellent qualities, spruce has unfortunately 
to contend with many external dangers at all periods of its 
existence, here of course to a greater extent, and there to a 
less, according to the soil and situation. Sharp, biting 
winds hinder reproduction at high elevations, except under 
the shelter of protective standards. Frost is only liable to 
damage the young growth at its earliest stage. Accumu- 
lations of snow, and of ice formed after rain on the heavy 
foliaged branches, bend down saplings in thickets, break the 
poles in young forests, snap off the tops of trees, and make 
large holes here and there in the canopy, especially at 
moderate elevations (on the Harz mountains, particularly 
those between 1700-2300 feet) where the snow is larger in 
flake than at high altitudes. Dense forests suffer most from 
snow, whilst a larger growing-space increases the danger 
from hanging ice. 

No other species of forest tree is less able than the spruce 
to resist the violence of storms. Its shallow root-system, the 
long lever formed by the bole, and the purchase obtainable 
by the wind on the dense crown of foliage near the summit, 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 89 


all combine to weaken the resistance it is able to offer, 
especially in early spring and late autumn when strong 
winds are frequent just at the time when the foliage 
is often heavy with moisture and the soil sodden and soft- 
ened by continuous rainfall. Whole forests are then often 
thrown down. The danger from wind is considerably 
- lessened when other species are grown in admixture with 
it, or when natural reproduction takes place by the annual 
or periodical removal of the largest trees only. 

Drought is injurious in the youngest stages of growth 
especially when accompanied by dry winds. 

On unsuitable localities the mature stems are somewhat 
liable to die off, and old tree forests often suffer from fungous 
diseases, occasioned chiefly by Zvametes pint and Lectria 
cucurbitula on the stem and branches, and by Zvametes 
radiciperda and Agaricus melleus in and near the roots, which 
diminish the value of the timber. Cotyledons and leaves of 
seedlings are demolished by Phytophthora omnivora. In 
young plantations, and particularly in nurseries and young 
seedling crops, blanks are often caused after wet summers 
by Pestalozzia Hartigiz. Red-rot in the timber is occasioned 
by Polyporus vaporarius, and white-rot by Polyporus borealis 
or, less frequently, P. fulvus. 

But even the climatic dangers and fungous diseases 
combined are surpassed in importance by those to which 
spruce is exposed at all periods of its growth and develop- 
ment from the attacks of insect enemies. Extensive tracts 
of pure spruce forest have recently in Germany been severely 
damaged, partially destroyed, and even often killed outright 
by insects, the lower elevations suffering far more severely 
than those situated within the true mountainous region. 

To enumerate merely the more important of such 
enemies, larvee of Me/lolontha vulgaris and hippocastani, and 
Gryllotalpa vulgaris, and the full-grown Aylastes cunicularis 


90 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


and Gryllotalpa do great damage to the roots of seedlings 
and young plants, whilst the beetles Hylobius abietis and 
pinastri and Hylastes cunicularis gnaw the tender bark of 
their stems; later on the cortex and sap-wood suffer from both 
the larvee and the fully-developed beetle of three varieties 
of Lostrychus—amitinus, chalcographus, and typographus, 
whilst the mature wood is damaged by both the active 
forms of Xyloterus lineatus. Buds and foliage are destroyed 
completely, and valuable forests utterly ruined over immense 
tracts of country, by that scourge of the coniferous forests of 
Germany, Ziparis monacha, the voracity of whose caterpillars 
is only equalled by their almost unlimited numbers in bad 
years like 1889, 1890, 1891 in southern Bavaria, where alone 
the extent of forests devastated by the black arches, “ nun,” 
or spruce moth (Ziparts monacha) is estimated to be about 
42,500 acres or sixty-six square miles, of which by far the 
greatest portion was pure forest of spruce.! In the mixed 
forests attacked, the beech and Scots pine suffered compara- 
tively much less than the spruce, although they were also badly 
injured ; the spruce, however, was usually killed outright, 
owing to the much smaller reserves of starchy matters stored 
up by this species for subsequent constructive purposes. 

In recuperative power with regard to injuries received, 
whether caused by insects or by deer, the thin-barked 
spruce is not well endowed. Where a strong head of game 
is maintained, red-deer do more damage in spruce forests 
than elsewhere, by stripping the bark with their teeth during 


summer, as well as for food during winter. The damage’ 


caused is often very serious, and is generally most wide- 
spread in pole-forests from twenty to forty years of age, 
although it is often done also in tree-forests up to sixty 
years of age. For the healing of the wounds thus caused, 


1 For a detailed accotnt of this insect and its ravages, see the 
Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Soctety for 1893. 


,, 
| 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 91 


spruce has unfortunately less recuperative power than the 
silver fir or even the Scots pine. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Spruce.—The economic value 
of spruce is by no means small, if its cultivation takes place 
under suitable circumstances. Moderate in its demands 
on soil, which it also protects and improves in quality, and 
seldom giving much trouble in the formation and reproduc- 
tion of forests, spruce yields on favourable localities a 
larger outturn of timber than any other tree usually grown 
in pure-forests (vide table on page 44), without requiring 
a high period of rotation to attain marketable proportions, 
It remains long in close canopy, and forms lofty, cylindrical, 
straight stems, that are valuable and of great general utility. 
It also yields fair returns in the way of thinnings, and 
occasionally affords good grazing for cattle. From the 
actuarial point of view many advantages point towards the 
cultivation of spruce as one of the most remunerative 
orms of high forest; but the relatively high returns 
promised can only be realised on soils and situations which 
admit of the normal development of this species, and these 
are to be found chiefly in sheltered localities of mountainous 
regions having a moist and moderately good soil. 

Misled by tempting actuarial calculations, it would be a 
mistake to transform existing crops into spruce woods 
without other definite reasons, for most other trees, and 
particularly the broad-leaved deciduous species, have un- 
doubted advantages over spruce in respect to the greater 
security they afford against destruction of the crop from 
snow, storms, or insects. But in mountainous tracts, on 
undulating soil temporarily reduced by too open crops ot 
deciduous trees, or where timber prices are good, but fuel is 
little in demand, spruce forests generally as a matter of fact 
yield the most remunerative returns on soils of about the 
average quality. 


92 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Young crops of spruce do not form canopy so soon as 
those of Scots pine, though in plantations it is attained 
earlier than by sowing or with natural reproduction. On 
sunny localities the soil is apt to become overgrown with 
weeds like Atropa, Digitalis, Epilobium, Rubus and Urtica, 
with Vaccinium, Carex, Scirpus and Juncus on the moister 
patches, which usually interfere with the growth of the young 
plants and occasionally choke them altogether; but on dry 
and shallow soil the dangers arising from dry winds and direct 
insolation are greater. Frost in general does more damage, 
by lifting the young plants out of the ground, than is 
occasioned by the actual degree of cold to which they are 
exposed. Young growth, particularly in woods that have 
been formed by planting, is greatly exposed to danger from 
the large brown pine weevil (/ylobius abietis), which bores 
into the young shoots, and often ruins whole crops formed 
where the stumps of the mature crop have neither been 
grubbed up nor barked after the harvesting of the mature 
fall of timber. 

Until the young crop forms canopy, the growth of the 
individual plants is rather towards lateral extension than in 
the direction of increase in height, but when once they 
have closed up (which usually occurs about the twelfth or 
twentieth year according to the quality of the soil), and the 
twig-shoots begin to interlace, the development of the 
leading shoot becomes vigorous, the more so in proportion 
to the density of the crop and the quality of the soil. As 
they are densely foliaged and make little demand on 
growing-space, young thickets of spruce generally stand 
very thick, and completely cover the soil. So much so is 
this the case, that, where sowings have been too thick, the 
development is greatly interfered with; but in general the 
natural selection of the predominating stems, to form the 
future crop, goes on normally and quickly, the current 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 93 


annual increase in height culminating with shoots averaging 
one and a half feet on soils of the best quality between 
the twenty-sixth and fortieth year, and later, with of 
course smaller averages, on those of merely average or 
inferior quality (véde tables on page 36—38). Throughout 
this period of energetic development, the natural sup- 
pression of dominated stems gradually progresses, but 
without any practical interruption of the canopy taking 
place, so that the boles are enabled to assume that full- 
wooded cylindrical shape which renders them so valuable. 
According to Baur this maximum of approach to the 
cylindrical is attained when the average height of the crop is 
from sixty-six to eighty feet, but with advancing age it sinks 
only gradually. 

One decided drawback of the close canopy and even 
development of spruce woods at this stage of their 
life-history is the consequent danger from accumulations 
of snow, which often occasion serious damage—a danger 
however not so much to be feared in either Scotland or 
England as on the Continent with its severe winters. 
Later on the density of the crop also gradually diminishes 
without the continuity of the canopy being very seriously 
interrupted, whilst from the time that it has reached the tree- 
forest stage of development, a rich growth of mosses (Hypnum) 
covers the soil, which, however, gives place to whortleberry 
(Vaccinium) and similar weeds when self-thinning with 
consequent interruption of canopy has gone too far. It 
is at this stage of growth that pure forests of spruce of 
equal age are most exposed to the danger of windfall and to 
attacks of bark-beetles (Bostrichint). No species is so little 
able to resist the force of storms as the spruce, and when 
once violent winds succeed in breaking up the canopy, 
they seem to act in a concentrated and cyclonic manner, 
throwing down everything that offers resistance to their 


94 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


_ passage. According to Burckhardt,! in the Hanoverian 
portion of the Harz mountains, aggregating 134,350 
acres, of which four-fifths, or 107,480 acres, are under 
spruce, during the present century (up till 1870) over 
two millions of mature spruce were thrown by wind, or the 
equivalent to full crops on about 10,500 acres, nearly 
8 per cent. of the total area. He also estimates that 
wind and snow combined have during the present century 
destroyed at least four millions of stems in the tree-forest 
stage of growth, without including those that have been 
merely damaged by wind or snow, and have consequently 
fallen victims afterwards to bark-beetles, which first of all 
attack the sickly stems, breed there, and then attack sound 
and healthy trees, unless all unsound individuals are removed. 

Pure Forests of Spruce.—Localities with a short period of 
vegetation being the natural home of spruce, its cultivation 
in pure forests in Scotland would seem advisable wherever 
the upper soil has the requisite moisture. In the generally 
damp climate of both the lowlands and _ highlands of 
Scotland with their comparatively short summer, the factors 
are given which hold out promise of the normal development 
of spruce, although its growth may perhaps not be so rapid 
as in warmer southern localities. At higher elevations or 
in the far north it takes perhaps a hundred to a hundred 
and twenty years to attain the same average dimensions in 
pure spruce forests that can be arrived at in lower or 
warmer localities in eighty to a hundred years, but this 
shortening is to a great extent counterbalanced by the better 
quality of the timber produced. 

Tempted by the remunerative promises held out, spruce 
forests have often been formed on heavy loams and 

1 Sden und Pflanzen, 1880, p. 329. The introduction of the silver 


fir and the re-introduction of beech into these spruce forests has been 
occupying the attention of foresters there for many years past. 


' 
BRITISH FOREST TREES 95 


clays, or on sandy soils apt to suffer from want of moisture. 
When the climate is mild, and the period of vegetation 
prolonged through warm spring and autumn weather, 
plantations show rapid growth in youth, which, however, 
does not always continue throughout the whole period of 
rotation, but not infrequently shows signs of loss of energy 
about the fortieth to sixtieth year. The too rapid develop- 
ment during the youthful period produces soft wood of in- 
different quality, which offers but little resistance to dangers 
threatened by snow, by the attacks of insects, through 
infection with fungous disease, or to diseases originating in 
other causes. Although of course this is by no means 
necessarily the case, it is not unusual to find such spruce 
woods early interrupted in canopy, and unable to afford 
sufficient protection to the soil, so much so in fact that their 
clearance may be advisable before they have attained sixty 
years of age. On such localities spruce is not necessarily 
out of place, but may, grown in patches along with a ruling 
species for which the soil and situation are more suitable, 
attain very satisfactory growth, and assist very materially in 
increasing the ultimate returns from the crop. The periods 
of rotation of spruce usually vary from seventy to eighty 
up to a hundred or a hundred and twenty years, the 
former supplying the ordinary assortments of timber 
requisite for building purposes, the latter yielding large 
squares. Local demands of course to a great extent 
determine the most remunerative period of rotation, but 
where the forests are extensive, fixing the fall at an early 
age is apt to swamp the market with small timber, whilst 
entailing the harvesting of large quantities of top-ends and 
small material of very little value. The postponement of 
the fall to a hundred and twenty or a hundred and 
forty years, for the production of large- girthed timber, can 
only be advisable in very sheltered localities, owing to the 


96 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


dangers to which the spruce then becomes exposed ; and for 
the same reason the retention of standards, when mature 
crops are being cleared, is always combined with more risk 
than is prudent. Here again, however, the same end can 
be better attained by growing the spruce in admixture with 
other species, such as the beech, silver fir, or pine. 

The thinning out of pure forests of spruce is usually 
confined to the removal of suppressed individuals, and of 


those likely to be immediately suppressed, and in localities — 


where damage from snow is not improbable the operations 
must be conducted carefully. As the natural habit of spruce 
is to grow in close canopy, any premature removal of poles 
can only be an unnecessary diminution of the number of 
individual stems per acre. In the weedings and clearings 
which take place in young crops before thinnings are begun,1 
all soft woods and coppice shoots of trees forming part of the 
former crop should be removed in order to avoid the forma- 
tion of blanks later on,—birches if left standing often do 
great damage by rubbing and chafing leading-shoots of 
the spruce,—and when the crop has been formed by thick 
sowing or planting in wisps of two or three on the poorer 
classes of spruce soil, these early protective measures for 
improving the growth of the young stock often occasion 


great trouble and considerable expense. In the thickets _ 


formed by planting in wisps on inferior soil, it is especially 
necessary to repeat the thinnings as frequently as possible, 
in order to assist nature in the selection of the predominat- 
ing stems to form the future crop ; the longer such operations 
are delayed the more difficult and expensive do they become 


» Under clearings and weedings are classifiable all the operations in 
young woods which necessitate an outlay that cannot be covered by 
sale of the material cut out ; when the costs involved are covered, or 
more than covered, by the proceeds obtained, the operations are then 
properly termed ¢hinnings. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 97 


as the roots interlace and the lower portions of the stems 
grow into each other. Localities exposed to the danger of 
snow-accumulation require the most careful thinning, 
and even dominated individuals should be left standing, as 
reserves in case of accidents, if their crowns are still green ; 
broken stems also should not be removed if three or four 
green whorls give hope of some side spray assuming the ré/e 
of leading-shoot. Where a strong head of game is main- 
tained, deer often do greatest damage by stripping the bark 
in woods directly they have been thinned, and in particular 
just after the first time of thinning out; from such wounds 
spruce suffers more serious permanent damage than Scots 
pine or silver fir, owing to its weaker recuperative power. 
For the same reason the removal of green branches with the 
bill or axe is not advisable ; when it is desired to remove 
branches for the purpose of producing clean-stemmed timber 
free from knots, the operation should invariably be 
performed with the saw in the case of both living and of 
dead branches, and confined to those under 23” diameter. 
Soils that are somewhat inferior for the production of 
mixed forests of broad-leaved species, or areas where long- 
continued or badly managed copse,or coppice under standards, 
has allowed the soil to become more or less deteriorated, 
frequently afford good localities for the growth of spruce in 
pure forest, although it is not advisable to confine it to soils 
below the average in quality if the production of the larger, 
more valuable, and under certain circumstances more remu- 
nerative assortments of timber be desired. Where pure 
forests of spruce exist on an extensive scale over large 
tracts, it is exceedingly desirable to frame the working 
plan so that the annual fall should take place in several 
places apart from each other, instead of being combined in 
one large area annually, as it is toa great extent the latter 
method of procedure which causes so many of the draw- 
H 


98 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


backs under which pure forests of spruce suffer. With the 
cessation of total clearances over large areas it is beyond all 
doubt that dangers from insects during the youthful period 
of growth, from snow during the pole-forest stage of develop- 
ment, and from wind when approaching maturity, would all 
be practically, and very considerably, lessened by the forma- 
tion of several blocks, each with its growing stock of successive 
annual crops from one to eighty or a hundred years according 
to the period of rotation fixed on, in place of having the total 
area divided simply into eighty or a hundred compartments as 
the case may be, from the oldest of which a total clearance 
of the mature timber is annually made. 

The usual method of regeneration of pure forests of 
spruce is, as above indicated, total clearance with artificial 
reproduction, except at very high altitudes where considera- 
tions of treatment are usually secondary to those relative to 
the general economic value of maintaining the higher moun- 
tains under forest in order to prevent landslips, and to regu- 
late the flow of moisture through the soil and ensure the peren- 
nial feeding of the streams which have their sources there. 

The unsuitability of the method of natural reproduction 
under parent standards that is customary in the case of the 
other two densely foliaged shade-bearing species, silver fir 


and beech, finds easy explanation in the indifferent resistanee - 


which the spruce is able to offer to the violence of storms, 
otherwise the diminished increment that is attained by 
the young crop during the earlier stage of growth would 
be amply compensated by the protection against various 
dangers which the parent trees would secure to their 
progeny during the first ten to twenty years. Experience 
has, however, shown that attempts at natural reproduction 
in this manner, except in very sheltered localities, usually 
lead to the parent standards being thrown by wind, when a 
rank growth of weeds soon covers the soil, and chokes a large 


—— 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 99 


proportion of the seedlings ; and again, when the repro- 
duction takes place by sowing or planting, the retention of 
standards is more likely to be injurious than beneficial. 

Mixed Forests with Spruce as the Ruling Spectes.—Spruce 
is found forming pure forests over very extensive areas, as it is 
one of the species which can thrive and attain normal 
development without an admixture of other kinds of timber 
trees in the crop. At the same time there is hardly any 
other species of forest tree in Britain which gains so much as 
the spruce by the formation of mixed forests, both as 
regards the unquestionable protection thus afforded to it 
against dangers, whether of organic or inorganic nature, 
and in respect to the stimulus thereby secured for the total 
production of timber per acre, and the better quality of the 
timber produced. 

In its Alpine home, the larch is frequently to be found 
naturally associated with spruce at the higher elevations, 
although artificial admixture of these two species in other 
localities has often been far from satisfactory. ‘Throughout 
the mountainous tracts of eastern France, and of central and 
southern Germany, in particular in the Black Forest, mixed 
forests of spruce and silver fir are a favourite form of timber 
crop,—except on the Harz mountains, where the climatic 
factors do not seem to be favourable to the development of 
the latter. Beech is also often an associate of the spruce, 
and is to be found frequently in mixed forests of spruce 
and silver fir. Towards its northern and eastern limits, the 
species chiefly found growing along with spruce is undoubtedly 
the Scots pine. These are the trees which are usually found 
growing as subordinate species in mixed forests where spruce 
forms the ruling species or matrix, and although other mixtures 
have been tried artificially, the above-named are those which 
hold out the best sylvicultural and economical promises. 

When the silver fir finds the soil and situation con- 

H 2 


100 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


genial, it is the most important associate of the spruce; 
and though during the earlier years of growth it must be 
granted some protection against the more rapidly developing 
spruce, it requires no special tending throughout the later 
stages of growth. In many respects it adapts itself better for 
admixture with the spruce than with any other ruling 
species of forest tree. In tree-form and natural development 
they have many close resemblances, but as silver fir is 
deeper-rooted than spruce, the two species, admixed, can 
develop unhindered a much larger aggregate of roots than if 
either species were grown in pure crop ; and as this maximum 
of root-system has practically the opportunity of drawing the 
requisite supplies of nutriment from two different layers 
of soil, it follows naturally that the number of stems and the 
total production of timber per acre will under ordinary 
circumstances be considerably greater than can be shown by 
pure forests of either species. By interlacing of the two 
root-systems also, no inconsiderable support is given to the 
shallow-rooting spruce against windfall. 

The main condition for the formation of mixed forests of 
spruce and silver fir is a good deep soil without excess of 
soil-moisture, as unless that essential condition be satisfied 
the latter is unable to maintain itself against the former. 
Even although developing slowly at first as compared with - 
Scots pine, spruce has a more rapid early growth than the 
silver fir, and the advantage thus won it maintains throughout 
the pole-forest and into the tree-forest stage of development. 
Although the silver fir can thrive in the side-shade cast by the 
spruce, measures must be taken to prevent the latter shooting 
so far ahead as to form canopy above the silver fir in the 
thicket stage of growth, otherwise the latter dies off. Where 
the two species are planted out alternately in equal numbers, 
the silver fir soon gets defeated in the life-struggle, unless 
the soil is of better than average quality. Even when the 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 101 


admixture takes place by planting in alternate rows, the silver 
fir transplants should have the advantage of being older than 
those of the spruce. Where such mixed forests are formed 
or reproduced, it is advisable to allow the silver fir the 
advantage of five to ten years of growth in order to enable it 
to protect itself against the spruce without necessitating 
considerable outlay for tending, 

Beech is not of so much importance as silver fir as a minor 
species in spruce forests, for though its root-system is heart- 
shaped like that of the former, its general habit of growth 
and development as a forest tree is greatly different from 
that of the latter; it requires to be grown in groups or 
patches in order to maintain itself at all against the much 
quicker growing spruce. Although it yields better fuel than 
any other species of forest tree, the wood of the beech is in 
poor demand as timber for technical purposes, so that in 
Britain it will usually only be found in forests on account 
of its soil-improving qualities. 

Important though the considerations regarding increased 
annual production and better quality of timber be, yet the 
chief advantages to be gained through the introduction of 
silver fir and beech are beyond all question or doubt the 
greater security afforded to the spruce in respect to all the 
dangers and enemies to which this species is exposed. In 
localities where spruce can thrive safely till maturity, meas- 
ures for increasing the production are hardly of the first im- 
portance, as the returns from pure forests of spruce are in 
themselves so good that further outlay for the introduction 
of a minor species might often seem uncalled for ; but where, 
as in most localities under spruce, storm, snow and ice-ac- 
cumulations, attacks of insects, fungous diseases especially 
( Trametes radiciperda and Agaricus melleus),and other dangers 
cannot be left out of reckoning, an intermixture of one or 
other of these species—and on suitable soils and situations 


102 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


preferably the silver fir,—is in the highest degree advisable 
in the light of recent experience throughout Germany. 

On many parts of the northern slopes of the Bavarian 
Alps, the larch also occurs as a subordinate species along 
with silver fir and beech in spruce forests. Its growth at 
first is much more rapid than that of the spruce, and on deep 
fresh soil the advantage thus early won is maintained till the 
sixtieth to seventieth year, or under favourable circum- 
stances longer, although only too often it is caught up and 
overtopped by the spruce. Where the soil, however, is 
wanting in depth and strength, or where, as in Britain, both 
species are removed far from their natural homes, and culti- 
vated under conditions in many respects dissimilar from their 
normal requirements, it not infrequently happens that the 
spruce, stimulated to lively growth in height, catches up the 
larch as early as the twentieth to thirtieth year, when nothing 
remains but to cut out the latter, and allow the spruce to 
form pure forest. Even when the larch has been introduced 
in patches among the spruce, little can be done in such 
cases to protect it, as its further growth is prejudiced by the 
side-shade, and it can no longer develop satisfactorily. As 
a rule, the larch should only be grown in spruce forests on 
parts where the soil is of better quality than the surrounding 


ground, and on such patches it generally thrives better in © 


groups than when planted out alternately with spruce, or only 
simply here and there,—although it may be remarked here that 
Burckhardt recommends its being planted out singly only, 
except along the edges of compartments where it may form 
rows or belts. The groups should not, however, be too 
large, as otherwise there is the same tendency towards 
crooked, sabre-like growth as is characteristic of pure larch 
forest away from its Alpine home. Experience shows that 
when grown along with spruce, the larch is less liable to be 
attacked by fungous disease (Peziza Willkommiz) than when 


i 
7 a oe oon 


—_— 2 


ppt 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 103 


it forms pure forest. As a rule large transplants should be 
used in introducing the larch into spruce woods, so as to assist 
in giving it the greatest possible advantage in growth,—but 
unfortunately where roe-deer are maintained, these are 
specially sought out by the bucks at the time of brushing the 
velvet from the horns in early summer, and much damage 
may be caused in this way. 

Scots pine is seldom to be found as a minor species on 
the better classes of spruce soil, where the preference is 
usually given to those others already mentioned ; but it forms 
a valuable associate on the poorer qualities of soil, and 
wherever the satisfactory development of the spruce is likely 
to prove questionable. The 7é/e that it then plays is partly 
that of a purely subordinate species, partly that of a nurse or 
protector. In such cases the object in view is to raise the 
spruce in as large a quantity as possible, but at the same 
time to have the pine represented to as great an extent as 
can be grown along with the spruce, or as is necessary for 
the maintenance of closed forest. That, under such 
circumstances, what was originally intended as a spruce 
forest with the admixture of Scots pine, ultimately approaches 
maturity as a crop of pine with admixture of spruce, can 
easily be understood, as on such debatable land considera- 
tion must be duly given to the factors influencing the growth 
of both species at many critical periods of the life-history of 
the growing-stock. Any stencil-like regularity and uniformity 
of treatment of such mixed crops is out of the question, and 
it can only be expected that, with proper and prudent treat- 
ment, the mature fall will consist here and there of spruce 
with pine, and in other parts of pine with spruce intermixed. 
When there is doubt about the soil suiting the spruce, it is 
perhaps a good rule always to form the young crop by means 
of an equal admixture of both species in rows or bands 
proceeding later on with the clearings and thinnings as may 


104 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


seem. advisable each time these operations are under 
consideration. 

Such cases of doubtful success are just as frequent on the 
dry slopes of low hills and uplands, as on the more level tracts 
or plateaux. Pure pine forests are often just as much out of 
the question as pure forests of spruce, for whilst the latter is 
slow in closing up to form canopy, and inactive in growth 
generally, the former is apt to become interrupted in canopy 
at too early a stage of development, and to fail in affording 
to the ground the protection so specially requisite on soils 
of inferior quality. In mixed forests consisting equally of 
spruce and Scots pine,—or of spruce to half the number, 
and Scots, black and Weymouth pines forming the other 
half,—the best possible attainable results are perhaps achiev- 
able, the ultimate tending of the crop being dependent on 
the relative development of the different species. In 
Hanover it was usual, at the time when sowing stood in 
greater favour among sylviculturists than planting, to mix 
and sow spruce and Scots pine seed in the proportion of five 
to one, the pines being regarded solely as nurses, and cut 
out as soon as they began to inconvenience the spruce with 
their shade. 

That, in equally mixed spruce and pine forest, the latter 
often becomes the dominant species, is due to inefficient 
tending more than anything else, for, unless some special 
attention be paid to the spruce during the clearings and 
thinnings, it either remains dwarfed as underwood, or at any 
rate has no fair chance of developing until the canopy of the 
pine becomes naturally interrupted. Many mixed woods of 
this description yield good returns if the pines are cleared 
away wherever the spruce shows need of freer enjoyment of 
light and air, and stems are left only here and there on 
the better patches to increase rapidly in girth over the 
well-protected soil. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 105 


The oak is not naturally a common associate with the 
spruce, from which it differs essentially in many sylvicultural 
characteristics. The oak is generally found on the milder 

~~““situations on plains and uplands with along warm period of 
vegetation, the spruce at higher elevations and on shal- 
lower soils. Still, in many parts of northern Germany such 
mixed forests do exist, and are often spoken well of. Even 
when oaks are given a few years’ advantage at first, they are 
soon overtaken and topped in growth by the spruce, unless 
they are planted in clumps of considerable diameter. If 
planted in rows or small groups, though they may reach the 
pole-forest stage of growth evidently thriving and well above 
the spruce, they seldom. maintain these advantages till 
maturity, but have usually to be cut out long before they 
attain good marketable dimensions. 

Softwoods are often found associated with spruce, as 
nurses where the reproduction of the latter is difficult, or as 
protective standards in situations exposed to frost. But their 
artificial production is seldom necessary, as they usually 
occur self-sown, and if not, a more desirable substitute for 
parent shelter can generally be found in the pine. More 
frequently they in reality become weeds, whose coppice- 
shoots occasion much trouble and annoyance. ‘This is 
particularly the case with coppice-growth of the birch, 
whose long whip-like twigs damage the leading-shoots of the 
young spruce growing around ; but where seedlings of birch 
occur merely scattered here and there individually through- 
out spruce woods in places where late and early frosts are to 
be feared, their retention till they are caught up in growth 
by the spruce, often yields good preliminary returns as well 
as useful aid sylviculturally. 

Formation and Reproduction of Spruce Forests.—Except at 
high elevations, where the ordinary methods of reproduction 
of spruce forests cannot be carried out, and where their 


106 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


profitable working must be subordinated to the main object 
of maintaining the mountain-tops under woodland, there are 
three distinct forms of reproduction, all of which are practised 
in regular annual falls. These are :— 

1. Natural reproduction under parent standards. 

2. Total clearance in narrow strips, with natural repro- 
duction from neighbouring woods. 

3. Total clearance of annual fall, with artificial reproduc- 
tion (usually by planting). 

Natural reproduction under parent standards is especially 
practicable in respect to mixed crops of spruce. with silver 
fir and beech, but is, however, also adopted in pure spruce 
forests on level soil, where late frosts or attacks of cockchafer 
grubs (Aelolontha vulgaris) are to be feared on an extensive 
scale, and experience has further shown that in forests thus 
reproduced the dangers from Curculionidae are likewise dimin- 
ished. Other local circumstances must of course be taken 
into consideration, and this method of reproduction will 
often recommend itself in outlying and sheltered localities, 
where the proprietor does not wish to incur the usually 
moderate costs of artificial regeneration. The results of 
natural reproduction under parent standards are varying. In 
some situations the parent standards are not much exposed 


to the violence of storms, but in most localities this is unfor- . 


tunately not the case. The young crop often varies much 
in quality ; in some situations a moist soil is favourable to 
germination and the seedlings stand too thick, whilst in other 
places reproduction is slow and unequal, resu!ting in thin 
patches of seedling growth of different ages, necessitating 
some artificial assistance, and adding considerably to the 
costs of tending later on. 

The method of total clearance with natural reproduc- 
tion from neighbouring woods, was formerly much more 
frequently adopted than is now the case. ‘The fall for repro- 


: 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 107 


duction should not be more than 100-120 yards broad, and 
must of course be so located that the adjoining mature 
woods lie to the windward, in order that seed may be evenly 
shed over the area when the cones open with dry warm winds 
in late spring and early summer. Some measure of soil 
preparation for the reception of the seed is absolutely 
requisite, and when seed-years turn out disappointing, arti- 
ficial reproduction or assistance becomes a necessity to a 
greater or less extent, as otherwise a rank growth of grasses 
and other weeds covers the soil and shuts out the hope of 
seedlings being subsequently able to force their way through 
these successfully. 

The total clearance of the annual fall of the mature crop 
with artificial reproduction by planting, is now the usual 
method of treatment of spruce forests in Germany. Inde- 
pendent of seed-years, untrammelled by considerations 
regarding the protection of standard parent trees against 
the violence of storms, and far less threatened with danger 
from growth of weeds, reproduction can thus be carried out 
quickly and satisfactorily at a moderate cost, whilst the 
extraction of the mature timber is easier, and the grubbing- 
up of the roots less difficult in localities where there is any 
good market for fuel. This method has many advantages 
to recommend its adoption,—it is an easy system, involving 
the minimum outlay for supervision, tending, and ultimate 
harvesting of the crop, the annual fall of timber is regular, 
and varies little in quality or cubic contents, and the work- 
ing plan is based on the simplest and safest of all foundations, 
viz. equality of the areas (modified according to their relative 
productive capacity) from which the mature crop is annually 
cleared; it has, however, drawbacks and disadvantages 
which have previously been referred to. 

In whatever manner spruce forests are reproduced, a 
general principle should be followed of not making the 


108 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


annual fall comprise too large an area, as it is in every way 
of unquestionable advantage to have a series of self-contained 
blocks, each comprising within itself crops varying from one 
to eighty or a hundred years, instead of one large block 
simply divided into eighty or a hundred annual com- 
partments or falls. 

Natural Reproduction.—When reproduced naturally under 
parent standards, no preparatory fellings are necessary to 
stimulate the production of seed and prepare the soil for its 
reception. When a good seed-year seems favourable for repro- 
ductive fellings, they are made so as rather to resemble those 
in beech and silver fir, than in Scots pine forests; but on 
account of the danger from wind the number of trees left 
per acre is greater, only from } to 3 of the total number of 
trees forming close canopy being removed, so that during 
storms the crowns can afford each other some measure of 
support. On moist soil, a lighter disposal of.the parent 
trees would also favour a rank growth of weeds, which is 
more prejudicial to young spruce than even a considerable 
degree of shade from lofty standards. The period of 
reproduction is much shorter than with beech or silver fir, 
as the seed-years are more frequent, and the amount of seed 
produced greater, besides which the young seedling growth 
is not so absolutely shade-demanding as with these other 
species. From the pine it also differs essentially, not only 
in the more abundant, though not more frequent, pro- 
duction of seed, but also in that the seed ripens in about 
six months, in place of being delayed till eighteen months 
after the flowering. 

The shape that it is advisable to give the area to be 
reproduced is dependent on the extent of the danger from 
wind; the greater the danger, the more should repro- 
duction take place in long narrow strips,on which the number 
of trees along the middle should be greater than towards the 


a en a 


—_— —_ 
eS a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 109 


edges, so as to ensure speedier regeneration and earlier 
clearance of the parent trees, in order to minimise the damage 
caused to the seedling growth at the time of extraction. 
Where good patches of self-sown spruce occur they should 
be retained, but all other species of trees should be cut out. 
When practicable, large branches should be sawn off to 
decrease the leverage obtainable by the wind, but care should 
be taken to carry out this operation during winter, in order to 
prevent the outflow of sap from the wounds. Whatever 
soil-preparation can be conveniently undertaken yields its 
reward in easier and better growth of seedlings ; the layer 
of thick moss should at any rate be removed with the rake. 
In Prussia, breaking up of the soil roughly into clods in 
bands or strips one to one and a half feet broad and six feet 
apart has been found a judicious outlay, the operation being 
performed in the autumn of the seed-year. 

The clearance of the standard parent trees commences in 
the winter of the year following the seed-shedding, and 
the extraction should take place, so far as possible, whilst 
snow lies on the ground, in order to minimise the injury 
done to the seedling crop; clearance must be effected as 
speedily as possible, as the danger from wind increases greatly 
when once this operation has been begun ; even in sheltered 
localities the final clearance should be completed by the time 
the seedlings have attained a height of one foot. Where 
reproduction has not been equally and uniformly successful, 
itis not advisable to retain the standards ; blanks can easily 
be filled up by sowing or planting, or an excellent opportunity 
is thus given for introducing other species such as silver fir, 
beech, pine or larch, whose admixture along with spruce 
has been shown by experience to be so desirable for many 
good reasons. Douglas fir should also yield good results, 

Artificial Reproduction and Formation.— During the last 
century, sowing was the usual method of forming or repro- 


110 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


ducing spruce forests artificially, but towards the beginning 
of the present century planting, in place of being confined 
merely to the filling up of blanks in sowings, became a rival 
of the older method, and for the last fifty years it has been 
the favourite system. Sowing, besides not always being so 
successful, is on the whole not so very much cheaper than 


planting that one can afford to overlook the difference of — 


two to four years’ growth won for the future crop when 
seedlings or transplants are utilised. But planting of spruce 
has other advantages over sowing. Plantations suffer less 
from rank growth of grass, run less risk of being lifted out 
of the ground by frost, and also suffer less where large herds 
of deer are maintained, whilst they can be opened earlier to 
grazing ; they thrive as a rule better than young crops raised 
from seed, and can be formed in autumn as well as in spring. 

The material for filling up the blanks in crops raised 
from seed was formerly usually taken from reserve plots or 
temporary nurseries prepared by sowing thickly in the pro- 
portion of about 150 lbs. of seed per acre actually sown. 
By the time the seedlings were four or five years old they 
could only be used in wisps of three to five, in place of 
individually, as they had grown quite entangled, a method 
that is even now intentionally practised under certain 


circumstances, but which is hardly recommendable, as it - 


renders subsequent tending difficult, and interferes too often 
with: the normal development and the early selection of 
predominating poles. 

The distances at which seedlings and transplants were 
planted out in the great home of the spruce, the Harz 
mountains of central Germany, has varied at different times. 
At first plantations used to be made at 2} feet x 24 feet, but 
later on the plants were made to stand at from 3 feet x 3 feet 
to 5 feet x 5 feet, the wider distances being preferred where 
there was heavy snowfall; recent experience in Germany 


ll ea 


BRITISH FOREST TREES Iit 


has shown, however, that 4 feet x 4 feet is preferable to any 
wider distance. 

Sowing.—Although planting is now generally admitted to 
be preferable to sowing, yet under certain circumstances the 
latter method finds its proper uses, as, for example, where 
seedlings or transplants are not conveniently obtainable, 
or where the soil is too rocky or otherwise unsuitable for 
planting, or when a good market for small material like pea- 
sticks can be tapped early and remuneratively. More seed 
per acre is used for spruce than for Scots pine, for not only 
do fewer seeds go to the Ib. (55,000 to 57,000), but a denser 
crop is also desirable. As a rule about 10 to 12 Ibs. per 
acre are used, although this quantity must be increased in 
proportion to the magnitude of the danger from drought, 
weeds, or lifting of the seedlings by frost. Sowings are less 
frequently made broadcast than in rows, or strips, or on 
small patches, and clean seed is now alone used, a soil- 
covering not exceeding a quarter of an inch being provided 
by light raking. The operation is carried out towards the 
end of April or the beginning of May, as a rule, and only 
exceptionally in autumn. Except where rank growth of 
weeds demands broader strips the soil is generally prepared 
to a breadth of 14 to 2 feet and in rows 3 to 4 or at most 5 feet 
apart ; patches are usually 14 to 2 feet square and about 4 feet 
apart. On hilly situations the rows should run horizontally, 
and not vertically, to prevent the seed being washed away. 

Planting.—The best results are obtained with transplants 
from regular nurseries, although younger seedlings taken from 
seeds beds, or wisps (three to five) from rills in temporary 
nurseries, also at times find favour. Plants from two to five 
years are usually put out, in preference to yearling seedlings, 
as the planting of the latter often costs nearly as much as 
if two-year-old plants be used, whilst the results are generally 
not so good as with these. 


112 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Notching, and the use of naked seedling or wisps, are 
only suited for the more favourable soils of a light character ; 
on tenacious soils, or where there is a strong tendency to 
growth of weeds, this otherwise cheap and good method is 
not advisable. In general, too, this method seems to affect 
the rootlets of the spruce to a greater extent than those of 
the pine, which latter do not so long retain the flat shape 
induced by the pressure employed at the time of planting. 


The use of transplants with earth attached is on the - 


whole far more advisable, and usually leads to better results, 
than the use of naked seedlings; and in localities where 
growth of weeds does not call for the use of older material, 
the operations of transport and planting can be carried out 
at a very reasonable rate if the preparation of the holes on 
the area to be planted, and the lifting of the material from 
the nurseries, be carried out with small cylindrical spades 
(Heyer’s+), which besides have the additional advantage of 
rendering too deep planting impossible,—one of the worst, 
but most common mistakes made in regard to the spruce, 
particularly in tenacious soil. 

Planting should take place in spring to as great an extent 
as is practicable; but at high latitudes or elevations, or 
where a moist soil has first to get rid of some of its super- 
fluous moisture, autumn planting also yields good results. 
On windy situations, and on dry soil, the most favourable 
time for planting is is spring, just before the buds flush and 
form the new shoots. Plantations formed in autumn are 
less able to resist the action of frost during their first winter’ 
than those formed in spring, whilst the plants can more 
easily be pulled out of the ground by deer. 

The best average distance between the plants has been 

1 These useful instruments were first described in a report ‘* On 


the Corsican Fir,” printed in the 7ransactions of the Highland and 
Agricultural Society, 1876. 


: 7. =~ ee ae 


ee, a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 113 


found to be four feet; whether greater or less distances 
recommend themselves in any particular case depends 
upon local circumstances and on the funds available, the 
principal advantages of closer planting being in the speedier 
attainment of close canopy and protection of the soil, in 
greater freedom from branches, and in earlier returns from 
small material removed during the operations of thinning 
out. When requisite, it is better to give the individual poles 
more growing-space by means of the bill or the axe, than to 
endeavour to secure it from the very outset by means of 
planting at wide distances; but where there is a poor 
market for pea-sticks and the like, and where labour is 
neither plentiful nor cheap, a preference will often be 
justified in favour of somewhat wider planting. Where the 
soil is fresh and good, and only sound four to five-year- 
old transplants are set out, wide planting at 5 feet x 5 feet 
should be sufficient ; but care must be taken to fill up any 
blanks promptly, as with only 1,742 plants per acre to start 
with one cannot afford to lose any prematurely (véde tables 
on pages 22 and 43). But where, on the other hand, the soil is 
dry, or where rank growth of whortleberry, heather, or other 
weeds has to be contended with, considerations as to the 
speedy formation of close canopy and suppression of weeds 
may determine in favour of closer planting, for 2,725 
plants per acre at 4 feet x 4 feet effect the purpose much 
more quickly and effectually than 1,742 at 5 feet x 5 
feet. Ondry slopes, or deteriorated soil, even closer plant- 
ing is advisable when funds are at disposal, although a 
judicious admixture of Scots pine along with the spruce 
often leads to the attainment of the object in view at less 
cost than close planting of spruce alone. When planted 
for shelter, as a protective mantle along the edge of pine 
or other forests, they should not be put out closer than 
five or six feet in order that the individual trees may 
I 


114 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


develop fully in foliage and be able to maintain them- 
selves against storm-winds by a free formation of their root- 
systems towards the windward side. 

Whether the setting-out of the plants should take place in 
squares, or triangles, or rows, is of less importance than 
the actual number of plants per acre ; practically, planting 
in squares is the usual method adopted, although in situa- 
tions where plantations are liable to suffer from accumu- 
lations of snow or ice, planting in rows of 6 feet x 4 feet, 
or 6 feet x 3 feet are said to yield the most satisfactory 
results. Close planting increases the danger from snow, 
whilst ice causes most breakage when the individual plants 
have a fair amount of free growing-space. 

As previously remarked, notching is not so well appli- 
cable to the spruce as to Scots pine, but recommends itseif 
on account of its cheapness wherever the nature of the 
soil is suitable. The usual methods adopted are planting 
by means of Heyer’s cylindrical spade for one and two- 
year-old seedlings and three-year-old transplants, and _pit- 
planting,—or on wet soil, tumping or planting on mounds 
—when older material is put out. 


3. SILVER Fir (Pinus picea, L. =P. abies, Du Roi= Abies” 
taxifolia, Desf. =A. excelsa, Lk. = Apres Pectinata, D.C.). 


Distribution.—The silver fir is a tree of the mountains 
of central and southern Europe, from the Pyrenees east- 
wards to the Caucasus, northwards to the Vosges, Luxem- 
burg, the southern edge of the Harz, Silesia, and Galicia, 
and southwards to Navarre, Corsica, Sicily, Macedonia, 
and Bithynia. Its vertical distribution averages 5,000 feet 
in the Bavarian Alps, 4,000 feet on the Vosges, 3,250 in 
the Black Forest, and 2,700 feet in the Thiiringer Wald. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 115 


It is not indigenous to north-eastern Europe above 513° 
latitude, but finds its natural home in the mountains of 
eastern France, south-western Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, 
Tyrol, and Switzerland, where it is met with on the out- 
lying and lower hills, generally forming mixed forests 
with spruce, beech, or larch, rather than pure forests. 
Where it occurs to the north of 514° latitude its intro- 
duction has been due to artificial means. It was intro- 
duced into Britain early in the seventeenth century (1603). 

Tree-furm and Root-system.—The silver fir resembles the 
spruce in the formation of a straight long bole, which 
approaches the cylindrical shape, yielding a maximum of 
timber and good long squares. Its thickly-foliaged, though 
narrow, but deep-reaching crown is supported by a some- 
what sparse branch development, subdivided, however, into 
a large number of twigs, on which the short needles are 
retained from six to nine years, thereby giving great density 
of leaf-canopy. The shape of the crown is less conical 
than that of the spruce ; in older trees it generally becomes 
somewhat bushy after the growth in height is practically 
completed, and makes the crowns look from a distance as if 
a large nest had been built near their tops. Its demands 
on growing-space are therefore on the whole of a very 
moderate character, although not quite so limited as in the 
case of spruce. 

The silver fir is a deep-rooting tree. Its tap-root resolves 
itself at an early age into several main branches, which push 
their way deep into the soil and form a heart-shaped root- 
system ; side-roots developed near the surface also tend to 
penetrate into the lower layers so long as the soil is not 
wanting in depth. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—¥or normal 
development the silver fir requires' a mean annual tempera- 


1 Willkomm, Die Forstliche Flora, &c., 1887, p. 103. 
I 2 


116 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


ture of at least 431° Fahr., and a mean temperature of 634° 
Fahr. during July and August, whilst it can bear without 
injury a mean temperature during January not lower than 
202° Fahr. Localities with great extremes of summer heat 
and winter cold are less suited for it than for the spruce, 
and also such as have great atmospheric humidity, although 
its growth is decidedly better in moderately damp air than 
in dry localities; Near its lower vertical limit it naturally 
seeks the cool, moist, gently sloping northern, north-eastern, 
and south-eastern aspects, whilst towards the upper limit 
considerations as to warmth necessitate its growth on the 
sunnier southern exposures. 

In demands as to mineral strength of soil it occupies a 
position between the beech and the spruce. ‘The richer soils 
of the older geological formations favour its development, 
but it is also found forming extensive forests, especially 
when grown along with spruce, on the better varieties of 
sand. Cool slopes with limy or clayey soil often show 
vigorous growth, but the timber is generally somewhat 
inferior in quality. The thriving of the silver fir is, in 
short, less dependent on any particular kinds of soil than 
on a fair amount of moisture permeating deep into the soil 
and subsoil, and on favourable situations, such as the coombs 


and hollows, the dingles and dells, and other protected - 


localities in the sinuosities of mountainous tracts and hilly 
ranges. Whilst dry soil is unfavourable to it, on wet sour 
land it cannot thrive at all. 

Requirements as to Light—Among the forest trees silver 
fir ranks first in capacity for bearing shade, even excelling 
the spruce in this respect to a slight degree, as might be 
expected from the longer life of the old foliage. This 
high shade-bearing capacity enables its natural reproduction 
to be much more easily carried out than might otherwise be 
the case, as after standing for a long time, first under the 


<a g 
es Se 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 117 


necessary shelter, and then under the unnecessary shade of 
the parent trees, the seedlings retain for twenty to thirty 
. years, and often more, the capacity of attaining a good 
normal development when the standards are finally removed 
in accordance with whatever conditions as to fall and clear- 
ance are laid down by the working-plan. 

For the retention of soil-moisture, shade during the first 
few years is indispensable, and during the youthful period 
of growth a moderate amount of it is not injurious, 
although of course the extent to which it may be borne 
without injury depends in each case on the concrete 
factors of soil and situation. , 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
The silver fir attains in the Black Forest! an age of 300 to 
400 years, and stems of 130 to 150 ft. in height, with a girth 
of 13 to 18 ft. at breast-height, are frequently to be met with 
in that district. The period of rotation is usually fixed at 
about 120 years, and natural reproduction by seed is spread 
over a term of twenty-five to thirty years, or even forty years, 
in order to allow the standards to thicken in girth and rapidly 
develop into valuable timber ; on the lower hills, where the 
younger assortments of timber have a fairly good market, 
periods of rotation vary from 80 to 110 years, with reproduc. 
tion extending over fifteen to twenty-five years. Seed-pro- 
duction on a scale sufficient to accomplish natural regen- 
eration begins about the seventieth year, and whilst some 
seed is expected on an average once every two years, a good 
year may be looked for about every third year. Owing 
probably to the oil in the seed, essential in its character and 
therefore liable to be dissipated by evaporation, its reproduc- 
tive power soon diminishes, and the quality is good when test 
experiments show a germinative capacity of 50 to 60 per cent. 
There are about 11,000 to 13,000 seeds in one pound, without 

1 Gerwig, Die Weisstanne im Schwarswald, 1868, pp. 67 and 87. 


118 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


wings. As with the spruce, a good seed-year can generally be 
foretold by the flowering shoots being bitten off and thrown 
down by squirrels. The cones ripen in the September or 
October after flowering, and the seed is shed at once in the 
autumn, so that arrangements for collection must be made 
early. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—In comparison 
with spruce, the silver fir is less exposed to most kinds of 
danger. Deep-rooted, however, though it be, it is still 
liable to be thrown by the wind ; but as each individual tree 
has its own well-developed root-system, storms are seldom 
able to make whole forests windfall, only the upper 
portions of the stems being usually broken off, which 
happens especially when the stems are attacked by canker- 
ous fungous disease (4cidium elatinum). Injuries caused 
by snow or ice are also, owing to the greater elasticity of the 
branches, less wide-spread or serious than in the case of the 
pine or the spruce, and the loss of a leading-shoot is soon 
replaced by one of the side-branches assuming that function. 

As in the mountainous regions where the silver fir is 
indigenous there is little or no variable spring weather, but 
wintry conditions may be said to obtain till late in April or 
even May, and then a sudden change, extending often over 
only a few days, takes place to summer-like heat, the danger © 
from late frosts in spring or early frosts in autumn is not 
great ; and it is further lessened by the usual form of natural 
reproduction carried out under the shelter of the parent 
trees. It is greater in localities at lower elevations, or near 
its northern limit of indigenous growth, where the leading- 
shoot is apt to be killed by frost during the youthful period 
before it can raise its head out of the coldest, damp layers 
of air near the surface of the soil. 

Insect enemies also attack the silver fir less than other 
conifers, and they do not in general commit the same 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 119 


ravages over extensive areas. Gryllotalpa vulgaris, both as 
grub and perfect insect, feeds on the roots of seedlings, and 
Melolontha species damage plants of two to three years old 
both in nurseries and in the open, whilst the weevil Ay/odius 
abietis gnaws their bark ; the sap-wood of poles and trees 
is devoured by the larve and beetles of Bostrychus curvidens 
and Aylastes palliatus, and the timber of felled or fallen 
trees by those of Xyloterus lineatus, whilst the leaves of 
both young and old trees are occasionally almost decimated 
by the caterpillars of Ziparis monach1, Tortrix murinana, 
and Grapholitha rufimitrana. But in comparison with 
the injuries inflicted on Scots pine or spruce by insect 
enemies, those to which the silver fir is subject are usually 
slight ; when, however, a periodical plague of Jiparis 
monacha sweeps across the coniferous forest tracts, its 
foliage too is requisitioned by the devouring legions of 
voracious caterpillars. 

Red-rot in the timber is occasionally caused by Polyporus 
vaporarius, and white-rot by P. fu/vus. Like most conifers, 
it is hable to attacks from Agaricus melleus and Trametes 
radiciperda at the base of the stem and in the roots, whilst 
Trametes pint and Aicdium elatinum are often very injurious 
to the bark and the sap-wood of stems and branches (the 
mistletoe-like excrescences of twig-clusters—called zw#tch’s 
brooms in Germany—often seen at the tops of old trees, being 
due to the latter), and less frequently ectria cucurbitula in 
the bark ; £adium columnare, Hysterium nervisequium, and 
Trichospheria parasitica occasion leaf-diseases, but seldom of 
any very injurious nature. Along with the spruce, it is also 
subject to injury from Pestalossia Hartigii in nurseries and 
young plantations, the bark assuming a diseased condition 
just above the soil. Roe and red-deer often seriously 
damage young plantations, especially beyond the natural 
limits of growth of the silver fir, when it is planted as a 


120 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


subordinate species along with other conifers ; and during 


the pole-forest stage of growth deer sometimes peel the bark - 


to a considerable extent, though in this respect it suffers 
less than spruce. In recuperative power, however, it far 
excels spruce, and has even some advantage over Scots 
pine. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Silver Fir.—Notwithstanding 
its large timber production per acre (vide page 44), its fine 
cylindrical growth, its high percentage of timber of the 
largest assortments, and its other good qualities from a 
sylvicultural point of view, opinions are divided in Germany 
about the advisability of extending its cultivation in pure 
forests on areas otherwise suitable for spruce. In the 
warmer districts of southern Germany, where, according to 
the custom of the trade, the prices of timber for export are 
fixed with reference to the upper-end girths, its more full- 
wooded stem gives it an advantage over the spruce; but in 
central Germany the area over which the silver fir forms 
pure forest is less now than formerly, and there seems no 
desire to'diminish the area under spruce in its favour, as 
on the whole spruce yields better, stronger, and more durable 
timber, which also fetches better prices in the open markets 
within reach of export. 

Thus whilst in Britain actuarial considerations will natur- 
ally point to the formation of pure forests of spruce rather 
than pure forests of silver fir, other prudential considerations 
will even more emphatically urge to the more frequent 
formation of mixed forests, which not only (as already 


mentioned at length in treating of the spruce) yield greater ~ 


quantities of timber per acre than either variety of pure 
forest, but also ward off, or at any rate diminish as far as 
possible, calamities to which spruce forests are unfortunately 
liable, arising from snow and ice, violent storms, and the 
devastations of insects. So far, too, from its natural zone 


3 
“4 
u 
J 
4 
“ 
J 


BRITISH FOREST TREES I21 


of distribution and its warmer southern home, pure forests of 
silver fir could scarcely be expected to yield in Britain, and 
especially in Scotland, such favourable outturn of large 
timber per acre as in southern Germany and France, so that 
it seems here principally suited for admixture along with 
some other ruling species. There are in particular three 
cases in which the sylvicultural importance of the silver fir 
can hardly be questioned, viz.—first/y, as its branches have 
a considerable degree of elasticity, it suffers less from 
breakage through snow or ice than either spruce or Scots 
pine, and consequently minimises damage arising there- 
from in mixed forests, whilst being also less liable to infection 
from root-rot (Zrametes radiciperda) than the spruce, it 
therefore in mixed forests hinders the disease from becoming 
wide-spread and serious, and thereby directly improves the 
ultimate outturn from the mature crop; secondly, in forests 
of broad-leaved, deciduous species, in which for obvious 
sylvicultural reasons beech ought usually to be the principal 
ruling species, the silver fir is on the whole better able to 
accommodate itself to the peculiarities of growth of broad- 
leaved trees, and in general yields better returns than other 
conifers ; ¢iirdly, as on suitable soil it bears more shade 
than any other conifer, not even excepting the spruce, it 
often yields excellent service when planted as underwood, 
especially under oak or under Scots pine on a somewhat 
binding soil, without losing the power of developing fairly 
into good, useful timber when the overwood or standards have 
been cleared for sale. In the filling up of blanks, where 
the shade may be somewhat too great for even the spruce, 
it is a welcome species except where frost is to be feared. 
When grown in pure forests in southern Germany, it is 
usually worked with an average rotation of 100 to 120 years ; 
even on soils of average medium quality the outturn per 
acre varies from 8,700 to 10,900 cubic feet per acre, as 


122 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


shown by the yield tables of the Baden forest department, 
although for the Black Forest Schuberg gives 11,600 to 
14,500 cubic feet per acre for average soils and situations, 
and up to 16,820 cubic feet for the best localities. 

With its strong recuperative power, silver fir suffers little 
when branches are removed, either for decreasing the shade 
cast, or for the production of large clean boles; this opera- 
tion is best conducted from the middle of August till October, 
and by means of the saw. With its naturally dense habit, thin- 
nings of this species should be on the whole light, until the 
tree-forest stage of growth has been reached, when they are 
made somewhat heavier in order to stimulate the trees to 
rapid growth in girth, except on exposures liable to heavy 
falls of snow. 

Pure Forests of Silver Fir.—No other species of forest 
tree has so slow a development during the youthful period 
as the silver fir, for its growth is at first in breadth rather than 
in height, no matter whether naturally or artificially repro- 
duced from seed or by means of planting ; it is a peculiarity 
of its growth that there is generally one very long side-shoot, 
probably provided by nature for the purpose of protecting 
the soil-moisture. At ten years of age the silver fir is 
usually no larger than a four-year-old spruce, but from about 
ten years of age its growth in height in the open becomes 
vigorous. The growth of the leading-shoot is not energetic 
so long as the young crop stands under shade, which it often 
has to do for twenty to thirty years and even longer, often 
under dense shade from the parent standards. Its latent 
energy and recuperative power are, however, such that 
when the standards are removed, and a fuller measure of 
exposure to light and air is available, an energetic growth in 
height at once sets in on good soils, and is of long con- 
tinuance. Seedlings grown under light shade from the 
side or from above, and plantations in the open, begin 


an 
aye 
—r iui 
a ee we 


. ’ gi 
ve ae as oo ee 


‘ 
Se ee a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 123 


to develop leading-shoots normally from about ten years of 
age ; they attain the maximum average annual growth in 
height on soils of the better class about the twenty-sixth to 
thirtieth year, on average soils about the thirtieth to fortieth 
year, and on the poorer classes of silver fir soil about the 
fortieth year (vide tables on pages 36 to 38). 

Notwithstanding its latent energy in growth, seedlings of 
silver fir run considerable danger from rank grasses, frost, 
or drought, unless they are reared under the protective 
shade of standards, and during the first two or three years 
they are absolutely classifiable as shade-demanding like the 
beech. When once the young crop has outgrown these three 
dangers of the earliest period of growth, and has formed 
thicket, it quickly develops into the pole-forest stage, and 
continues to maintain a lively growth in height, although 
not in general quite so energetic as in the case of the spruce, 
It is only during the pole-forest stage of growth that silver 
fir is much exposed to breakage from snow. 

The timber of silver fir trees grown in pure forests is not 
so good in quality as when it has been produced in mixed 
forests, a circumstance -which offers an additional reason, if 
one were at all necessary, for preference being given to the 
formation of mixed rather than of pure forests. Where, 
however, pure forests are desired, silver fir can yield more 
satisfactory results when worked in numerous small patches 
than when operations are strictly confined uniformly to one 
large area during the period of reproduction and of utilisa- 
tion of the mature crop. This method of treatment has 
reached its highest development in the state forests of 
Baden. ‘The parent standards, showing wide differences in 
age, are scattered over the whole area in groups whose 
canopy is interrupted to a constantly varying degree, whilst 
the younger crop is similarly scattered about in groups or 
patches varying from ten to twenty up to fifty and sixty 


124 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


years of age. The increase in girth on the standards in 
full enjoyment of sunshine and air is very rapid, and far 


outweighs in technical and monetary value the loss of in- 
crement on the young crop, without prejudicing the future : 
development of the latter in due time. Schuberg found a 7 
greater cubic quantity of timber per acre on forests treated 

’ 


thus than was to be found when the forests were reproduced. 
more regularly in smaller blocks, where, with shorter periods 
of reproduction, the trees forming the mature crops were 
more nearly equal in age. 

Though the average rotation of silver fir is about 100 to 
120 years in pure high forest, yet by reason of the special 
treatment accorded to it for the production of boles girthing 
well at the upper end, to suit the requirements of the 
timber market, the actual fall is begun in the mature timber 
about the eightieth to ninetieth year, and continued till final 
clearance takes place often only as late as about the hundred 
and thirtieth to the hundred and fortieth year. 

Mixed Forests with Silver Fir as the ruling Species —Among 
conifers, spruce is of most importance as a subordinate 
species in forests where silver fir forms the matrix or major 
portion of the crop. Where it is intended that the spruce 
is to remain permanently subordinate till the crop reaches 
marketable maturity, care must be taken to protect the 
silver fir whenever the thinnings take place, otherwise the 
more rapidly growing spruce is apt to form canopy above 
the silver fir, which then never afterwards gets a chance of 
a fair share in the enjoyment of light and air. Where, how- 
ever, the spruce has only been scattered individually through- 
out young crops of silver fir, it develops into fine stems, often 
of exceptionally good growth. For practical purposes in 
Britain, the mixture of spruce with silver fir is of less import- 
ance than that of silver fir with spruce (vide pages 99 to 101). 

As forests of silver fir are usually to be found only on 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 125 


deeper and better soils than forests of spruce or of Scots 
pine, larch would naturally find a more suitable home along 
with the silver fir than with either of the other two conifers 
forming pure forests. And where such opportunity is avail- 
able the admixture of larch with the silver fir, either singly 
or in patches or groups, is productive of excellent results, 
the larch developing rapidly and healthily into fine stems, 
whilst on good soil the silver fir maintains itself fairly well 
under the light shade of the larch. 

Where forests of silver fir exist, Scots pine also thrives 
uncommonly well in admixture along with it, and, though 
still remaining a light-loving tree, is by no means so impa- 
tient of shade as on the poorer soils where alone it is usually 
to be found in pure forests. Stimulated by the deep moist 
soil and the beneficial protective shade cast thereon by the 
unbroken canopy of silver fir, it shoots up with a straight, full- 
wooded bole, and though ultimately caught up in growth in 
height bythe latter, it can hold its place fairly wellin thecanopy 
till about the hundred and twentieth year, when it may be re- 
moved as a stem of fine dimensions and very good marketable 
value. Even when no advantage in age over the silver fir 
is given to it, its quicker development in early years secures 
to it a substantial benefit, and all that is requisite later on is 
some little attention when thinnings are being made during 
the period of largest annual increment in height of the silver 
fir, that is to say, during the pole-forest stage of growth of 
the latter ; on good situations even this is unnecessary, as the 
pine generally maintains the advantage it has won. On deep 
fresh soils, where Scots pine has been planted pure on account 
of temporary deterioration of the soil, the underplanting of 
thirty to forty-year-old pole- forests of pine with silver fir often 
yields very excellent results, as the former gains immensely 
through the soil being kept cool and moist, and the latter can 
often thrive well under the light shade and grow up to form 


126 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


canopy along with the pine, so that the whole attains maturity 
as a mixed crop. In such cases indifferent stems of pine 
should of course be removed in favour of the younger silver fir. 

Mixed forests of silver fir and beech are of considerable 
sylvicultural and economic value on suitable situations, but 
as the latter almost always forms the ruling species, the nearer 
consideration of such woods will be more convenient later 
on (vide pages 175, 176). 

In demands as to soil and situation, the oak resembles the 
silver fir much more than it does the spruce, so that an 
admixture of oak, in forests where silver fir is the principa 
species, is by no means out of accordance with the teachings 
of nature, though such a mixture is more successful when 
the beech also finds a place in the woods. When oak and 
silver fir are to form a crop of nearly the same age, an 
advantage must be won for the oak by the use of good stout 
transplants, and by putting them out as early as possible. 
Even then, however, it is of little use to plant singly, or in 
rows, or small patches, as the oak is almost bound to be 
sooner or later overtaken and suppressed by the more rapidly 
growing silver fir. Experience has shown that it is best to 
introduce the oak in large groups, which are able to form 
canopy for themselves and to throw sufficient shade on the 


ground to hinder the silver fir somewhat in normal develop- - 


ment ; later on, when the oak begins to have an interrupted 
canopy, the weaker stems can be thinned out so as to permit 
of the silver fir enjoying a greater measure of light and air, 
and in the later stages of growth the oak will usually be found 
to require some protection against the ruling species. Long 
before reaching maturity, such groups are considerably 
reduced below their original area, for the silver firs growing 
round the edges usually succeed, despite ordinary operations 
of tending, in overtopping and suppressing the oaks along 
the fringe of the groups. Asa matter of fact, such mixed 


Fi. 
* ii 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 127 


forests are in reality very small oak woods prematurely 
underplanted with silver fir; an equally satisfactory and 
perhaps safer method would be to form pure clumps of oak, 
thin them out moderately in the pole-forest stage of growth, 
and then underplant with silver fir. 

Silver fir forests with a fair percentage of oak and beech 
often yield on good soils most satisfactory returns, as a high 
percentage of the total outturn consists of timber of valu- 
able dimensions both as regards length and girth. 

Self-sown birches are often to be found in blanks in forests 
of silver fir, and are welcomed wherever there is a tendency 
to rank growth of weeds, by suppressing which better oppor- 
tunity is given for natural reproduction of the silver fir. On 
average qualities of soil the fir is perfectly well able to 
maintain itself under the moderate shade of the birch, 
which, however, should be cut out at about thirty to forty 
years of age, otherwise it interferes with and damages the 
leading-shoots of the ruling species. 

Formationand Reproduction of Silver F ir F orests.—Forests 
of silver fir are treated in many respects similarly to beech 
crops; in pure forests they are mostly reproduced naturally 
under the shade and shelterof parent standard trees. In 
mixed growth of silver fir and spruce a similar method is 
also adopted, but when light-loving species are underplanted, 
planting up with small seedlings or transplants is generally 
preferred to sowing. 

Natural reproduction is seldom so complete as to be 
altogether independent of artificial assistance in the way of 
sowing or planting. For the formation of woods in the 
open, planting is adopted, as sowing leads to greater danger 
from rank growth of grass ; in both cases, however, wherever 
the shelter of standards is wanting, some quick-growing 
temporary nurse is requisite in order to diminish the danger 
from frost. It is only during the first year or two that seed- 


128 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


lings of silver fir absolutely require the shade and shelter of 
parent trees or protective standards, as, except at first, side- 
shade is on the whole more beneficial than direct over- 
shadowing. During natural reproduction, seedlings often 
spring up in blanks where parent standards are wanting, 
and do well in the shade cast laterally by neighbouring 
trees or woods, particularly where such protection is afforded 
to them against the hot midday and early afternoon sun ; 
they thrive well, too, under shrubs and upright-growing 
weeds so long as there is no danger of their being choked 
beneath rank grasses, against which, as against late frosts, 
they require some protection. Protective reasons, therefore, 
combined with considerations relative to stimulation of the 
mature crop towards an accelerated increment in girth, 
have led to natural reproduction under parent standard 
trees being the usual method of regeneration adopted with 
the silver fir. Its fair germinative power, and the high capacity 
of the seedlings for bearing shade, adapt themselves well to 
this form of reproduction, for even in mixed forests a com- 
paratively few seed-shedding trees yield a fair proportion of 
seedling growth capable of good development if favoured 
during the subsequent operations of tending. 

Silver fir and beech correspond closely in regard to the 
various stages of natural reproduction ; the extent to which 
the mature crop should be removed and the ground should 
remain overshadowed, before, during, and after the principal 
seed-year, is in general about the same, with perhapsa slight 
tendency to greater density of the silver fir standards, except 
where the soil is somewhat wanting in moisture, and the 
young crop consequently stands most in need of atmospheric 
precipitations. ‘These two species correspond also in the 
length of time requisite for natural reproduction under the 
mature parent crop, and though reproduction is usually 
extended over a longer period in the case of the silver fir, this 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 129 


arises from actuarial motives rather than from sylvicultural 
requirements. 

In extending the reproductive process often over thirty 
years and more, the gradual clearance of the parent stems 
takes place more slowly than is at all necessary or bene- 
ficial to the younger crop ; but this delay in the removal of 
the standards has its substantial reason in the financial 
advantage to be gained by allowing the smaller classes of 
standards to thicken in girth near the top of the bole, and 
thus to attain more profitable dimensions. The solution of 
this problem is more easy in the case of the silver fir than of 
any other conifer, and the advantage to be gained much 
more than counterbalances the temporary poverty of annual 
increment in the young crop. 

It is true that, under this method, the appearance of the 
young growth after the final clearance of the mature crop 
resembles a series of patches and groups of different ages 
and heights ; but experience has shown that this is productive 
of less permanent harm in the case of silver fir than of any 
other tree, and in central and southern Germany the method 
continues to enjoy the favour of the most eminent sylvicul- 
turists. 

Where, however, timber prices are good, and transport is 
easy and cheap, it by no means follows that the production 
of equal-aged crops, and their complete removal by total 
clearance annually, as in the case of Scots pine and spruce, 
followed by immediate planting up of the area cleared with 
good transplants, might not in Britain prove more remunera- 
tive than the above-sketched method of natural reproduc- 
tion under parent standards, with only very gradual clear- 
ance of the latter. 

The long retention of standard trées on areas under repro- 
duction naturally leads to a desire for the removal of all 
branches not strictly requisite for increasing speedily the 

K 


130 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


girth of the top end of the bole, and, thanks to the strong, 
quick, recuperative power of silver fir, this process can be 
carried out without much fear of the quality of the timber 
being prejudiced. 

In the reproduction of mixed forests some attention 
must be given to the silver fir during the youthful period 
of growth, as otherwise species like beech and spruce, 
when they have once won a material advantage in growth 
in height, are apt to maintain it permanently afterwards, 
for the silver fir is not able to attain its normal energetic 
development under the strong and repressive side-shade 
cast upon it by these densely foliaged trees when pre- 
dominant. Such mixed forests of beech and silver fir 
are best reproduced naturally, with the result that the 
young crop is scattered in mixed patches and groups 
over the area; when the mature crop consists princi- 
pally of silver fir with spruce or Scots pine, natural 
reproduction of the silver fir is first carried out, and then 
an admixture of the subordinate species in groups of 
transplants takes place. 

For the formation of new forests of silver fir, or its 
introduction as a subordinate in forests of other ruling 
species, sowing and planting are both applicable, although 


as a rule planting in general finds greater favour, and — 


sowing is confined to places where there is some canopy 
overhead or other protection against rank grass, frost, 
cold winds, &c. A heavy fall of leaves is also apt to 
choke the young seedling growth, and even the heavy 
shade of beech standards is less beneficial than the 
lighter canopy of oak, pine, or larch. 

Natural Reproduction.—Before the clearing fe repro- 
duction is made, in order to stimulate the parent trees to 
increased formation of flowering-buds (cones), preparatory 
fellings are usually carried out, which are in reality only 


——————— 


r] 


a6 — —_- ~~ = one ae 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 131 


an accentuated measure of thinning out, an operation 
otherwise lightly performed in crops of silver fir of 
advanced age. When the actual felling for reproduction 
takes place about ten years later, the extent to which the 
standards are removed is mainly dependent on the nature 
of the soil, the greatest number being retainable on the 
fresh or moist patches where the young crop is likely to 
suffer less from the overshadowing of the standards. 
On drier patches reproduction in groups is preferable, 
where the seedlings can have the full benefit of rainfall 
and dew whilst still obtaining the protection of side- 
shade; in hollows, and coombs, and all other places 
where frost is to be feared, the disposition of standards 
should be nearly equal over the area. ‘This clearing for 
reproduction should be made when the number of cones 
shows a favourable year, as otherwise, should the seed- 
harvest fail, moist soil is apt to become overgrown with 
weeds, and dry soil to become somewhat deteriorated. 
Where self-sown growth has already taken possession of 
the soil in patches, it should be tended as far as possible 
by removal of standards above it, especially of those in 
the centre which are likely to do most damage by 
overshadowing. By this method of reproduction, how- 
ever, considerations regarding the young crop are really 
subordinated to those relative to the greater remuneration 
expected in the harvesting of the mature crop, so that in 
general the canopy of the standards is interrupted only 
so far as to ensure the ultimate well-being of the younger 
growth, when it at length attains the enjoyment of a greater 
measure of light and air. The clearance in a seed-year 
is therefore, under normal conditions of soil, usually con- 
fined to such interruption of the canopy that the crowns of 
the standards cannot close up again for the next four or five 
years. Atmospheric precipitations can under these circum 
K 2 


132 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


stances reach the soil in sufficient quantities to satisfy the 
young crop, whilst, should any accidents befal the seed 
or the young seedlings, the canopy above is sufficient to 
protect the soil against rank growth of weeds on moist soil, 
or deterioration on dry, until another good seed-year comes 
round. As a matter of course the first trees to be removed 
are those of subordinate species, and also such as are not 
likely to profit much from further retention. 

Wherever the soil seems to have good receptive capacity 
for the seed, which is particularly the case when the soil- 
covering consists of a thin layer of Aypuum moss, an 
average interruption of the canopy may be made without 
any hesitation, and where such thin layer of moss, or a slight 
covering of dead leaves, or perhaps a very light growth 
of grass is found on the soil, no preparation is usually 
necessary to stimulate it for the reception of the seed. In 
places where there is tendency to a strong growth of grass 
on moist soil, it usually happens that the previous measure of 
light accorded has already, without any seed-felling, resulted 
in a self-sown growth of young silver fir, before the light 
became strong enough to favour the ranker development of 
the weeds. But, as might be expected, the more difficult 
problems of natural reproduction of this species have to be 
faced where the soil is deficient in moisture, or where there 
is a strong tendency towards rank growth of grass. Where 
the layer of moss is thick, or the covering of whortleberry 
or heather at all considerable, some measure of soil-prepara- 
tion is seldom avoidable. In the former case the removal of 
the moss with wooden rakes in strips of twelve to sixteen 
inches will be sufficient, but in the latter some work with the 
hoe may be necessary, the strips being usually made about 
eighteen to twenty-four inches broad, and in either case of 
course prepared before the fall of the seed during autumn. 
Under ordinary circumstances the seed requires no artificial 


ae. ay 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 133 


covering, but in localities where seed-production is some- 
what deficient, and where there is probability of early germina- 
tion and consequent danger from late frosts, it is advisable 
to go over the strips with iron rakes after the seed has fallen, 
urless the soil has been previously broken into clods with 
the hoe. 

Where the wishes of the proprietor lead to the formation 
of forests in which the annual or periodic fall is to consist of 
timber of about equal age, there exists less necessity than 
in the case of the spruce for dividing the total area under 
silver fir into separate independent blocks, each having its 
self-contained growing-stock of all ages from one year, or the 
mean age of the first period, up to maturity, or the mean 
age of the last period. The rate at which the clearance of 
the standard trees takes place after natural reproduction 
has been satisfactorily carried out, depends to a great extent 
on local circumstances ; in some places it is gradually per-_ 
formed by the annual removal ofa portion, in other places a 
heavier fall takes place only every four or five years. Most 
anxiety is caused on moist soil where there is no proper 
covering of moss, but a strong growth of grass instead, or 
again on dry slopes with southern exposure. On good fresh 
soil the retention of the standards in greater numbers does 
not permanently injure the seedling crop, but on dry 
situations deficient in soil-moisture a speedier clearance 
must take place in order to let the young growth have the 
full benefit of dew-fall, without which any considerable degree 
of overshadowing might soon permanently damage the 
weakly crop, or materially prejudice its ultimate recuperative 
power after removal of the standards. On dry soils the 
total clearance can hardly be delayed more than eight to 
ten years after the seed-felling, and in some cases it is 
advisable to complete it as early as the fifth or sixth year. 

In addition to considerations as to the direction of pre- 


134 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


vailing high winds, some heed must be taken in regard to 
the extraction of the mature timber from the regenerated 
areas in such a manner as to entail least injury to the young 
crop. This is effected most advantageously when the fellings 
for reproduction are conducted so that the commencement 
is made from above, instead of from below, as would be the 
case if only danger from storms required to be taken into 
account. In addition, the areas on hill-sides are not felled 
over in oblong but in rhomboidal form, and at as sharp an 
angle as convenient, in order that on the extraction of mature 
trees the timber may be dragged as speedily as possible into 
the tree-forests adjoining, and which will be the next to be 
operated upon. That of course such areas should be as long 
and narrow as possible hardly requires mention ; but local 
circumstances of soil and situation assert themselves just as 
much in this as in most other matters. Greatest damage is 
done tothe young growth when the felling and the extraction 
of the mature stems take place in winter during frost and 
without a heavy fall of snow on the ground ; less damage is 
done when operations take place in summer, especially after 
the young shoots have hardened fairly, and when the stems 
have been barked to avoid attacks of weevils and bark-beetles, 
and to make it lighter for transport and whiter in appearance. 


In the Black Forest, a method recommended by Gerwig!? . 


consists in reproducing in patches of about twenty-four to 
thirty feet diameter cleared here and there over the whole 
area, or of larger diameter where the soil is deficient in 
moisture. As a prudential measure, seed is sown broadcast 
over such patches without trusting to seed being shed by 
the surrounding trees, and the gradual clearance of the re- 
maining standards takes place by widening the diameters 
of the patches till finally all the mature crop has been 
harvested. 


1 Die Weisstanne im Schwarzwald, 1868, p. 97. 


f 
i 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 135 


Artificial Formation and Reproduction of Silver Fir Woods. 
—The results of natural reproduction are seldom so complete 
as to be entirely independent of artificial assistance in the 
way of filling up blanks. So long as standards admit of it, 
sowing often has the preference, but otherwise the use of 
seedling plants is usual, and wherever there seems little 
prospect of a natural crop of seedlings being generated by 
the parent trees, the artificial assistance is best given at once 
without waiting for seed-years which may again prove dis- 
appointing. Where sowing has been decided on, little soil- 
preparation is requisite beyond the removal of too thick a 
layer of moss in strips with a rake, or, at most, breaking up 
of the soil in narrow strips with the hoe, or on squares, or 
small oblong patches here and there, or horizontally on steep 
hill-sides. When the filling up of blanks takes place, all 
badly-grown young poles should be removed, and transplants 
of one, two, or three feet in height with large balls of earth 
around the roots can be utilised from the neighbouring 
patches of denser growth which have been freely exposed to 
light; they can be put out at three, five or even six feet 
apart, according to the size of the transplants. It is, how- 
ever, not necessary or advisable always to plant up such 
blanks with silver fir, for it presents a very good opportunity 
for the introduction of spruce or pine as a subordinate 
species. 

Although natural reproduction is the usual method of 
treatment of the silver fir, there are many cases in which a 
choice is given only between sowing and planting, as for 
example in introducing silver fir as a subordinate into mixed 
forests of other ruling species, or transforming woodlands of 
other species into coniferous forests, or in the formation of 
woods which have not recently been under any timber 
crop. 

Sowing is usually adopted only where there is a sufficient 


136 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


canopy above to give the necessary amount of protection to 
the seedlings after germination, and the rapidity with which 
the removal of the protective standards is advisable depends 
on considerations affecting both the mature crop and the 
soil. With any species like spruce, danger from wind would 
point towards speedy clearance (total clearance of the 
spruce, and planting up at once would, however, be the 
usual method adopted), but under pine the soil would prob- 
ably be drier and likewise demand the rapid removal of 
the standards. 

Where the protective standards consist of conifers, seed- 
beds are prepared as for natural reproduction in strips or 
patches, upon which the seed is sown as soon as possible 
after the ripe cones are obtainable, since, owing probably to 
loss of the essential oil contained in it, the seed rapidly 
loses in germinative power ; a sufficient covering is given if 
the strips or patches are gone over lightly with an iron rake. 
Under standards of deciduous species, where the seedlings 
are apt to be choked by the dead foliage, narrow bands of 
about one and a half feet broad are prepared with the hoe, 
the earth being heaped up in the middle so as, when pressed 
down, to form a ridge about four inches in height along 
which the seed is sown in a rill and then covered by gentle 
raking. The distance between these bands depends on the . 
proportion in which the silver fir is intended to form part of 
the future crop ; if it be intended to form the ruling species, 
the recurrence of these strips should take place six feet apart, 
which comes somewhat expensive, but if only } to 3 of the 
crop is to consist of silver fir, they need only occur every 
18 to 24 feet apart. When sowings of silver fir have been 
made in places where the young plants are apt to get covered 
with dead foliage, they must be freed from this during the 
second and third years before they send out their young 
shoots ; but from the economical as well as the sylvicultural 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 137 


point of view, the adoption of the method of planting in 
groups will usually be found a speedier and preferable 
way of attaining the object desired. 

Planting of silver fir can take place with satisfactory 
results in the open, though when it is available some protec- 
tion from light standards, or from side-shade, is at any rate 
desirable ; but in localities subject to late and early frosts 
it becomes essential, and if not available, necessitates the 
planting of some quick-growing species like birch, pine, 
larch, willow, or alder, as a nurse. 

The silver fir can be planted out with naked roots up till 
the sixth year, but after that successful results are only to be 
expected when the plants are put out with balls of earth 
attached. Its development at first is so slow, and at the 
same time its sensitiveness to drought or rank growth of 
grass so unmistakable, that it is never planted out as a one- 
year-old seedling, and even as two or three-year-old seedlings 
only under protective standards in localities tolerably free 
from a soil-covering of grass or fallen leaves. 

The best material is doubtless four or five-year-old trans- 
plants that have been pricked out in the nursery as two-year- 
old seedlings. They develop so much more equally and 
quickly than unschooled plants, that the results are well 
worth the slight difference in the cost of the plants over 
those obtainable from patches of self-sown growth. 

The methods of planting are essentially the same as with 
the spruce, but when naked seedlings are used, particular care 
must be taken to maintain the rootlets moist by dipping them 
from time to time in mud or loam; each planter should be 
supplied with a pot or basket, in which it is easier to keep 
the plants moist. Where the soil is not tenacious, notching 
is practicable, but better results will in general be achieved 
at very slightly greater costs by the use of Heyer’s small 
cylindrical spade for preparing the holes on the area to 


138 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


be planted up, and for lifting the transplants out of the 
nursery, whereby the danger of the roots suffering from 
drying up is minimised. Otherwise planting in pits, and 
in ‘moister localities tumping or planting on mounds, are 
the usual methods of planting employed. It frequently 
happens that in these young plants there is no decided 
leading-shoot, but rather a tendency to forked growth, 
which should be counteracted by clipping off the minor 
shoot. 

The distances at which the plants are put out are 
in general the same as with the spruce, that is about 4 
feet x 4 feet on the average for transplants; but where 
young seedlings are notched in, planting is often as close 
as 4 feet x 2 feet owing to the slower development 
of such plants, and the consequent delay in the formation 
of canopy. On the better classes of soil a wider distance, 
up to 6 feet x 6 feet, is occasionally in usage when older 
transplants are put out; but when high forests of oak are 
underplanted, or woods are fringed with silver fir, rows of 
6 feet x 3 feet are usually found quite close enough. 

The most suitable time for planting out silver fir is spring ; 
planting in autumn should only be undertaken when 
special circumstances demand it. And as in regard to 
other species also, but especially in the case of silver fir, 


planting is least likely to be successful and satisfactory if 


carried out during dry east winds, which are prone to 
stimulate the plants to excessive transpiration through the 
foliage before the roots have established themselves so as 
to provide for the further due supply of moisture from the 
soil. 

For the preparation of transplants, two or three-year-old 
plants, but mostly the former, and more seldom one-year- 
old, are taken from the seed-rills and pricked out in rows 
in the nursery, where they should stand for three years in 


om; 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 139 


order to attain the same development as spruce that has 
stood for two years, so that the age of the plants is more 
often five than four years when they are finally put out. 
When four-year-old transplants are to be used they should 
be schooled in rows of 5” x 3”, or 6” x 4” if to be used 
at five years of age, and 7” x 5” if at six years of age, ze. 
if they are to remain two, three, and four years respectively 
in the nursery beds. Where there are nurseries of oaks, 
the silver fir transplants can easily be pricked out between 
them with advantage to the former. Wherever any signs 
of fungoid disease (4cidium elatinum) are visible on the 
young shoots, the plants should at once be removed and 
burned so as to prevent the infection of others. Nurseries 
should be loeated in protected spots, and, in particular, 
where danger from frost is not imminent; windy situations, 
coombs and valleys, or southern exposures should all be 
avoided, so long as level or gently-sloping sites with mild, 
fertile, fresh soil are available. 


4. Larcu (finus Larix, L. = Larix EuROP#A, D.C.) 


Distribution.—The larch is indigenous to the Alps and the 
Carpathians, the lower portion of the Silesian and Moravian 
mountain ranges, and the southern edge of the woodland 
area of Bohemia and Moravia; outside of these limits its 
growth is due to artificial measures. In the Bavarian 
Alps it occurs at elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet, and at 
1,100 to 2,700 feet on the lower hills of Silesia and 
Moravia. It is essentially a tree of the mountains, and 
of the Alpine districts in particular, where it ascends the 
slopes even higher than the spruce. On the central 
ranges of the Alps, especially.on the southern exposures, 
and on the eastern branch of the Bavarian Alps, it attains 


140 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


its best development, and often forms pure forests. In 
the other portions of the Alps it occurs in admixture, 
mostly in groups and clumps, with the beech, spruce, and 
Cembran pine, at the different elevations above sea-level 
corresponding to the habitat of these species. It was 
introduced into England early in the seventeenth century 
(1629), into the lowlands of Scotland in 1725 by Nasmyth 
of Posso, and into the highlands by the Duke of Athole 
in 1727. The larch has been extensively cultivated in 
Scotland (twenty-seven millions are said to have been 
planted out in the highlands between 1738 and 1820), 
and in northern Germany. Removed thus far away 
from its true home, and subjected to climatic conditions 
differing from those that obtain there, its development 
has often been unsatisfactory and disappointing ; its growth 
is in many parts marked by a sabre-like, curved stem in 
place of a straight bole, and also too frequently by an 
unnatural robe of hanging mosses (varieties of Usnea), 
and by cankerous fungoid disease (Pesiza Wallkommit), 
whilst the foliage is hable to be attacked by the larch- 
moth (Coleophora laricella). 

Tree-form and Root-system.—Like the spruce and the 
silver fir, the larch develops a long, straight stem whose 


growth in height is of long-continued duration, as in the - 


former especially. Where indigenous, it is characterised 
by straightness of growth, and attains, in close canopy, a 
good bole approaching the cylindrical form, and yielding 
good, long squares and beams. At lower elevations, where 
its growth is stimulated to too quick a rate in youth, or on 
stony soil, the formation of the lower portion of the stem 
is apt to be curved like a sabre. The pointed conical 
crown of sparse deciduous foliage is borne by slight branches, 
which do not form whorls round the axis as in the case of 
the other coniferous Species ; it retains its conical shape 


| ciemeaatie MeK, Sel Ma jn 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 141 


instead of rounding off like the crowns of Scots pine and 
silver fir at advanced ages. 

Its root-system resembles that of the Scots pine, but if 
difficulties confront the development of a strong tap-root, it 
possesses considerable accommodative power of throwing 
out stout side-roots so as to form a heart-shaped system like 
that of the silver fir. On shallow or rocky soil it develops 
many and far-reaching surface-roots like spruce, which 
utilise every opportunity afforded by cleavage and fissure to 
penetrate deeper down. Under these latter circumstances 
the larch makes greater demands on growing-space than 
when the soil is deep. 

Requirements as to Sotl and Situation.—Somewhat higher 
demands in regard to atmospheric warmth are made by the 
larch than by its companion in the same region, the spruce. 
The minimum of total annual warmth believed to be 
necessary for the attainment of its normal development is 
estimated ! at about 3,o10° Fahr., which corresponds with 
the isotherm indicating a mean annual temperature of 
36°8° Fahr. as its northern limit of growth. Extremes of 
winter cold are borne by it better than intense heat in 
summer. The short spring, followed quickly by equable and 
moderate summer warmth, to which, after a_ short 
autumn, the long winter period of rest succeeds,—the 
characteristically Alpine climate,—is the natural one in 
which it thrives best. There it attains its most vigorous 
growth in the hollows and coombs along the mountain sides, 
where it has protection from the violence of the storms. 
The larch can thrive in dry cool mountain air, but its 
frequent association with the spruce in hill forests proves 
that a considerable degree of atmospheric humidity is, if 
not requisite, at any rate rather beneficial than detrimental 
to its growth and development. When grown in localities 

1 Willkomm, Die forstliche Flora, &c., 1887, p. 121. 


142 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


beyond its indigenous northern limit, it prefers a damp 
insular climate, as in Scotland, Denmark, and Norway, 
rather than a dry one like that of north-eastern Germany, 
and does best on warm exposures that are not apt to be 
dried up by sun or wind. 

As might be expected from the formation of the root- 
system, depth is the first quality demanded by the larch 
from any soil. Light, stony, moderately fresh mountain- 
soil suits it best on the whole, but a slight degree of 
tenacity is more favourable than the tendency to the 
opposite extreme often exhibited by sandy soils. In its 
Alpine home it is frequently found in excellent growth 
where boulders and stones cover the ground, provided 
that there is between them a fairly good deposit of humose 
soil, and that the penetration of the roots into the sub-soil 
is not hindered. As in the case of the Scots pine, 
constant equable distribution of moisture throughout soil 
and subsoil is the condition most favourable for the growth 
of the larch ; but though making greater demands than the 
pine, its requirements in this respect are not so great as 
those of the spruce. Wet soils, more especially when 
tenacious, are not suited to it, but still less suitable are those 
of a dry description. 

As to mineral strength, its demands are certainly some- 
what greater than those made by the spruce, although soil- 
moisture and depth are of greater importance to it than 
richness in mineral constituents. Loamy limes are 
exceedingly favourable to its growth, also the loamy soils 
arising from the decomposition of granite, basalt, clay- 
slates, and dolomite, whilst loamy sands, apart from their 
greater freshness, seem also to suit it better than sandy or 
limy soils either in the valleys, or on the uplands. The 
greatest claims are made on mineral strength where the 
larch is grown away from its indigenous region, and trans- 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 143 


planted to tracts where climatic conditions obtain differing 
greatly from those of its true home. 

Requirements as to Light.—The larch is the most light- 
demanding of all conifers, and indeed of all our forest trees 
with perhaps the exception of the birch. Even in the 
Alps it is intolerant of shade falling from above, and can 
bear side-shade only on the better classes of soil. It is 
enabled to maintain the crown well in advance of other 
forest growth of equal age, owing to its very rapid growth 
in height, which is well maintained throughout its whole 
period of development. For the normal growth of larch, 
therefore, such provision must be made as will secure to 
each individual stem a due amount of enjoyment of light 
and air without danger being incurred of the summit of the 
crown being interfered with by pressure or shade of the 
crowns of neighbouring trees. 

As larch is, even where indigenous, so essentially a light- 
loving tree, it is only what might be expected that, in our 
northern but by no means Alpine climate, its demand for 
light and freedom of crown should be accentuated so as to 
be absolutely the first condition for. its satisfactory 
development, except on soils very much above ‘the average 
in quality. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity —The 
introduction of the larch on a large scale into Scotland was 
begun by the Duke of Athole in the second quarter of the 
eighteenth century, and most of the oldest original plan- 
tations in northern Germany were also formed between 1725 
—1756. The bad growth in some localities necessitated 
clearance at forty to fifty years ; others gave good timber at 
sixty years, while on the better situations larger timber was 
kept over till about eighty years. Unless, however, planted 
up with underwood to protect the soil, a rotation so high 


as a hundred years is not advisable with the larch. Away 


144 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


from its Alpine home, where it attains an age of over two 
hundred to two hundred and fifty years, and forms dark 
red heartwood greatly prized on account of its extraordinary 
durability and high general excellence, its timber never 
attains the same quality, because the whole of the natural 
conditions of its growth are interfered with. When branches 
are removed, either intentionally or accidentally, close to 
the stem, larch possesses the power, rare among conifers, of 
being able to throw out shoots, but its reproductive power 
in this respect has no sylvicultural value whatever. 

It bears seed early and often from about the twentieth 
to thirtieth year, and this retains its germinative power for 
three or four years, although fresh seed is always preferable 
when obtainable. The small cones ripen in October or 
November of the year of flowering, and the seed is 
scattered in the following spring; the old cones remain 
sessile, but the new are easily distinguishable by their light 
brown colour from the old weathered cones of any former 
year’s production. A germinative power of 30 to 40 
per cent. shown by experimental tests to determine the 
quality of the seed is considered satisfactory. The seeds 
are just about the size of those of the spruce, but not 
having the same rich brown colour are easily distinguishable 
from them, and they are considerably lighter as 72,000 to © 
77,000 go to a pound. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—In the 
mountainous tracts in which it is indigenous, the larch 
suffers little from frost, or, being a deciduous tree, from 
accumulations of snow or ice, though in localities into 
which it has been introduced, the atmospheric changes 
affect it more; the damage done, however, is seldom 
serious. But under the latter circumstances, and in pro- 
portion as soil and situation are unsuitable to its growth, 
the larch has developed a tendency to suffer from the 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 145 


attacks of caterpillars of Coleophora laricella and Grapho- 
litha pinicolana on the foliage, and from the much more 
serious fungoid disease occasioned by Pesiza Willkommii, © 
which breaks out most frequently in the pole-forest stage of 
growth (ten to twenty-five years), and more especially after 
bad attacks of the above-named insects. With these ex- 
ceptions the larch does not suffer much either from fungoid 
diseases or insect enemies, although it shares the liability 
of other conifers as regards the rot caused at the base of 
trees by Agaricus melleus, and the canker in stem and 
branches due to Zvametes pini; red-rot is occasionally 
generated by Polyporus sulphureus. 

Similar remarks obtain with regard to its resistance to 
storms. In the Alps, its deep root-system, its leafless 
condition during half the year, and the elasticity of its 
branches and of the upper portion of the stem, secure it 
comparative immunity from the violence of heavy winds; 
but on the lower hills, uplands, and valleys, where it has 
often been somewhat indiscriminately planted, its power of 
resistance is weakened, although this is still not to be 
reckoned slight. 

It is eagerly sought after by roe and red-deer, and not- 
withstanding great recuperative power, the damage done is 
often considerable, as affording a favourable germinating bed 
for the spores of Peziza. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Larch.—Even where indigenous, 
the larch is much less frequently to be found forming pure 
forests of large extent than in groups or clumps along with 
spruce, beech, and silver fir at lower elevations, or as the 
ruling species in mixed forests containing spruce and moun- 
tain pine towards the upper limit of vegetation. Thus the 
pure forests that have been so frequently formed in Scotland 
are at the very outset a departure from, and almost a contrast 
to, its natural habit of growth. Its cultivation in the mount- 


L 


146 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


ainous tracts of central and northern Germany and eastern 
France has on the whole been as unsatisfactory as in the Scot- 
tish Highlands. Although at first more rapid in growth than 
the spruce, it did not long fulfil its early promise, but was 
often caught up in growth, if it had not already sickened and 
died off, and had finally to be cut out. Somewhat better 
results were in general obtained on the more level situations 
and uplands (in Scotland up to 1,500 feet) than at elevations 
corresponding more to an Alpine climate, and in Scotland, 
Denmark, and Norway plantations near the coast thrive well 
when not directly exposed to the sea-wind. 

The cultivation of larch should not be attempted on the 
poorer classes of sandy soil, nor on tenacious land, nor on 
moist or wet soils of any description ; it seems on the whole 
to prefer mild, stony, moderately fresh soil having sufficient 
depth to permit of the normal development of the root- 
system. ‘The soil-improving qualities that were claimed for 
the larch in Scotland, when the Duke of Athole reckoned that 
an increase in grazing returns would render the planting of 
this species very remunerative, without even taking the return 
from timber into account, have not invariably made them- 
selves apparent ; for in some localities heather gains a foot- 
hold in the woods instead of grass, although it is only fair 
to say that in many places an original growth of heather 
often becomes transformed into grass. For grazing-ground 
in mountainous tracts the good service done by larch in 
improving the quality of the grasses is undeniable, but it 
should then only be planted in rows of 8 to ro feet x 20 
to 30 feet, and not with any sort of ultimate intention 
that they should form forest. ‘Though the soft, easily 
decomposed foliage is well capable of improving the soil, 
the usually interrupted canopy of pure larch woods prevents 
a rich layer of humus being accumulated on the soil. Whilst 
of energetic growth, its soil-improving qualities are evident, 


es i 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 147 


but later on its inability to protect the soil is equally apparent, 
as at an advanced age its canopy is interrupted even more 
than in the case of Scots pine ; and where whortleberry and 
heather are in the neighbourhood they soon effect an 
entrance, unless the larch woods are underplanted, as they 
invariably should be if the stems are of good development, 
with some good shade-bearing and soil-improving species 
like spruce, Douglas fir, or silver fir. 

Its demand for light is so great that it is on the whole 
less suited for the formation of pure forests (to be under- 
planted later on) than for admixture as a subordinate species 
along with other kinds of trees better able to protect the 
soil, and it also seems to thrive best when it grows well in 
advance of the ruling species. In its light foliage lies the 
explanation of the value of larch as nurses or protective 
standards, whilst to its rapid growth is due the good service 
it can yield in stimulating to a more energetic growth in 
height such clumps of young oak and beech poles as are 
somewhat backward in development. 

The characteristic crooked growth of the larch, which 
often seriously affects the utilisation of the stems, has not 
yet been satisfactorily explained; some assert that it is 
caused by the wind, others that it is due to unsuitable soil 
and situation, others again that it is the outcome of inferior 
seed. That soil and situation have influence in determin- 
ing the shape of the bole is as indisputable as that constant 
winds can and do also affect its shape; but sheltered 
localities often show the same sabre-like form of the lower 
end of the bole, whilst even in windy exposures straight 
growth can frequently be noted. Without doubt a better 
form of stem may in general be expected when, along with 
careful selection of seed from good parent trees, the larch 
is cultivated as a subordinate species in mixed forests, than 
when it is grown in pure woods, or as the ruling species. 

L 2 


148 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Small scattered plots of ground in mild open situations are 
on the whole more suitable for plantations of this species 
than patches in the interior of dense forests. 

For the small forest-proprietor the growth of larch has 
certain recommendations. It shoots up rapidly, and if 
underplanted at about its twenty to thirtieth years, and har- 
vested about forty years of age, it yields good returns 
where the smaller assortments of timber find a fair market. 
Or if the rotation be extended to the fiftieth or sixtieth year, 
so as to permit of the thickening of the stems into remuner- 
ative classes of timber, spruce or silver fir can still easily 
maintain themselves under the shade and shelter of the 
lightly foliaged larch standards. It is well suited for reten- 
tion as standards in copse after it has once been able to 
maintain itself well throughout the first period of rotation 7 
of the underwood, and can often remain as a standard in 
healthy good development till 120 years of age, although 
80 to 100 years give large timber. ‘The admixture of larch 
in woods of other species should take place in single in- 
dividuals, or in small knots or patches, and not in larger 
groups, so that whenever its removal seems advisable the 
operation can be carried out without forming blanks or 
materially interrupting the canopy in an_ inconvenient 
manner. It increases the timber production in beech forests, 
and finds a very suitable home in woods of spruce and 
silver fir, but should not, except on very favourable soils, 
be largely interspersed in Scots pine forests, on account of 
the risk which the soil runs of becoming deteriorated. 

The cultivation of the larch is generally effected artifi- 
cially, the preference being in most localities given to planting. 
Without being intrusive like the birch, the light seed of the 
larch flies far into the forest, and natural reproduction not 
infrequently takes place to a slight extent in neighbouring 
areas where some soil preparation has been made for recep- 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 149 


tion of the seed of the ruling species that is being regen- 
erated ; but unless specially tended, self-sown seedlings die 
off under the shade of the standards. And to specially tend 
or favour such self-sown growth would often be inadvisable 
as the introduction of larch can be much better arranged for 
later on by planting. As a subordinate species in forests of 
beech, spruce, or silver fir, the larch, to yield good results, 
must be planted with so much advantage in height, that not 
only the top but nearly the whole of the crown shall be in 
the undisturbed enjoyment of light. To introduce larch 
into forests where the ruling species consists of either spruce 
or silver fir, after these latter have begun to throw up lead- 
ing shoots of fifteen to sixteen inches, is of very little use 
notwithstanding its rapid growth in youth. It is best intro- 
duced in blanks, either singly or in small patches, when 
seedling crops of beech or silver fir are having the parent 
. standards cleared away, and good transplants of larch can 
assert themselves when the surrounding growth has the 
advantage over it of six to eight years in the case of silver 
fir, or three to five in the case of beech. 

As nurses of oak plantations, larch is preferable to Scots 
pine for several reasons ; it can be planted out in larger 
transplants, it has little tendency towards branching growth 
even when in full enjoyment of light, its foliage is lighter, and 
as its growth is also quicker, it can remain longer as nurse 
without injuring the oak, whilst on favourable situations it 
can even be retained up to the sixtieth or seventieth year to 
the extent of about twenty stems per acre. 

Pure Forests of Larch are formed either by sowing or 
planting, although on the Alps such occasionally have 
their existence from seed being borne from adjoining 
woods to areas where clear fellings have been made. 
Rapidity of early growth, and imperfect retention of close 
canopy later on, are the most characteristic features of 


150 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


larch forests; in respect to the first, this is so energetic 
that rank growth of grasses or weeds is soon outgrown, 
and complete canopy is often formed in five or six 
years with close planting. Shortly after the formation of 
close canopy, the period of its liveliest growth in height 
is entered on, the maximum being attained on low-lying 
situations and uplands as early as between the tenth to 
twentieth year, although not till much later in its Alpine 
home. On favourable situations with fresh, deep soil 
the energy of growth in height is maintained till about the 
thirtieth to fortieth year of age, with shoots averaging two 
to three feet in length and sometimes more; but on less 
favourable soils and situations this has often sunk so far by 
the twentieth to thirtieth year of age that further growth in 
height is less than with most other conifers. In regard to 
no other species of forest tree do soil and situation make 
their combined influence more evidently felt than with 
respect to the cultivation of the larch in pure forest,—an 
influence likewise equally visible in the density of the crop, 
and in the degree to which close canopy is formed and 
maintained. Under no circumstances can these latter 
ever be so complete as in forests of shade-bearing conifers, 
or even of Scots pine. Early in the pole-forest stage of 
growth the total number of larch per acre becomes re- 
duced by more than 50 per cent., and by the time the 
twenty-fifth to thirtieth year has been completed, the canopy 
is very much more broken than in forests of Scots pine, 
often to such an extent, indeed, that, except on soil of 
exceptional quality, its deterioration and a diminution of 
productive capacity must be feared. Henceforward, the 
appearance of the crop affords no pleasant sylvicultural 
picture. The canopy becomes more and more interrupted 
and broken by stems dying off when interfered with by 
more energetic neighbours, tufts of beard-mosses (Usnea) 


~ 
*? 

% 

~ 

q 

7 

: 

4 

; 

% 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 15! 


clothe the lower portion of the bole; the weakened energy 
oi the individual trees also predisposes them to attacks 
from the larch moth (Coleophora laricella), and weakens 
their power of resistance to infection from the cankerous 
fungal disease (Pesisza Wilkommii), which has followed 
the larch from its Alpine home, and finds in the milder 
climate of central and northern Germany, and throughout 
Britain, more favourable circumstances for its develop- 
ment than in the Alpine tracts where also it is indigenous 
but can less frequently develop its spores. 

Such is the usual life-history of pure forests of larch 
formed on inferior or merely average soils and situations, 
and it is generally found advisable to utilise the crop about 
the fortieth to fiftieth year, if the attacks of these two above- 
named enemies have not necessitated clearance at little over 
half that age. Without underplanting at an early age, pure 
forests of larch can only be worked at any higher rotation 
when the soil is of such exceptional quality that defective pro- 
tection does not lead to marked deterioration. The more the 
situation varies from the natural requirements of the larch, 
the less is its cultivation in pure forests recommendable for 
the production of good timber-stems ; where, however, a 
preference has been given to rearing crops of larch in 
this manner rather than as a subordinate in mixed forests 
of other species, the formation of an undergrowth of some 
soil-protecting species should invariably be undertaken by 
sowing or planting at the time when the canopy begins to 
be much interrupted, if it seems desirable to retain the 
larch as standards for the production of large timber in 
place of gradually clearing off the crop, and _ utilising 
the land for some other kind of timber. 

Mixed forests, in which the larch is the ruling species grow- 
ing along with others of approximately similar age, should 
not be formed, as any attempt at their formation could only 


152 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


be based on a total misapprehension of the sylvicultural 
characteristics of this species. Except in its Alpine home, 
it occurs in mixed forests only as a subordinate speci¢s 
in admixture with beech, spruce, silver fir, and also to 
some extent in Scotland with Scots pine, and moreover 
is here advisedly introduced into such woods sparsely as 
individuals, or in wide rows, or small patches, in place 
of larger patches or groups, such as may often be noticed 
amid Alpine scenery. Its sylvicultural treatment in such 
mixed forests has been referred to when dealing with the 
ruling species concerned. It may merely be remarked 
here, that in equal-aged mixed crops on good average soils 
it maintains its crown free in beech forests till about the 
tenth year, and in silver fir till about the fiftieth ; but in 
spruce usually only till the thirtieth, When it has thus 
been overtaken by the latter two species it should be 
removed and utilised, as for all sylvicultural purposes these 
are preferable woods after the larch has ceased to be 
predominating in height. In cases where larch, originally 
planted as a nurse for oak, has remained to form part of 
the existing crop at sixty to seventy years, this is due to 
its being retained only so long as it does not appreciably 
interfere with the development of the oak, and not to any 


deliberate intention to form such a mixture with a view . 


to larch forming any part of the mature crop. 

Artificial Formation and Reproduction of Larch Forests.— 
In the formation or reproduction of larch, whether in pure 
or in mixed forests, artificial regeneration is the rule, and 
a decided preference is given to planting, for, as in the 
case of the oak and the beech, transplants can be put out 
at almost any age. 

Natural reproduction, where practised at all, can take place 
along small strips at the edge of mature woods whence the 
seed might be wafted. Many of the mixed forests in 


a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 153 


Switzerland are thus formed, as the seed germinates easily 
wherever it falls on broken soil. 

Sowing.—The main disadvantage of sowing larch is that 
one can never tell how the seed is likely to germinate in 
bulk, as it usually comes up either too thick or somewhat 
patchy. The poor quality of larch seed sold by dealers, 
who can get it at cheaper rates at lower elevations than they 
would have to pay for the best quality of seed collected 
from forests at higher altitudes, and the low germinative 
power of 30 to 40 per cent. only which is usually obtainable, 
necessitate somewhat thicker sowing than in the case of 
Scots pine, although when sowings come up too dense the 
drawback is even greater with the larch than with the latter. 
Sowing takes place either broadcast, or in strips or patches, 
according to the nature of the soil, but it should under 
ordinary circumstances not be preferred to planting, except 
where this is inconvenient, as on rocky or stony soil. 

Larch seed should be sown early so as to have the benefit 
of the winter moisture ; it is even sometimes sown in autumn. 
The small seed requires little or no soil-covering, and shade 
either from the side or from above is in every way uncon- 
genial to it. When the larch is to be mixed with the beech, 
and planting is not the method preferred—as would generally 
appear advisable,—the seed is sown on small patches here 
and there ; but when it is to be sown along with Scots pine 
so as to form about one-sixth of the crop, 1 lb. of larch seed 
is usually mixed with 2} lbs. of pine seed. 

Planting, however, deserves the preference in the gene- 
rality of cases, whether for the formation of pure forests of 
larch, or for its introduction into mixed forest with other 
ruling species, as it establishes itself more readily than most 
other trees, especially when transplants are put out. It can 
be planted out as yearling seedlings, but is then apt to suffer 
from drought, so that material under two years is seldom 


154 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


used, a preference being given to transplants that have 
had one year’s schooling in the nursery at about 6” x 4”. 
Two-year-old seedlings can also establish themselves fairly 
well, but develop less quickly than transplants of the same 
age. The best results are obtained with plants from two to 
four feet in height ; but for putting out in copse, on pasture- 
land, or along roads, larger transplants can quite well be 
used. 

Spring is the best time for planting out the larch, but this 
must be seen to early, as it soon breaks into leaf; where 
early putting out cannot be conveniently arranged for, it is 
better to plant in autumn as soon as the little tufts of foliage 
are becoming yellow. Owing to the ease with which it estab- 
lishes itself, planting with balls of earth attached to the roots 
is only necessary with the larger assortments of transplants, 
which also bear trimming, like oak and beech, into pyramidal 
form.  Pit-planting is the rule, though on suitable soils 
one or two-year-old seedlings can easily and cheaply be 
notched with broad spades. 

As might be expected from its demand for light, planting 
is not so close as with other species of forest trees. Trans- 
plants of three feet high are usually put out at distances of 
five and six feet apart, or in rows 8 feet x 4 feet, whilst 


larger classes of plants are given g feet x 9 feet and greater ~ 


distances. When larch is scattered singly throughout mixed 
forests, only well-grown transplants should be used, and 
these should be put out not nearer than 24 feet x 24 feet. 
The rearing of seedlings and transplants has no special 
difficulties to contend with. The nurseries should be selected, 
if possible, on mild, fresh loamy soils without tendency to be 
binding. ‘The seed should be sown broadcast on the pre- 
pared beds, and not in rills as with other species ; where the 
young plants come up too quickly, they can be thinned at 
each time of weeding. The pricking out of the yearling 


le. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 155 


seedlings in the nurseries is done at 6” x 4” if the young 
transplants are wanted in the next year; one or two-year- 
old seedlings are pricked out at 12” x 12” or 15” x 10", if 
they are to stand two years and develop into plants about 
4 high, and no injury is done if the tap-root is slightly 
shortened. No attempt should be made to prick out any 
seedlings which appear bent or of indifferent growth. When 
transplants are wanted for planting out in copse, or on 
grazing-land, a larger growing-space is of course necessary. 


Deciduous broad-leaved Trees. 
A. Hardwoods, 1. BEECH (FAGUS SYLVATICA, L.). 


Writing in 1791, Gilpin? said of the beech :— 


** The oak, the ash, and the elm, are commonly dignified in our 
English woods, as a distinct class, by the title of timber trees. . .. . 
After timber trees, the beech deserves our notice. Some indeed rank 
the beech among timber trees ; but, I believe, in general it does not 
find that respect, as its wood is of a soft spongy nature; sappy and 
alluring to the worm.” 


Professor Gayer of Munich, the greatest living authority 
on Sylviculture, is of a different opinion. He says :— 

‘“'There are many localities in which beech will continue to be a 
valuable wood from a financial point of view” (é.e. fer fuel in 
Germany), ‘‘ but, where such may not be the case, it will still retain 
its insurpassable sylvicultural value, for without the beech there can 
no more be properly tended forests of broad-leaved species, as along 
with it would have to be given up a good many other valuable timber 
trees, whose production is only possible with the aid of beech.”— 
Waldbau, 1889, p. 448. 

Distribution.—The beech is found throughout the western, 
the central, and most of the southern portion of Europe, 
also in the Caucasus, and in northern Persia. Its north- 


1 Forest Scenery, Lauder’s Edition, 1834, pp. 97, 98. 


156 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


eastern limit is in Scotland latitude 56-57°, in Scandinavia 
604° on the western and 57° on the eastern side, 54$° on 
the east Prussian sea-coast, thence across eastern Poland, 
Bessarabia, and the Crimea, towards the Caucasus. It is 
essentially a tree belonging to the hilly and the lower moun- 
tainous tracts of central and south Germany, and north- 
western Austria, but it also forms pure forests on the plains 
within the Baltic region, in upper Silesia, and in that portion 
of Alsace drained by the Rhine. On the Harz mountains it 
ascends to 2,150 feet elevation, in the Thiiringerwald and 
Black Forest to 2,600 feet, on the Erzegebirge to 2,700 feet, 
to nearly 5,000 feet on the Bavarian Alps, and to 5,125 feet 
in the Tyrol. Its chief sylvicultural characteristic is its 
capability of forming dense pure forests, like the spruce and 
in a less degree the silver fir, over extensive tracts of 
country. 

In the earliest times it formed large pure forests on the 
calcareous and chalky soils throughout central and southern 
England, attaining its finest dimensions in Buckingham- 
shire and Hants, but was not indigenous to Ireland or to 
Scotland, where it was introduced largely early in the 
eighteenth century. It is grown on the Continent in pure 
forests’ over enormous areas on account of its fine quality as 


fuel. ‘In Britain there exists no such reason for its cultiva- ° 


tion on a scale relatively so extensive, and as its timber is less 
remunerative than that of other high forest growth, it must 
chiefly claim attention on account of its soil-protecting and 
soil-improving qualities, and as a ruling species in admixture 
with which large timber trees of the more profitable broad- 
jeaved species can most remuneratively be grown without 
danger of the soil deteriorating through any interruption of 
the leaf-canopy, and the insolation consequent thereon.’ 
Tree-form and Root-system.—When grown in pure forest, 
the beech develops a straight, long, nearly cylindrical bole, 


me 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 157 


excelling in this respect nearly all the other broad-leaved 
trees, although not attaining such straightness or length of 
stem as the silver fir and spruce. In the pole-forest stage 
of growth its crown is spindle-shaped, but afterwards becomes 
first oval, and then obovate with advancing age. When 
grown in close canopy, its foliage reaches down to about 4 
of the height of the tree, but in isolated positions it droops 
down to the very ground. Its crown is formed of strong 
branches, which ramify freely, and bear a dense crop of 
large, broad leaves. On deep loamy soil the density of its 
foliage is greater, and indeed the whole development of the 
tree better, than on sandy soils, although on the latter, 
especially on the better class of soil in which good mould is 
plentiful, the greatest growth in length is often attained. 
Towards the northern limit of its distribution a tendency to 
develop branches at the cost of the bole becomes apparent. 
The root-system developed by the beech is somewhat 
heart-shaped, like that of the silver fir, but is on the whole not 
so deep; it possesses a fair capacity for accommodating 
itself to the conditions of the soil and subsoil, though not 
to such an extent as, for example, the Scots pine. Its devel- 
opment depends greatly on the nature of the soil, and is in 
every way stronger on deep, rich limy or loamy soil than on 
somewhat inferior land of a more sandy description. 
Requirements as to Sotl and Situation.—Raw, cold 
exposures, where snow is often on the ground for months, 
and the forests are bathed in mist for weeks at a time, are 
more suitable for the spruce than the beech, which resembles 
the silver fir somewhat closely in its antipathy to long-con- 
tinued, severe winter cold, and its inability to stand a lower 
average temperature in January than 20#° Fahr. On the 
other hand, without absolutely demanding it, the beech can 
bear a greater degree of mean summer warmth than the 
silver fir, and an equable warmth maintained throughout a 


158 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


long season of active vegetation is beneficial to its develop- 
ment. A moderate degree of atmospheric humidity is 
characteristic of all localities in which extensive pure forests 
of beech are to be found indigenously ; the insular climate 
of Britain, especially of the southern portion of England, is 
therefore well suited to produce beech forests, in association 
with which the other more valuable deciduous species may 
be grown, according to the precepts and principles of sylvi- 
culture, to their better development and most remunerative 
production. 

On the hills and lower mountain slopes of central and 
southern Germany, the beech prefers the eastern, north- 
eastern, and northern aspects, with their greater degree of 
moisture both in soil and atmosphere ; but at higher eleva- 
tions, considerations as to warmth dictate a preference for 
south-eastern and southern exposures. 

It exhibits a decided preference for limy soils, and those 
of a clayey nature containing lime. Mild loams, clayey 
marls, and loamy limes, no matter of what geognostic 
origin, are therefore those which suit it best, although 
fresh sandy soils, especially with a loamy or marly sub- 
soil, and the better varieties of loam often found on the 
uplands, also induce good growth and development, more 
particularly when the atmosphere is humid. Pure limy 
and sandy soils are alike unsuited for the beech. 

It demands, more than many other species, depth of 
soil, uniformity of soil-texture, mineral strength, and a 
moderate amount of moisture both in soil and subsoil, 
whilst any tendency either to dryness or to excess of 
moisture is unfavourable to it. 

By means of its thick fall of leaves, it makes a natural 
effort to provide the soil with a good non-conducting 
cover for the preservation of the soil-moisture during the 
heat of summer, and on decomposing this yields a rich 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 159 


variety of humus or mould, which modifies’ and improves 
all classes of soil with respect to their physical properties. 
Though it extracts a considerable amount of mineral 
nourishment from the soil, it replaces this again by the 
humus formed from the fallen leaves, for most of the 
mineral matter is left in the foliage during the natural 
process of assimilation. It is therefore by no means an 
exhausting forest crop ; it is on the contrary, on good soils 
certainly an improving one. 

Requirements as to Light—Among the _ broad-leaved 
trees no species equals the beech in density of foliage, or 
in its capability of bearing shade ; but the extent to which 
it is endowed with this capacity varies within considerable 
limits, being dependent both on the degree of shade to 
which it is subjected, and on how far soil and situation 
favour its growth in general. Under certain circumstances 
it thrives normally even after having been kept in shade for 
twenty to thirty years, whilst under other less favourable 
circumstances an insufficient supply of light for only a few 
years shows its evil effects throughout the whole remaining 
life-period of the crop. 

[Under normal circumstances beech seedlings do well 
after remaining under the shade and shelter of their parent 
trees and protectors against frost for about ten to fifteen 
years, towards the end of which period a gradual clearance 
of the standards takes place. The shade of lightly foliaged 
trees, like the oak, ash, larch, or Scots pine, can be borne 
by it without injury for a longer time ; localities on which 
such moderate shade seems injurious to the thicket of seed- 
lings, can in reality form no suitable situation for the beech.) 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
The beech begins to bear seed or mast, deech-nuts, in fair 
quantities sufficient for reproductive purposes, in forests of 
about sixty to seventy years of age, after the activity of 


160 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


growth in height has culminated, but it is generally worked 
with a rotation of about go—120 years before being 
gradually reproduced by seed over a period of fifteen to 
twenty years. In Germany the great bulk of beech is used for 
fuel, it being the wood most prized for domestic heating pur- 
poses. But when there is a good demand and a fair market 
for large assortments of this timber, a forest is cleared at 
seventy to eighty years of age, and about eighteen or twenty- 
two of the best trees per acre are left as standards to widen 
rapidly in girth, and then be cleared off at the next fall 
along with the reproduced portion of the forest some seventy 
to eighty years later on. 

Seed-years are foretold by the thickening of the flower- 
buds in the previous autumn ; good ones do not occur 
more than once every three to five years, and really abun- 
dant mast-years are, like good vintages, unfortunately of 
somewhat infrequent occurrence. On favourable soils and 
situations there is seldom lack of seed for natural reproduc- 
tion, though on poor soils, and in localities exposed to late 
frosts, the work of regeneration has often to be carried out 
with seed obtained elsewhere. 

About 2,000 beech-nuts without husks are contained in 
one pound, and a germinative power of 50 per cent. is con- 


sidered satisfactory in experiments for testing the quality. © 


The seed ripens and falls in the autumn after flowering. 
Where it is necessary to harvest the mast till the following 
spring, it must be kept cool, airy, and well covered, and 
runs a danger of becoming heated on the one hand or dried 
up on the other. Seed kept longer than till the spring after 
its ripening, cannot be relied on to germinate at all satisfac- 
torily. 

Its capacity for reproduction by stool-shoots is on the 
whole not great; when once the bark has thickened and 
hardened, the dormant or adventitious buds become much 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 161 


less capable of being called forth into active life than on 
the younger portions of the tree with their thinner and 
softer covering of bark, and a greater abundance of sap. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—The dangers 
to which the beech, in common with the other deciduous 
broad-leaved trees, is exposed, are on the whole of far less 
magnitude than those by which the conifers are threatened. 
The beech-nuts are often eaten up by mice and voles. Late 
frosts in spring, and the scorching midday sun in summer, 
though both mitigated by shelter from the parent trees, 
are injurious to the seedlings, which break into leaf just 
when the greatest danger from frost may be apprehended. 
Late frosts are less to be feared on the higher-lying tracts and 
uplands, and on the cool northern and eastern exposures, 
where seed is later in germinating, and saplings do not 
break into foliage so early as on lower and warmer localities. 
Old forests, too, are often affected in growth when late 
frosts destroy their young and tender foliage in May. 

As the worst storms generally occur when the trees are 
bare, the beech does not suffer greatly from the violence 
of winds, and the same may also be said with regard to 
accumulations of snow and ice on the branches. 

From the attacks of insect enemies it is comparatively 
ree. Species of Me/olontha in their grub state injure the 
roots of seedlings, and larve of Agrilus viridis, Scolytus 
intricatus, and species of Dryocetes damage the cambium and 
sap-wood of young growth, whilst the caterpillars of 
Dasychira pudibunda and Liparis monacha destroy the 
foliage and buds in the older stages of growth, as also in 
a less degree do beetles of the species Orchestes, Phyllobius, 
and Rhynchites ; the timber is liable to be bored by the 
larvee of Hylecetus dermestoides and Ptilinus pectinicornis. 

A cankerous disease of the stem is caused either by 
Nectria ditissima, or by the beech-aphis Chermes fagt, or 

M 


162 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


by frost,—or, according to Hess,! by the occasional com- 
bination of any two or more of these possible causes. 
The fungus found in the affected parts was called Fusidium 
candidum by Willkomm, but has been recognised by R. 
Hartig as merely the gonidial or intermediate form of 
Lectria ditissima. This disease of the bark and sap-wood 
is most frequently to be met with on the western or 
exposed sides of older trees suddenly cut free from side- 
shade. At the time of germination many seedlings fall 
victims to a disease induced in the cotyledons by 
Phytophthora omnivora. 

All trees having smooth bark, like hornbeam, ash, 
sycamore, lime and chestnut, and among conifers spruce 
and Weymouth pine, but most particularly the beech, are 
liable to suffer from scorching or sunburn on the west 
and south-west, less frequently the south, side of the bole 
near its base, soon after the movement of the sap begins, 
and just where the heat reflected from the soil is greatest. 
The defect thus caused in the timber often diminishes its 
value considerably. 

Though deer love to nibble, and cattle to browse on 
the tender, succulent leaves of young beech thickets, the 
damage they do is never very great, unless the grazing of 


cattle be habitual, when of course it interferes with the. 


normal growth and development. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Beech—Even in Germany, 
where immense pure forests of beech were formerly 
found clothing the lower hills and uplands, and also 
occurring extensively on the plains, the extent to which 
they are to be met with at the present day has been greatly 
diminished. Various causes have led to this result. 
Throughout most of Germany, the areas under forest were 
burdened with servitudes in all localities where the woods 

1 Der Forstschutz, vol. ii. 1890, p. 219. 


|) —e 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 163 


themselves were not actually declared communal, village, 
or corporation forests, and rights of user of many kinds 
had to be satisfied, such as the delivery of timber for 
building and for fuel, right of driving in herds of swine for 
pannage and cattle for pasturage, right of extraction of 
dead leaves for manure for the fields, &c. With the increase 
of population, and the restriction of the areas under forest, 
the time arrived in many places where, notwithstanding the 
soil-improving qualities of the beech, it has not been able 
to maintain the productive capacity of the soil when the 
natural covering of dead foliage has been stripped and 
utilised as manure for neighbouring fields. Bereft of its 
leafy mantle, and incapable of otherwise producing the 
humus or mould necessary for the retention of soil-moisture, 
and both directly and indirectly active in the formation of 
soil and the preparation of nutrients for the benefit of the 
timber crop, the growth of the beech woods began ulti- 
mately to show signs that the soil was becoming exhausted ; 
natural reproduction became feebler and less satisfactory, 
and some less exacting crop, usually spruce, had to be 
formed in place of beech, in order to avoid further deteriora- 
tion of the soil through inferior and patchy growth of 
beech alternating with patches of self-sown softwoods. In 
other places, in many of the state forests and in private 
woodlands, purely financial reasons have led to the trans- 
formation of beech woods into coniferous forests, as the 
long period of natural reproduction, the poor prices obtain- 
able for the smaller assortments of timber forming a con- 
siderable portion of the crop harvested when reproduction 
is commenced, and the relatively less remunerative prices for 
the largest dimensions of beech as compared with spruce or 
Scots pine, were all naturally taken into account wherever 
existing forests could legally be transformed. In addition 
to that, with the improved methods of communication 
M 2 


164 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


developed and perfected during the last half century, the 
use of beech as fuel has to a great extent been supplanted 
by the use of coal, coke, and peat, so that there is no longer 
the same necessity for the production of large pure forests 
of beech in the interest of the fuel-consuming population. 
The preparation of bricquets of coal-dust, and the com- 
pression of peat, have also thrown vast quantities of heat- 
producing material on the market, which had at most only 
a local consumption formerly. 

Thus even in continental countries circumstances are 
gradually bringing the proprietors of forests to look at the 


matter—within certain limits only, in the case of state 


forests—from he actuarial point of view, which must ever 
be the principal and only sound one in Britain. With its 
shade-bearing and soil-protecting qualities, beech undoubt- 
edly stands pre-eminent and unrivalled as the ruling species in 
subordinate admixture with which can best be grown the more 
light-loving species, such as oak, ash, elm, maple and syca- 
more, which are on average classes of soil unable to maintain 
undiminished in pure forest, or in mixed forests consisting of 
themselves only without a shade-bearing species, the repro- 
ductive capacity of the soil. In such mixed forests the sub- 
ordinate species develop into larger, better grown, and more 


valuable boles than when reared in forests consisting entirely 


of light-loving species; in mild crops even the beech 


itself is benefited so much as in general to yield timber 


well capable of being utilised for technical purposes in 
place of merely becoming fuel. 

Where pure forests of beech form the crop for the pro- 
duction of fuel only, the fall usually takes place during the 
eightieth to hundredth year, natural regeneration under 
parent standards being effected during that period ; but where 
there is any fair market for beech as timber, reproduction is 


begun about the ninetieth year, and continued till about the 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 165 


hundred and twentieth, when the final clearance of the parent 
standards takes place. | 

The principal treatment accorded to the beech is growth 
in high-forest with natural reproduction, the total area under 
beech being divided into four blocks representing respec- 
tively the areas on which are to be found the portions of the 
growing stock 0-30 years, 30-60 years, 60-90 years, and 
go-120 years,—or averaging 15, 45, 75, and 105 respectively, 
counting from the middle of the period of reproduction. 
Growing in closed canopy, the beech here develops a long, 
smooth stem well adapted for technical purposes. 

As coppice, beech cannot be compared with the oak, 
either in regard to reproductive capacity, or as to energy of 
growth of the stool-shoots. In copse orstored coppice it is 
often to be found among the underwood, especially on limy 
soils which stimulate its development; but usually, owing to its 
comparative unremunerativeness, itis encouraged there mainly 
with a view to protect and improve the soil for the benefit 
of the standards of oak, ash, and the like. For standards 
in copse it is not at all naturally suited, on account of the 
dense shadow thrown around by its close, heavy foliage. 
This increases with advancing age when trees are grown 
in the full enjoyment of light and air, for as a standard it is 
prone to branch development ; at the same time it does not 
bear well the removal of branches, whose loss might in- 
crease the already existing danger of scorching or sunburn 
and might directly affect the quality of the timber for all 
technical purposes. Where a good market for fuel exists, the 
most advantageous rotation for beech as coppice is twenty- 
five to thirty years ; but coppice is only advisable where the 
soil is good, and, under the ruling principle that forestry in 
Britain must be guided by purely financial considerations 
and actuarial calculations, the preference would be almost 
sure to be given to some more remunerative crop. 


166 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Beech forests require a considerable amount of tending. 
All coppice-shoots of beech and hornbeam should be removed 
during the weedings and clearings of young seedling growth, 
and as a rule all softwoods also, whilst in thinnings the clear- 
ance of the latter along with all suppressed poles of the ruling 
species should certainly take place. On drier and poorer 
patches of soil, where light and air are most requisite, and the 
struggle for individual existence is most equally balanced, the 
axe has usually to give considerable assistance to nature in the 
work of hastening on the selection of the predominating and 
dominating poles. But on the whole the golden rule in the 
thinning out of this species is that it should be carried out ea7/y, 
often, and moderately, anticipating to a slight extent, in crops 
of advanced age, the results slowly being attained by nature. 

In contradistinction to the treatment usually accorded to 
the oak, natural reproduction under parent standards finds 
by far the most favour in regard to beech, although (as with 
the silver fir, the only other forest tree with which a similar 
method is largely in vogue) artificial aid has generally to be 
invoked to a greater or less extent in filling up blanks where 
reproduction is unsatisfactory. 

Where crops of beech are to be formed for. the first time 
in the open, planting is the usual mode of formation, as 
seedling growth demands shade and shelter during the first 
two or three years of its existence. But where it is to be in- 
troduced into other forests either as underwood, or with a 
view to forming part of the future crop of high-forest, the 
choice still remains between sowing and planting, although 
in general preference is given to the latter method as attain- 
ing satisfactory results in the least time, and at a cost not 
necessarily greater than sowings often amount to before 
the operations can really be considered completed. 

Pure Forests of Beech.— Although, to be consistent with 
the principle that actuarial considerations alone should form 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 167 


the basis of purely sylvicultural operations in Britain, any 
reference to the treatment of pure forests of beech is almost 
superfluous, yet they exhibit so many of the sylvicultural 
characteristics of the species that a knowledge of their treat- 
ment on the Continent must be of material benefit and 
assistance with regard to the utilisation of beech in the forma- 
tion and tending of mixed forests, in which the first and 
principal object is the production of the most remunerative 
classes of timber of the nobler species of forest trees. 

When, after natural reproduction, the young crop of beech 
finds itself freed from the shade of the parent standards, it 
is generally scattered in larger or smaller patches showing 
slight differences of age. As the results of the shelter afforded 
by the parent trees against frost, rank growth of grass and 
weeds, sunburn, &c., the energy in growth of the seedlings is 
so far prejudiced, that the young crop seldom forms canopy 
before the tenth year ; but with the attainment of this, growth 
in height becomes energetic throughout the thicket stage of 
development, reaching an annual average of about 15” on 
good soils and situations, and achieving its maximum annual 
increment with leading-shoots averaging 19” in young poles 
of twenty to thirty years of age. This does not happen until 
ten to fifteen years later, and only with a lower average, on 
soils of less favourable quality (vide tables on page 36 to 38). 
During this period of growth the soil is covered with a thick 
fall of dead foliage, which, secured by the density of the 
young poles from being blown away by the wind, protects 
the soil-moisture, and under the influence of the three chief 
factors,—moisture, air, and moderate warmth (52° Fahr.),— 
slowly decomposes to form humus or mould of excellent 
quality, thereby enriching and improving the soil in a 
greater degree than any other forest crop is capable of. The 
stimulus thus given to the soil finds its immediate expression 
in the increased current annual increment in cubic contents, 


168 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


which attains its maximum between the fortieth and eightieth 
year, according to the quality of the soil, although the aver- 
age annual increment does not culminate till between the 
eightieth to the hundred and twentieth year (zzde table on 
page 45). Although pure beech forest on soils of average 
quality yields over 8,000 cubic feet per acre, only 10 to 20 
per cent. of this is usually first-class timber for technical 
purposes, the rest being merely good fuel. 

When once the seedlings have passed through the stage dur- 
ing which their cotyledons are apt to suffer from the fungoid 
disease caused by Phytophthora omnivora, the chief danger 
to which the young crop is exposed is frost, and in localities 
where late frosts in spring are frequent, the damage done is 
often very appreciable throughout the thicket stage and even 
later. So long as the natural soil-covering of dead foliage is 
preserved from being blown about by wind, or being removed 
for agricultural manure, pure forests of beech can easily on 
average classes of soil-attain an age of a hundred and twenty 
years if desired in the interests of the proprietor. But if the 
retention of this fall of foliage be not achieved, the forma- 
tion of good humus is out of the question, and the protecting 
and soil-improving qualities of the beech are squandered, as 
the crop, which makes higher demands on the soil than 


spruce ! for example, or than most other trees, gradually - 


exhausts the soil in place of enriching and improving it. 


Pure forests of beech are reproduced naturally during © 


periods of twenty or thirty years, according as the fall of the 
mature crop is desired between the eightieth to hundredth, 
or between the ninetieth to hundred and twentieth year. 
The process takes place by means of three fellings viz. :— 
preparatory, reproductive, and gradual final clearance, which 
will be referred to more particularly when treating of natural 
production. 
1 Vide page 30. 


gt 
4 eu 
a — 


| al ol 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 169 


Mixed Forests with Beech as the ruling Species are un- 
doubtedly the form in which beech is of most sylvicultural 
importance in Britain, and even then chiefly as far as the 
development of the subordinate species is concerned, the 
aim being to increase the production of timber, and to 
improve its quality, so as to obtain from any given area the 
most remunerative returns, whilst duly protecting the pro- 
ductive capacity of thessoil. This object can be attained 
by a suitable admixture of oak, ash, maple, sycamore, elm and 
softwoodsamong deciduous broad-leaved species, and of silver 
and Douglas firs, spruce, larch, and pines among conifers. 
Soil and situation naturally determine generally in favour of 
one or other species, and regulate the proportion to which 
it should be introduced into the ruling species or matrix, as 
also whether it is advisable to give the admixture the form 
of groups, patches, rows or merely scattered individuals ; 
local demands and the state of the local market, however, 
are also entitled to their full consideration in regard to the 
choice of species and of the treatment to be accorded to 
them. Where groups or patches are formed, they should 
usually be circular in shape, in order that the soil may 
derive full benefit from the ruling species. Oak can be 
introduced in all four ways, but admixture in groups, or in 
knots or patches, is preferable in order to facilitate tending ; 
ash, elm, sycamore, maple, softwoods, larch, and pine, are best 
scattered among the beech in single individuals only, or merely 
in small knots or rows; silver fir is most easily tended 
in groups, although quite capable of developing well in the 
other forms of admixture ; spruce should also be introduced 
in groups, or even in clumps of larger size, where poorer soil 
than the average makes this step advisable,—for when 
grown in small knots, rows, or scattered individuals it 
rapidly becomes predominant, breaks out into a larger 
crown of heavy-foliaged branches and sprays, and injures 


170 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the beech through its dense shade, whilst at the same 
time it forms knotty timber of inferior quality to that pro- 
duced by trees growing in close canopy. 

Oak is the principal subordinate species to be considered 
in admixture with beech, for though it has lost that former 
importance in regard to shipbuilding, which led to large 
plantations being made in the state forests of southern 
England—the New Forest, the Forest of Dean, Alice Holt, 
Bere and Parkhurst,—for the future supply of timber for the 
Royal Navy, and though its use has been to a great extent 
superseded owing to the development of steam transport and 
the present usual construction of iron hulls, in which the 
use of teak timber (Zecfona grandis) from Burma, an oily 
wood preservative of steel and iron bolts, &c., has undeniable 
advantages over oak, the tannic acid of which corrodes iron in 
place of preserving it like teak, yet oak still remains the most 
highly prized and best paid home-grown timber for many 
varieties of technical purposes, and is likely to remain so as 
long as costs of transport prohibit the many fine timbers of 
the tropical forests of our Indian Empire being laid down in 
the English market at remunerative rates. This wealth of 
timber obtainable from the Greater Britain beyond the seas 
is another argument,—if any such were required,—why 
forests in Britain should not be formed unless they can show. 
sound financial prospects of moderate remunerativeness. 
Are not the streets of London being paved with timber from 
Australia? Is not almost the only timber used in building the 
“wooden walls” of England imported from India? Burma 
alone yields annually over 200,000 tons of teak timber in the 
log, and whenever necessary it might yield more than 
4,000,000 tons annually of other kinds of timber, suitable 
for ordinary use in the climate of Britain, for which there is 
at present practically so little demand that its extraction is 
not remunerative. Until, however, costs of transport become 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 171 


much lighter than they are now, the future market for good 
classes and qualities of home-grown timber seems well 
assured, and every endeavour should be made sylviculturally 
towards producing them in the finest dimensions and of the 
highest technical quality. And the finest growth of the oak can 
undoubtedly be obtained where it receives the benefit of that 
soil-protection which can be so well prvoided by the beech. 
‘ Both species resemble each other to a considerable extent 
in regard to rate of growth, tree-form, and demands made 
as to soil and situation. But in admixture with the beech, 
the oak has all the advantages to be derived from close 
canopy, protection of the soil from insolation and from the 
drying effects of winds, rich fall of leaves to form humus, 
and has also an improved development of the bole, more 
especially to be noted in the case of the sessile oak. On good 
deep soils of the lower uplands and undulating plains of 
southern England (New Forest) this mixture is frequently 
to be found occurring naturally, although artificial assistance 
is usually necessary to protect the oak against the beech. 
The most important point is, indeed, to maintain the oak 
in advance of the beech throughout the whole period of its 
existence, for as a light-loving species it can only attain its 
finest normal development so long as the upper portion of 
its crown is in the undisturbed enjoyment of light and air, 
and is secured against the dense, suppressive side-shade of 
the beech. On most classes of soil the oak is, from the 
very earliest period, of somewhat quicker growth in height 
than the beech, and in warm localities with long periods of 
vegetation and genial summer temperature, it as a rule 
maintains the advantage thus early won, except where the 
soil ultimately proves so deficient in depth or in soil- 
moisture, that the natural conditions requisite for the normal 
development of its root-system are wanting. But where 
these conditions are secured, the admixture of the oak may 


172 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


take place in single individuals scattered throughout the 
whole beech forest, so as to gain to the fullest extent the 
advantages derivable from the ruling species, though care 
must be taken not to introduce it in such numbers that it 
may form canopy for itself to the detriment or ultimate 
suppression of the beech. When the oak has been scat- 
tered too thickly along with the beech, all indifferently deve- 
loped individuals should be cut out early, so that on the 
better classes of soil not more than thirty-five to forty per 
acre should attain the age of a hundred to a hundred and 
twenty years ; but the better development of these should 
be carefully tended during all thinnings out. In many 
places strong transplants of 6 to 74 feet high, are put out 
every 16 feet in rows about 120 to 150 feet apart ; in other 
localities a preference is given to one or two-year-old 
seedlings notched in at every 15 to 20 feet x 15 to 20 feet, 
whilst in other places again small groups and knots of 
transplants three to four feet high are scattered here and 
there in patches wherever there are blanks in the young 
beech seedling growth which show good soil. This latter 
method is generally preferred on cool northern slopes, or on 
somewhat limy soils, where the growth of oak is not only 
slower than on warmer exposures, or milder loamy or sandy 
soils, and where at the same time the growth of the beech 
is more luxuriant than on most other soils or situations. 

In cases where the oak needs any protection against the 
beech, it is usually during the pole-forest stage of 
development that tending is most requisite, although 
where the soil is somewhat deficient in depth, or in mineral 
strength, the need of assistance is often noticeable even in 
the thicket stage of growth. Thus, while on the better 
classes of soil, oak remains predominant, on _ inferior 
localities the beech is naturally of quicker development, 
and unless the former is scattered here and there in circular 


Sea 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 173 


groups of about twenty to twenty-four feet in diameter, it 
is difficult to protect the oak from being overtaken and 
suppressed by the ruling species ; with groups of larger size 
the advantages of mixed growth become fainter and less 
substantial, in direct proportion to the increase of area. 

As, for the production of large remunerative assortments 
of timber, it is advisable to give the oak a much longer 
period of rotation than would be advisable for the beech, the 
latter can be naturally reproduced between the eightieth to 
ninetieth year, or by means of sowing or planting should seed- 
production prove deficient, and the ré/e of the latter is then 
confined to underwood until the standard oaks are harvested 
at any convenient time during their hundred and fiftieth to 
two-hundredth year, whenever the state of the timber-market 
renders their fall advisable. Under such circumstances this 
second generation of beech is not usually of the best 
normal development; but the loss of increment on it is 
replaced by the greater quantitative, qualitative, and 
financial increment of which the oak standards reap the 
advantage. On the better classes of soil, thirty to forty 
oak stems per acre overshadow the whole area lightly by 
the end of the second period of rotation of the beech; 


on poorer classes of soil, only such number of oaks should 


be retained as standards as will ultimately overshadow not 
more than } or at most } of the area, that is to say 
about ten to twenty per acre. Care should be taken to 
remove the beech gradually, as, when suddenly exposed to 
light and air, the boles of the oak are apt to become covered 
with a flush of shoots from dormant, adventitious buds, 
which utilise the sap during its upward flow, with the con- 
sequence that the trees become “ stag-headed” and dead in 
the top part of the crown. For this method of treatment 
small clumps of good sound trees, in vigorous growth, with 
well-formed crowns, and not over a hundred years of age, 


174 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


should be selected, as otherwise experience has shown that 
the measure is apt to fail in effecting the object intended. 

From what has been said above, it is evident that under 
most circumstances some growth in advance should be 
secured to the oak, and this is better obtainable by the use 
of strong transplants than in any other manner. The case 
in which oak forests are first of all formed nearly pure, and 
then underplanted, belongs properly to the later considera- 
tion of the oak (vide pages 190, 194, 200, and 202). 

The regeneration of such mixed forests can take place 
naturally by reproducing the oak first, but it will usually be 
found most advantageous to adopt planting. 

Ash, elm, maple, and sycamore are usually associated with 
the beech on uplands and hill-sides having fresh soils with 
a fair degree of mineral strength, and here these species are 
frequently to-be met with self-sown on places most con- 
genial to their natural habits of growth. This is more 
usually the case on all varieties of soil other than sand, 
where, however, oak finds for the most part the situations 
best suited to its growth. Where their presence along 


with the beech on strong mineral soil is wanting, owing. 


to an absence of parent seed-trees, the mere strewing of 
seed is sufficient to effect a suitable degree of admixture, 


unless planting of individual stems here and there is ~ 


preferred. ‘The elm is less commonly to be found, which 
may be explained by its poor seed-production in Britain, 
though when once it has established itself it can generally 
effect reproduction by means of stoles or root-suckers ; but 
the planting out of good transplants three to four feet 
high is perhaps the best method of introducing the elm into 
seedling growth of beech, as larger transplants often fail to 
establish themselves well, whilst seedlings and smaller 
transplants are apt to fall victims to rank growth of grass. The 
admixture of ash, maple and sycamore is best also provided 


a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 175 


for by planting in single individuals, in wide rows, or in 
small knotches or patches scattered here and there ; the 
formation of patches or groups larger than twenty to twenty- 
five feet in diameter is inconsistent with their natural habit 
of growth and their general inability to protect the soil, 
whilst their tendency towards the formation of a somewhat 
widely-branching crown is apt to interfere with the normal 
development of the ruling species. 

As these subordinate species are not intended to be 
removed early in thinnings out of the beech, but to remain 
for eighty or a hundred years so as to develop into good, 
_ valuable assortments of timber, they must be carefully 
tended throughout the whole period of their growth. Like 
the oak, they are all light-loving species, and in general of 
speedier growth than beech, although this advantage lies 
more with elm and ash than with maple, or in particular 
with sycamore, on situations that may be somewhat de- 
ficient in atmospheric warmth. 

In general these forest trees, and particularly the maple, 
thrive best on a moister soil than is congenial to the beech, so 
that wherever patches of moist ground occur here and there, 
they can be suitably introduced in larger patches and to a 
greater extent generally than where the soil is merely fresh ; 
for the protection of the soil, however, underplanting with 
beech, silver fir, or spruce, is then often necessary later on. 
A suitable admixture is seldom obtained by means of natural 
reproduction of such subordinate species ; better results are 
obtainable by sowing on small patches after previous soil 
preparation. But perhaps on the whole the planting of strong 
transplants deserves the more general practical application in 
regard to all four species. | 

Among conifers, the principal subordinate species intro- 
duced into beech forests for the production of large 
assortments of timber are silver fir and spruce. The former 


176 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


is at first somewhat backward in growth, but, from the age 
of thicket onwards, corresponds fairly well with the develop- 
ment of the beech, maintaining itself till maturity ; and if 
towards the end of the period of rotation it may on better 
or moister soils show growth in advance of the ruling 
species, this does not do so much harm as in the case of 
the spruce. Wherever, therefore, blanks show the better 
qualities of soil, a preference should be given to the 
admixture of the silver fir. With its slow initial develop- 
ment, some advantage has to be given it over the quicker 
growing beech, and this is perhaps best arranged for, by 
introducing it early into seedling growth of beech by means 
of planting, as the shade of standard beech trees is somewhat 
too dense for sowing ; later on, however, the silver fir is of 
more rapid growth than the beech, which it is apt to suppress 
with its heavy shade. Where patches of self-sown birch 
have found their way into beech forests, they often prove 
very good nurses for the silver fir, protecting them against 
frost, though not overshadowing them to any injurious 
extent. Tending can best take place when the silver fir is 
introduced in small patches, or in rows, rather than as 
scattered individuals. 

The association of spruce with the beech takes place 
usually only on soils that are not sufficiently good or deep. 
or the profitable admixture of the nobler broad-leaved trees, 
or of silver fir. Under certain circumstances its introduction 
is more or less of a necessity, as for example on many 
localities where constant removal of the dead foliage, with 
consequent deficiency of needful humus, has been followed 
by deterioration of the soil; here the reproduction of 
broad-leaved forest cannot, for the meantime at least, be 
so remunerative as that of the more easily satisfied spruce 
with its good soil-improving qualities. Both species show 
wide variations in manner and rate of growth, and in 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 177 


regard to the formation of their root system, but they 
are frequently found in natural mixed forests showing good 
development ; this is especially the case in forests varying 
in soil-quality, the shallower, moister, or poorer parts being 
often found covered with patches. or groups of spruce, 
these being spots where the beech is less likely to thrive. 
Although at first beech is more rapid in growth, it is on 
moist soils usually about the tenth year overtaken by the 
spruce, which then generally remains predominating through- 
out the later stages of growth; on dry soils, however, 
it not infrequently happens that the shade cast by the 
young seedling-growth of beech interferes so much with the 
development ofthe spruce, that this is unable to develop its 
characteristically energetic growth in height, and is con- 
sequently suppressed. Where either species wins any 
decided advantage over the other, it uses it to suppress the 
latter as much as possible. To derive the maximum of 
advantage from the mixture, it is therefore best to admix the 
two species, to as great an extent as convenient, in circular 
groups of about a quarter to half an acre in area, so that 
no matter which gains the advantage in growth, the other is 
still protected sufficiently by its own species to maintain 
itself partially till maturity. When the spruce is scattered 
individually among the beech, its tendency to injure the 
latter can of course be diminished by the removal of the 
undermost branches with the saw,—a measure, however, 
that is difficult of application on any very extensive scale. 
The introduction of the spruce in rows has also practically 
the effect of suppressing the beech to a great extent unless 
the rows are planted out wide apart. In the formation of 
mixed forests of beech and spruce, it is well to assure to 
the former some growth in advance before the latter is 
introduced, and this is perhaps best attained by reproducing 
the beech naturally first, and then planting up all blanks 
N 


178 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


with spruce when the beech seedling growth is about ten 
years old, or, in other words, when the parent standards are 
removed, which can take place somewhat earlier than if it 
were desired to have the whole area under a crop of beech. 
Even when the beech thus at first forms the crop over 
considerably more than half the area, it usually gets so 
much suppressed by the spruce, that towards maturity it 
rarely exceeds 20 per cent. of the crop. But although the 
admixture of spruce may not exceed 30 to 4o per cent. of 
the mature crop, it adds very. considerably to its remuner- 
ativeness ; for not only is the total production of timber 
per acre appreciably increased, but both beech and spruce 
also yield higher percentages of large-girthed and valu- 
able assortments of timber. In Britain it will probably 
recommend itself to lay most weight on the growth of 
the spruce, and to have the beech as the subordinate species, 
in order to counteract the dangers to which the former is 
exposed from windfall, from snow and ice accumulations, 
and from insect enemies and fungoid disease. 

As subordinate species Scots pine and larch have 
many advantages over spruce. Throughout the whole of 
their life-period they are of quicker growth than the beech, 
but with their lighter crowns of foliage are not liable to 
do so much damage by overshadowing, and under many 
circumstances often afford beneficial protection against 
frost and insolation. Grown along with the beech, they 
develop into boles of fine proportions, yielding first-class 
timber, and can be worked with higher periods of rotation 
than when in pure forests, because the soil is not so apt 
to deteriorate. It also not infrequently happens that the 
natural reproduction of the beech under the pine can be 
carried out even more satisfactorily than under the shade of 
parent standards alone. 

Form their natural habits of growth, these two species are 


| 
5 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 179 


capable of being grown both in groups or patches, and in 
rows, or as single individuals, in which latter case they 
develop into fine stems. But where a preference is given to 
the former mode of admixture, it is necessary to underplant 
the pine between the thirtieth to fortieth year with beech, so 
that with a fall of a hundred to a hundred and twenty years 
the mature crop consists of large coniferous stems of that 
age with a reproductive beech underwood of seventy to 
eighty years old, and surpasses either class of pure forest 
in profitable outturn. Where the larch is admixed in groups 
or patches, these must be underplanted about ten years 
earlier ; but, in general, planting singly or in wide rows is 
preferable in regard to this species, as it often attains its full 
normal development at a much earlier age than pine. 

The introduction of both species is usually most con- 
veniently carried out by means of sowing or planting during 
the final clearance of the parent standards of beech from 
areas that have been naturally reproduced. In general the 
end is best attained by planting with material not much 
higher than the surrounding matrix of young beech, as 
otherwise in the case of the pine the tendency to branch 
development becomes more prominent than is desirable for 
the formation of fine clean boles of high marketable value. 

Both of these species do good service as nurses, on inferior 
soil, especially the pine, or where the young seedling crop of 
beech is thin and unable to form canopy readily, or apt to be 
sickly in growth ; in such cases, however, the requirements 
of sylviculture are provided for by the introduction of the 
nurses individually here and there, and care must be taken 
not to plant out so many as may, by forming canopy later 
on, suppress the beech or interfere very materially with its 
development. 

Particularly in eastern Germany, mixed forests of beech 
and hornbeam have an importance which they can never 

N 2 


180 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


acquire in Britain, although as undergrowth in copse the 
latter is often welcome. 

Wherever birch finds broken soil in young beech-woods, 
it is apt to assert a foothold, and to become more of a 
noxious weed than anything else, giving trouble, through its 
reproductive capacity, with regard to the introduction of 
more desirable species, and when springing up in any con- 
siderable numbers, despite its light foliage, often interfering 
greatly with the development of the beech. As groups of 
birch thin themselves out strongly between the twentieth to 
thirtieth year, this species should be grown only as single 
individuals, or in small knots on favourable situations, so as 
not to interrupt the canopy too much when they become 
mature at forty or at most fifty years of age. Its introduction 
takes place preferably by planting rather than by sowing, but 
under many circumstances the cutting out of all self-sown 
seedlings is alone requisite to have a sufficiency of birch. 

The other softwoods, of which lime, aspen, and sallow 
are, next to birch, the chief species to be found in admixture 
with the beech, have much in common with the birch. They 
very usually find their way into beech forests during repro- 
duction as self-sown growth, or as stoles from former trees ; 
and where they do not occur in such numbers, or so dis- 
posed over the area in groups, as to damage the development 
of the ruling species, they perform good service as nurses, 
quickly form marketable timber, and yield at an early date 
fairly appreciable returns. But where allowed to form large 
patches, they tend like the birch and pine to branching 
growth, neither congenial to the ruling species nor profitable 
to the development of their own boles. Such groups have 
the further disadvantage of being difficult to fill up with any 
remunerative species when these quick-growing trees have to 
be removed, long before the ruling species has approached 
maturity. If the proper time for their removal has not been 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 181 


taken advantage of, the softwoods should only be eliminated 
very gradually where they predominate, in order that the 
beech poles, which will usually be found to have been drawn 
up too quickly, may have time to thicken so as to support their 
own weight, in place of being bent down. Where, therefore, 
they are to be found self-sown in moist patches, the best 
individuals should be selected here and there, and reserved 
for growth only to such an extent that their removal about 
the fortieth to fiftieth year will not cause any serious break in 
the leaf-canopy. Where no adventitious seedling growth or 
flush of root-suckers is available, planting will generally be 
preferred to sowing, as affording a much better means of 
obtaining what seems the most advantageous disposition of 
the softwoods throughout the ruling species. 

Natural Reproduction of Beech Forests under parent 
standards forms the rule with this species, as the seedling 
growth demands, like the silver fir, protection against frost 
and insolation during the first two or three years of its 
existence. As already mentioned, three classes of fellings in 
the mature crop may be distinguished, viz., (1) the pre- 
paratory felling, (2) the reproductive or seed-felling, (3) 
fellings to strengthen the young growth, and to effect the 
final clearance of the parent standards. ‘The first two 
fellings are made previous to regeneration, whilst the latter 
is best carried out as gradually as local circumstances and 
the provisions of the working-plan permit. 

The preparatory felling is made in order to stimulate the 
parent standards, through greater enjoyment of light and air, 
to speedy and increased production of seed, and at the same 
time to accustom them gradually to the isolation they must 
ultimately have before the final clearance, as wellas to harden 
them against wind and scorching from sun-burn.- The best 
opportunity is also at this time given to remove all the 
other species growing in admixture with the beech, so as to 


182 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


confine the reproductive operations to the latter alone, 
subordinate species being best introduced later on. The 
soil-covering in mature forests in close canopy is seldom of 
such nature that it can at once offer a good germinating- 
bed for the seed ; hence a certain deliberate interruption of 
canopy is necessary in order to allow rain, light, and warmth 
to accomplish the decomposition of the dead foliage cover- 
ing the ground, except on the fresher and more fertile soils 
where the greater moisture has all along been more favourable 
to the formation of humus. Under ordinary circumstances, 
with a moderate preparatory felling, the decomposition of 
the soil-covering of dead foliage is accomplished in about 
four to five years. This takes place quickest on limy soils, 
where felling is sometimes hardly necessary at all, owing to 
the danger of the soil becoming overrun with weeds, but 
proceeds more slowly on the sandy varieties of soil. 

In addition to the subordinate species, only the smaller 
dominated stems are removed, so that about 12 per cent. of the 
cubic contents are harvested, which would include about every 
fifth to seventh tree of the smaller classes. The fall can 
always be greater on the cooler northern and eastern aspects, 
and in localities where the foliage lies thick ; where the soil 
already shows tendency towards growth of grass or weeds it 


is unnecessary, and would be out of place. Young self-sown - 


growth should only be allowed to remain if of good develop- 
ment and not over six to eight years old, as beech differs 
greatly from silver fir in respect to the recuperative power of 
seedlings that have stood long under dense shade, and such 
badly grown patches only interfere with a free circulation of 
the air, thus increasing danger from frost. By driving 
in cattle for grazing, or swine for pannage, the work of 
breaking up the soil, and rendering it receptive for the seed, 
is greatly furthered. 

Lhe reproductive or seedfelling takes place when a good 

! 


i ae 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 183 


mast-year has come round, which can usually be foretold by 
the thicker, swollen appearance of the future flowering buds in 
autumn and winter, especially after a hot summer. About 
} to 3 of the crop then on the ground may be removed, those 
left as parent trees being preferably such as show a breast- 
height diameter of about twelve to sixteen inches, and have 
well-developed crowns which do not reach far down. The 
largest fall of timber is permissible on soils not having a strong 
tendency to the growth of weeds, and is demanded by dry soils 
below the average in mineral strength, as in these latter locali- 
ties the young seedlings derive most of their supplies of mois- 
ture from the nightly precipitations of dew, and though tem- 
porary shade does them no harm, the constant overshadowing 
of numerous standards cuts off their requisite supply of 
moisture in the form of dew and gentle showers of rain. The 
work of reproduction is greatly aided by driving in cattle 
and swine, and by the use of the rake in order to provide 
the beech-nuts with a covering of soil. 

The fellings for strengthening the young growth, and for 
effecting the total clearance of the mature crop should begin in 
the year following the fall of the seed on dry soil, or where 
considerations in regard to it have made a comparatively 


dense overshadowing of the parent standards desirable 


during the seed-year. But under ordinary circumstances 
they are not begun until the seedling-growth is two years old. 
The rate at which the gradual final clearance takes place 
depends to a great extent on the vigour of the seedling crop, 
for where this shows that fuller exposure to light, air, and 
atmospheric precipitations are required, the standards should 
be first removed. As it is during the final stages of the 
gradual clearance that the greatest increment in girth takes 
place on the standards, they are retained wherever, and so 
long as, they do not appreciably injure the young crop. 
The second fall usually takes place about two or three years 


184 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


after the first, and the others after similar periods, but these 
can be hastened where danger from frost or weeds is not to 
be apprehended, or where the soil is deficient in moisture. 
On the average, the final clearance is effected in about ten to 
twelve years from the mast-year. On warm dry exposures it 
has often to be carried out within six to eight years ; whilst 
on cool aspects with moist soil it may be extended over 
fifteen to twenty years, during which period it should be 
conducted very gradually. 

Artificial Formation and Reproduction of beech woods 
takes place, as a rule, only under the shade and shelter of 
standard trees, though not necessarily of its own species, for 
under the shelter of pine or larch the seedling growth 
thrives even better than under parent standards. Where 
such shelter is available the preference is given to sowing, 
but where young woods are to be laid out in the open, 
planting is almost universally adopted. In all cases in which 
light-loving species like oak, pine and larch, or patches of 
elm, ash, and maples, have to be provided with underwood, 
sowing generaily yields better results than planting, and at 
a less cost. 

Sowing is usually performed by dibbling in a few beech- 
nuts at distances of about twenty to twenty-four inches, or else 
sowing broad-cast or in rills either in rows or patches where - 
some special preparation of the soil has taken place for the re- 
ception of the seed. Whether sowing should be carried out in 
autumn or in spring, depends for the most part on the danger 
to be apprehended locally from frost ; this also determines 
the soil-covering that should be given to seed sown in autumn, 
for a covering of over one inch of earth retards the pro- 
cess of germination appreciably. As the result of experi- 
ence, autumn sowing is preferred onthe higher hilly land, 
and spring sowing on the lower tracts and uplands, and more 
particularly on warm southern and south-western exposures. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 185 


Planting with yearlings or two-year-old seedlings is only 
carried out under protective standard trees when the con- 
ditions of the soil are favourable but as a rule two to four- 
year-old seedlings taken from adjoining woods, or from 
temporary nurseries, with balls of earth attached to the 
roots, find most demand. On good and not too binding 
soil younger plants of six to twenty-four inches in height can 
be put out in wisps by means of notching ; they are planted 
about 4 feet x 4 feet, whereas seedlings of 2 to 3 feet are 
usually only put out about 5 feet x 5 feet on account of 
the greater cost. Larger transplants of 3 to 5 feet are 
generally put out at 6 feet x 6 feet when required for the 
filling up of blanks. 

Planting operations should be conducted early in spring 
before the buds begin to swell much. Where the use of 
large transplants is necessary in the open, the twigs on the 
lower portion of the stem should not be altogether removed, 
as otherwise the young plants are more liable to injury 
from sun-burn ; trimming in a pyramidal form is therefore 
to be recommended. 


2. OAK (Quercus Robur, L. =Q. PEDUNCULATA, Ehrh. and 
Q. SESSILIFLORA, Sm.) 


Originally, both varieties of the oak were known under 
the general name Quercus Rodur, L., but they are now recog- 
‘ised as having decided sylvicultural as well as botanical 
ifferences ; they differ in bark, arrangement of branches, 
foliage, flowering, fruiting, and habitat. The leaves of the 
Eyglish, common or pedunculate oak (Q. pedunculata, 
Ehrh.) have a short petiole, or are nearly sessile ; those of 
the sessile or durmast oak (Q. sessé/iflora, Sm.) have mostly a 
petiole over half an inch long; except on one-year-old seed- 


186 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


lings, the leaves of the English oak have a small lappet at the 
base, which is not generally found on the foliage of the sessile 
oak ; young leaves of the latter have a downy covering of 
hair on the lower surface, and older leaves at least show 
traces of this in the angles of the veins, whilst leaves of the 
former are usually quite smooth. — It is, however, from the 
differences between the flowers and fruits that the distinctive 
botanical names have been chosen ; the female flowers and 
the acorn are sessile in the sessile oak, but are separated 
from each other on short stalks or peduncles in the pedun- 
culate oak. Even during the leafless period in winter, the 
varieties are in general easily distinguishable, the latter having 
a more branching growth and a more rugged and deeply 
fissured bark than the former, whilst its leaf-buds are also 
shorter, thicker, and less pointed. 


ts | i Buds in | 
Quercus. | Leaf stalk. | Base of leaf. | Acorns. pair 


Pedunculata Short. | Broad, heart-shaped,| Laterally ar- | Paraboloidly 
| with crinkled lappet) ranged along conical. 
| on each side. a stalk. 


Sessiliflora.. | 4—1" long. | Forming a wedge-/ Sessile, often Pointedly 
| shaped junction} racemose. conical. 
| with the petiole. 


Distribution.—The English oak is found over the greatest 
portion of Europe, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus, its 
northern limit being about 58° in Scotland, 60—63° in 
Scandinavia, 573° in Russia, thence eastwards to the Ural ; 
its southern limit through Spain, Sicily, and Greece is not 
fixed. Its maximum development takes place in the south- 
ern portion of central Europe (in the area drained by the 
lower Danube it is the chief tree over extensive tracts of 
woodland), and everywhere it is indigenous rather on the 


| 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 187 


plains and uplands than on the higher hills. In the 
Bavarian Alps it ascends to 2,500 feet eastwards of the 
river Inn, and to 3,050 feet to the west of it : in the central 
district of the Tyrolese Alps it attains an elevation of 
3,300 feet. 

The region in which the sessile oak is indigenous corre- 
sponds in general with the habitat of the English oak, but 
does not extend so far to the north or east, although the 
former is able to ascend hills and mountain slopes to a 
greater height than the latter, viz. 320 feet higher in the 
Harz, 1,080 feet higher in Baden, and 1,500 feet higher 
in the southern Alps. 

In England the pedunclate oak is far more common than 
the sessile, but in Scotland the latter species increases in 
number. 

Tree-form and Root-system.—No forest tree outrivals the 
oak, especially the English oak, in its tendency to branch 
formation when growing in isolated positions ; but in close 
forest, its energy being concentrated on growth in height, 
it develops a good, fairly straight and cylindrical, clean bole. 
The weaker tendency to branch development in the sessile 
oak exhibits itself in the generally straighter growth of this 
tree in close canopy. Sufficient growing-space for the 
development of a moderately-sized healthy crown is 
essential for all oaks that are to be held over for the pro- 
duction of the larger-girthed and better paid assortments of 
timber. Otherwise, on trees being cut free from side competi- 
tion for light and air in order to obtain large increase of 
growth in girth and cubic contents, the bole is apt to become 
covered with shoots (particularly in the case of the sessile 
oak), on the adventitious buds being called into activity by 
the increased supply of sunlight and warmth made available, 
whilst the upper part of the crown often dies off and the 
trees become ‘ s/ag-headed’ or dry there. 


188 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


The oak is a deep-rooting species of tree—no growth of the 
forest is more so. It develops a large tap-root, and strong, 
heart-shaped side roots, which often force their way down to a 
great depth in deep, easily penetrable soil. With advancing 
age, after the main growth in height has been completed, 
the tap-root becomes more or less inactive, and the side- 
roots near the surface gradually assume a greater share in 
the task of nourishing and supporting the tree. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—Willkomm 
estimates that the oak can thrive wherever the mean tem- 
perature from May till October is not less than 543° Fahr. ; 
but in any case it, and especially the English oak, makes 
greater demands on warmth than the majority of other 
trees. The sessile oak is content with about the same degree 
of warmth as the beech. 

The oak seems to tolerate both a humid atmosphere and a 
dry one, but this capacity is naturally regulated by the condi- 
tions ofany particular situation as to soil-moistureand warmth ; 
in general warm, sunny, southern exposures show the best 
growth when the soil is fresh and deep, conditions found more 
frequently on south-eastern than on south-western or western 
aspects. At the higher elevation even the sessile oak pre- 
fers the warmer southern exposures to the damp, cold, raw 
northern aspects. . 

The principal demands that are made on soil by the oak 
are depth, a low enough degree of tenacity to allow of the 
root-system ramifying easily, and a sufficiency of moisture 
permeating both soil and subsoil. The English oak can stand 
more moisture in the soil than the sessile oak, and can even 
thrive with an excess of it in warm localities, when its 
growing-space is ample, and its crown well developed, these 
being the circumstances favourable to rapid evaporation 
and transpiration through the foliage. In its demands with 
regard to mineral strength, the oak occupies a position very 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 189 


similar to the beech, with which it is most frequently 
associated in growth. ‘The sessile oak is the variety chiefly 
found on the sands and poorer loams of the plains, on the 
sandy formations of the uplands and hills, and on the soils 
formed by the older stratified rocks (porphyries and granites), 
whereas the English oak is the predominating variety on limy 
soils, on clays and loams formed from basalt, on rich humose 
alluvial deposits of sandy loam and loamy sand, and on 
fertile marshy soil. The geognostic origin of the soil, 
however, is of far less moment than its general quality, 
especially with respect to freshness, although loamy soils 
generally produce better and more durable timber than 
sandy soils. The oak is said to take up more lime and 
phosphorus from the soil than any other species of forest tree. 

When the oak is treated as coppice, its root-system is 
superficial, and its requirements in regard to depth and 
moisture are less than when timber production is the object 
in view; fresh loamy sands, and fresh sandy clays, with 
warm, sunny, southern exposure are therefore the most 
favourable soils and situations for the growth of oak 
coppice. 

Requirements as to Light depend to a great extent on the 
general quality of the soil, especially on its freshness, but 
in any case the oak must be classed as requiring a large 
amount of light for its proper growth and development. 
Its demands are greatest on light sandy soil, least on deep, 
fresh, loamy soils in cool dingles, coombs and valleys. 
Throughout the pole-forest stage of growth, and even before 
entering that, it is, in not very favourable localities, 
impatient of shade from the side as well as from above; 
later on it cannot thrive in close canopy unless some such 
advantage be secured to it by tending, as may permit of the 
free lateral enjoyment of light by a moderately developed 
crown never apt to be very densely foliaged. In general 


190 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the English oak appears to make somewhat greater demands 
with respect to light than the sessile oak. 

In copse, or in coppice-woods, the oak is absolutely 
intolerant of any shade which interferes with the free and 
undisputed enjoyment of the light and warmth necessary 
to stimulate the growth of the stool-shoots. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
When once the oak has entered the seed-bearing stage, 
which in woodlands it attains about the sixtieth to seventieth 
year, a partial seeding takes place every two or three years ; 
but really good seed-years occur only once every six to nine 
years. The probability of a seed-year can be foretold in 
the preceding autumn and winter by the thickening of the 
flower-buds, which are formed most plentifully after hot 
summers. About 150 acorns run to a pound, and good 
seed should during experimental tests show a germinative 
power of about 65 to 70 per cent. 

No attempt to grow historical trees, or to rear giants for 
the esthetic edification of future generations, would in 
general be rational in sylviculture, although at the same 
time it would be churlish to cut down for sale the large and 
very often over-mature trees growing here and there at the 
edge of forests, or near cross-roads, and perhaps known far 
and wide locally as old trees for the last two or three 
generations ; but the oak can easily attain an age of over 
200 years as a forest tree, before beginning to show signs of 
over-maturity or senile decay. When grown in pure forest, 
it is usually thinned out strongly about the seventieth to 
eightieth year, and then planted up with underwood of 
shade-bearing species (beech), the standards being left till 
removed along with the underwood seventy to eighty years 
later. Grown in beech woods having a rotation of ninety to 
a hundred and twenty years, good oaks are often left over till 
the second fall, when they are removed first to allow of the 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 191 


natural reproduction of the principal species; by these 
means the finest old oak timber of two hundred to two 
hundred and forty years of age can often be produced. 

The reproductive capacity of the oak can be readily 
judged of by its ability to develop dormant buds along the 
stem on being suddenly isolated after growing long in close 
canopy, or on being coppiced, or pollarded. The power 
of shooting from the stool is greatest when the bank is thin 
and smooth ; it diminishes sooner on sandy soils, or those 
liable to inundation, than on powerful soils, even when the 
latter may be somewhat wanting in depth. Recent experi- 
ments at Nancy have shown that the power of throwing out 
shoots from the stool is retained up till the sixtieth, and 
even till the eighty-fifth year of age. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—Thanks to 
its strong root-system, the oak suffers little from the violence 
of storms. Of physical dangers that from frost is greatest, 
but the oak is less exposed in this respect than the beech, 
as it does not break into foliage until about a fortnight later, 
and has also a stronger recuperative power ; situations known 
to be subject to frost are, however, hardly the most suit- 
able localities for the growth of oak. 

Selby, evidently borrowing from Loudon, mentions in 
regard to the oak :— 


‘*The extraordinary number of insects that are wholly or partially 
supported by it, amounting it is supposed, to nearly 2,000 species, 
1,500 of which may be considered to be phytophagous, or actual feeders 
upon some portion of the tree, the remainder as parasites attached to 
these, and belonging to the ichneumonidz, and other parasitic tribes.” 


Leunis,! with more circumstantial detail, gives the number 
ot animals and plants living on the oak as “‘ 500 insects, 36 
fungi, 16 hanging mosses, 7 leaf-mosses, and 3 liverworts 


1 Leunis, Synopsis der Phanzenkunde, 1877, p. 1017. 


192 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


—also by no means a small total. Whatever may be the 
accurate number of phytophagous insects, the vast majority of 
them are fortunately not noticeably injurious from a sylvi- 
cultural point of view, though at the same time the oak has 
a good many enemies in the insect world. Species of AZe/o- 
lontha damage the roots as grubs, and the buds and leaves 
as complete insects ; trees are sometimes almost completely 
defoliated over considerable tracts by the caterpillars of 
Cnethocampa processionea, as also to a less extent by those of 
Gastropacha neustria, Porthesia chrysorrhea, Liparis dispar, 
Chematobia brumata, and Tortrix viridana; young stems are 
attacked by larvee of Scolytus intricatus, Coraebus bifasciatus, 
and species of Agri/us, and older stems by those of Xv/eborus 
monographus, dryographus, and dispar. Flowers and buds are 
often destroyed to a very great extent by the caterpillars of 
Chematobia brumata, Gastropacha neustria, and Tortrix 
viridana. The timber is also liable to attacks from 
Lymexylon navale, the eggs being deposited on unsound boles 
or barked logs (never, according to Hess,! on sound growing 
stems), and the larvee boring inwards thus “L and damaging 
the wood for technical purposes ; this insect is the scourge 
of dock-yards. Galls on various parts are occasioned by the 
females of Cynzpide depositing their eggs ; the large galls, 


or wood-apples, often so prominent on the lower sides © 


of leaves, being the nursery beds of the larve of Cynzps 
quercus foltt. ; 

On cold situations with wet subsoil, the lower portion of 
the bole is often subject to a disease that renders it useless 
as timber ; observation and examination have not yet quite 
determined whether this unhealthy condition is primarily 
due to the action of frost or of a fungus, but in any case the 
fungus found in the diseased ‘wood is JVectria ditissima. 
The roots of one to three-year-old seedlings in nurseries are 

1 Hess, Der Forstschutz, vol. ii. 1890, p. 11. 


bait 
’ i. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 193 


killed by Rosellinia qguercina. Red-rot in the timber is due . 
to Polyporus sulphureus, Thelephora perdix, and Stereum 
hirsutum, white-rot to Polyporus dryadeus and igniarius, and 
Hydnum diversidens, the diseases often gaining foothold 
where branches have been broken off, or where trees have 
been trimmed with the saw without the sawn surfaces being 
tarred. A better-known parasite is the mistletoe (Viscum 
album), though it is of rather rare occurrence on the 
branches, and does not practically do any damage to the 
timber of the bole. 

The oak suffers less than any other forest tree from the . 
effects of accumulations of snow and ice on the branches, 
and, owing to its rugged bark, does not get scorched or sun- 
burnt. Rank growth of grass on the soil is only prejudicial 
to its growth at the youngest stages in so far as it increases 
the danger from frost. Owing to the rapid development of a 
tap-root, long-sustained drought also occasions it little damage. 
The astringent properties of the young shoots and foliage 
protect them from being browsed on by cattle to any very 
great extent. Serious damage may, however, be done in 
plantations of fifteen to twenty years of age by deer stripping 
the bark in spring and summer where strong herds of red- 
deer are maintained. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Oak.—As a light-loving species 
soon becoming interrupted in canopy and having, moreover, 
foliage which does not yield good humus on decomposition, 
oak is not under ordinary average circumstances naturally 
suited for growth in pure high timber forest. It is not well 
endowed witha capacity for retaining and conserving the 
quality of the soil, which sometimes deteriorates so much 
with long periods of rotation that, unless improved by under- 
planting, it would hardly be possible to produce future crops 
of oak until after some soil-improving species had first been 
grown in order to recuperate the productive capacity of the 

0 


194. BRITISH FOREST TREES 


exhausted soil. Even on the best classes of soil, therefore, 
when pure forests of oak have been formed, they are usually 
thinned out when the chief growth in length is completed, 
and after being underplanted with beech, hornbeam, silver fir, 
or spruce, are then allowed to develop till the latter grows up 
to maturity. Except on such exceptionally favourable soils, 
the oak is usually grown in high timber forests along with 
the beech, the relative proportion in the admixture of the 
species being mainly dependent on the quality of the soil- 
In moister, low-lying tracts it is also grown in admixture with 
the alder, and in localities subject to frost along with aspen 
and birch, which however require to be removed as soon as 
they have performed their duty as nurses, and before they 
begin to interfere with the normal development of the oak, 
No tree is so well adapted to assist the development and to 
supply the deficiencies of the oak as the beech, which can 
thrive fairly well under the light shade of the former ; but at 
every stage of growth care must be taken to provide the oak 
with some advantage as regards growth in height, as it is 
otherwise apt to be weak in branch development, and con- 
sequently in growth in girth, when it is hemmed in by beech 
of equal, or nearly equal, height. » 

The oak, particularly the pedunculate oak, is eminently 
suited for standards in copse, z.e. over coppice, but care must 
be taken to train up the different classes of standards only 
from among seedling growth, and not from stool-shoots. As 
this method tends to induce excessive branch-development, 
and as the removal of branches on a large scale is costly, 
and also affects the quality of the timber for technical 
purposes, besides offering unnecessary opportunities for the 
entrance of fungus spores into the wounds, the same object 
can be better and more effectively attained by the formation 
of pure forests of oak, and then underplanting them after 
thinning out at about seventy years of age ; longer straighter 


ies well Soom Aa) 
vi ‘ 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 195 


and more full-wooded boles are then produced, even although 
the girth is large in the lower half. Where there isa demand 
for crooks and strong knees of oak, such as were especially 
required in former days for shipbuilding, and are even now 
in good request for sailing craft, these assortments of timber 
are best producible by oak standards in copse. 

Should there be a good market for tanning-bark, oak 
coppice may often give very excellent returns, especially on 
somewhat shallow, but otherwise fertile, soils with warm 
sunny, southern and south-western exposures ; when treated 
in hags with a rotation of fourteen to sixteen years, it 
yields the smooth-barked variety of tanning material most 
prized for the preparation of leather for bootmakers. 
Coppice-woods for the production of tanning-bark should be 
formed pure on good soil, as the stool-shoots from the oak 
are vigorous, and amply suffice to protect the soil against 
insolation even when worked with a low rotation. Although 
the harvesting can only be begun whilst the sap is in flow, care 
must also be taken to complete it as soon as possible, in order 
that the shoots reproduced from the stools may be able to 
harden properly before the early frosts set in in autumn. 
The best time for cutting is in May, when the young flush 
of foliage is taking place. The comparatively very early 
returns, their high monetary value, the relatively small capital 
represented by the soils plus the growing-stock on the four- 
teenth to sixteenth annual falls, and the general security and 

1 simplicity of this form of treatment, all speak in favour of 
! oak coppice on good upland soil, wherever the demand for the 
bark exists or can be created. There is not the slightest 
doubt that there are many thousands of acres of land now 
lying idle along railway cuttings and embankments, which 
are perfectly well adapted for oak coppice, and would yield 
highly remunerative returns under proper treatment. 
The oak thus finds its place in all methods of sylvicultural 
O02 


196 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


treatment,—high forest, copse, and coppice. As the most 
valuable of our trees, it is favoured under the most varying 
circumstances, and forms, outside of the true woodlands, 
along with the elm the most characteristic feature in English 
and lowland Scottish landscape. As High Forest it is to be 
found forming pure or nearly pure forests on the deeper, 
richer soils still preserved under woodland, and also in 
mixed woods on undulating ground and upland and hilly 
tracts, sometimes forming the major species, at others 
scattered merely in groups, or patches, or only individually 
throughout other species; principally associated with the 
beech, it is also to be found along with alder and birch 
on the moister, low-lying tracts with good soil. In high 
forest of beech it is the principal standard retained to develop 
throughout another period of rotation into timber of large 
dimensions, and of highly remunerative quality. Throughout 
the earlier periods of forestry its pannage and acorn harvest 
had a value often far exceeding that of the timber produced. 
As Standards in Copse it yields good returns, whilst still per- 
mitting the growth of the underwood under its light foliage, 
and on upland grazing grounds it brings in a very good 
monetary return, besides often affording grateful shade and 
shelter to the cattle, without damaging the grass when 
planted far apart. Its reproductive power from the stool, 
and the superior properties of its bark for tanning purposes, 
make it in its proper place one of the most remunerative 
forms of sylvicultural crops when treated as Coppice ; it is 
willingly seen, too, among the coppice under standards, but 
under the shade of the latter it seldom develops so satisfac- 
torily as with a freer enjoyment of light and warmth, 
and is more apt to be outgrown and suppressed by shade- 
bearing species. 

By no other species of tree does the fall vary so much as 
in the case of the oak; between the harvesting of coppice 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 197 


every fourteen to sixteen years for the sake of the smooth 
bark, and the clearance of two hundred to two hundred and 
forty-year-old trees, that have grown through two complete 
periods of rotation of mature beech, there lie wider differ- 
ences than can be shown in the treatment of any other 
species of forest tree. Throughout all periods of existence 
it deserves and receives as much attention in the way of 
tending as can conveniently be bestowed upon it, although 
the retention of timber beyond the hundred to hundred and 
twentieth year should only be strictly confined to such 
trees as promise good future development. A little timely 
assistance is often all that is required to ensure normal 
development. As Evelyn noticed and pointed out more 
than two hundred years ago, wherever there were mixed 
woods of oak and beech the latter slowly but surely ousted 
the former from its foothold in the forest; wherever mixed 
forests are now to be found or formed it is the’duty of the 
forester to see that such shall not be the case, and to arrange 
that at least the major part of the normally developed 
crown shall at all times be enabled to have a comparatively 
unrestricted enjoyment of light and air in order to provide 
for more plentiful and thorough assimilation, and a conse- 
quent richer production of timber. 

The better classes of soil, where oak might be grown in 
pure forest to maturity, have for the most part long since 
been cleared for agriculture, and to attempt to grow oaks 
on merely average or inferior soils, without subsequent 
underplanting after they have entered the tree-forest stage of 
growth, leads too frequently to indifferent development, and 
partial deterioration in the quality of the soil, as evinced 
by growth of whortleberries and similar weeds ; this leads later 
on to greater interruption of the canopy and increased 
liability to deterioration of the soil, when even the future 
production of forests of broad-leaved species may be at 


198 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


stake, and the formation of coniferous woods, for one rotation 
at least, may become a necessity. 

In its requirements as to light, hints may be looked for with 
regard tothe measures requisite for the tending of oak, either in 
pure or in mixed forests. Freedom from side-shade, and a fair 
amount of growing space, are necessary for its normal develop- 
ment, although, until after growth in height has culminated, 
these should never be permitted in such abundant measure 
as to allow of rapid expansion in girth at the expense of growth 
in height. It is particularly in the clearing out of softwoods 
and of other species interfering with its development, and in 
the weeding out of indifferent individuals of its own species 
where they stand too thick, that assistance needs to be 
given to oak during the thicket stage of growth. When beech 
is grown along with oak on soil favourable to the development 
of the former, it has sometimes to be topped in order to 
free the latter from the pressure of its immediate neighbours. 

Throughout all the later stages of growth tending is 
mainly confined to thinning out, and there is no other 
species of forest tree, except perhaps the larch, in regard to 
which well-regulated thinnings are so necessary ; when they 
are begun too late, or not continued regularly, or not 
carried out to a sufficient extent, the effects are almost im- 


mediately noticeable in more or less imperfect development, _ 


exhibited in poverty of crown, weakness of stem, and often 
in a flush of shoots from adventitious buds along the bole. 
Only such individuals are suited for retention to the full 
period of maturity as have normal development both of 
stem and crown. Without actually much interrupting the 
canopy, the thinning out of oak forests or groups should be 
begun early and repeated often, throughout the whole period 
of tree-forest, except when the necessity of further thinnings 
has been obviated by partial clearance and underplanting 
about the seventieth to eightieth year. Cramped or confined 


¥ 
_. — nl ee a 


a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 199 


growing-space, uncertainty about the development of the pre- 
dominating stems, and long-continued individual struggle 
for the supremacy, all militate so much against the ultimate 
returns derivable from the mature crop that, in the case of 
oak, thinnings must be carried further than with the beech, 
and should include all individuals that can be spared from the 
canopy, as, even where petty interruptions are thus made, 
the blanks soon close up again. Thin early and oftenis the 
golden rule in the tending of the oak, and in the frequent 
removal of indifferent individuals lies the best means of 
permanently retaining a good canopy; by this means the 
best mature crop is not alone assured, but also the advantages 
of early and sometimes good returns in the meantime. 
Pure forests of oak are more usually the outcome of grow- 
ing or planting than of natural reproduction, and they exhibit 
differences of growth, especially in the more advanced stages 
of development, varying with the qualities of soil over which 
they are found. Where not hindered by strong growth of 
grass, the young plants rapidly shoot ahead of the dangers 
most common to the youngest period of development, but from 
then till about the eighth to tenth year they tend moretowards 
lateral than to upward growth. Shortly after forming close 
canopy, however, the young thicket begins to clear itself from 
branches, to confine the foliage to the upper portion, and to 
enter upon the struggle for individual existence shown in 
vigorous growth in height. On deep, fresh soil in mild locali- 
ties this culminates about the thirtieth to fortieth year of 
age, but on less favourable soils and situations not till ten 
to fifteen years later if the density of canopy has been main- 
tained, which is not always the case as, except on fresh 
fertile soils, there is often a tendency towards interruption 
of canopy throughout the earlier part of the pole-forest 
stage of growth, in consequence of insufficient light and 
growing-space. With the efforts of the survivors to extend 


200 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


their crowns, a considerable degree of sunlight is allowed to 
play over the soil, and the fall of leaves is both too light, and 
of too poor a humus-producing quality to conserve the pro- 
ductive capacity of the soil, which, losing both its moisture 
and its fertility, can no longer give generous supplies of 
nutriment to the timber crop. Under favourable circum- 
stances a self-sown growth of hornbeam, hazel, and other 
minor trees and shrubs finds its way into the woods and forms 
undergrowth protecting the soil against insolation; but 
too often the oaks are apt to become stag-headed and sickly, 
and to show a growth of mosses or lichens on their boles, in 
place of exhibiting aclean healthy bark. On soils of merely 
average quality, therefore, experience has shown it to be 
advisable to make a partial clearance of the oak at about 
seventy to ninety years of age, by which all individuals not 
likely ultimately to yield really good timber are removed, and 
to underplant the remaining selected trees with some soil- 
improving species, generally the beech, but also hornbeam, 
silver fir, or spruce, according to the nature of the soil. 

As all species of trees protect the soil during the early stages 
of growth, whilst they form close canopy, there is not as a rule 
any danger of deterioration when pure forests of oak coppice 
are formed on soils of average quality, and in many parts of 
Germany this form of sylvicultural treatment has taken place - 
uninterruptedly for centuries on favourable situations. For 
oak coppice, the most favourable localities are those with 
long periods of annual active vegetation, with warm, sunny 
exposures, and moderately deep, loamy soils ; even where a 
fertile soil seems shallow on the hill-sides, it is still sufficient 
if the subsoil is fissured so as to admit of the penetration of 
the root-strands in search of soil-moisture. Marshy situa- 
tions, or sandy soils poor in loam and deficient in humus; 
are not localities suitable for this kind of sylvicultural crop. 
When the area is sufficiently stocked with stools, and the fall 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 201 


of the last crop has been made close to the ground, the growth 
of the shoots is usually sovigorous that closecanopy is attained 
in three to four years, and growth in height is continued 
thereafter with energy, culminating in the tenth to twelfth 
year, when the shoots attain the size of small poles. At that 
age there has of course been a considerable diminution in the 
number of shoots originally sent out from the stools. The 
better the situation, the more rapid and the more vigorous is 
the development of the predominating class of shoots, pro- 
ducing not only a larger quantity of bark, but also bark that 
is thicker and finer in quality. Pure oak coppice on the more 
favourable sites yields about 35 cwt. of bark as well as 
about 850 to goo cubic feet of wood per acre, when worked 
with a rotation of sixteen years. __ 

Mixed Forests with Oak as the ruling Species are only to 
be found to a limited extent on deep fresh soils of the better 
class, as far as other light-loving species like elm, ash, maple, 
and sycamore are concerned. In low-lying tracts with deep 
moist soil, where insolation would not necessarily lead to 
excessive diminution of the soil-moisture, and where also all 
these light-loving species are more densely foliaged, and at 
the same time more capable of bearing shade from above or 
from the side, forests are often formed with oak as the 
matrix, and these other valuable woods of our forests as the 
subordinate species, introduced however as individuals only, 
and not in groups or patches. As the oak is the principal 
species to be favoured at all times, these subordinates are 
removed in the course of thinnings whenever, and wherever, 
they make themselves troublesome or self-assertive ; but in 
any case they are cut out when about thirty to forty years of 
age, by which time they may have attained good marketable 
proportions, whilst the oak also needs somewhat enlarged 
growing-space for its further normal development ; occa- 
sionally, however, good stems are retained longer for the 


202 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


production of finer assortments of timber for cabinetmaking. 
When felled, such subordinate species are often able to 
coppice and grow up into underwood under the shade of 
the standard oak trees. 

On still moister classes of oak soil, alders, willows, and 
birch are often planted to stimulate the ruling species to 
rapid growth in height ; but they have all to be cut out 
early, else they are apt to suppress the principal species, 
though the alder is able to reproduce itself as coppice twice, 
before it is finally suppressed, and often yields fair returns 
from its rapid growth. 

The beech, however, is by far the most important sub- 
ordinate species grown along with the oak on soils which 
are somewhat better than those on which the oak must be 
subordinated to beech as the ruling species, but which at 
the same time are not quite good enough to be planted up 
with pure oak at first, and then partially cleared after com- 
pletion of their chief growth in height, and underplanted 
with beech. The admixture of the latter depends on the 
extent to which the soil requires its protection against loss 
of soil-moisture, involving subsequent deterioration. When 
sufficient advantage in growth has been secured to the oak 
over the beech, little tending is requisite beyond what may 
be ordinarily given in the way of thinning throughout the 
period during which the beech attains its maturity. About 
the eightieth to hundredth year, after the main growth in height 
has been attained, the beech is naturally reproduced under the 
oak standards, with more or less artificial assistance wher- 
ever necessary, and the whole grows up till the young crop 
of beech also attains maturity, when the oaks are 180 to 200- 
year-old stems, of fine dimensions and high technical and 
market value. The oak standards should, at the time of 
the clearance of the first crop of beech, be distributed as 
equally as possible over the area, so that each individual 


gs 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 203 


stem can have the fullest enjoyment of light and air ; thirty 
or forty standards per acre will again form almost close 
canopy by the time the second crop of beech attains 
maturity, so that a larger number of oaks per acre would 
bring no benefit so far as the oak crop is concerned, and 
would only militate against the development of the beech 
underwood. 

The principal ruling species with which oak is usually 
associated as a subordinate, occurring either in groups, or 
patches, or rows, or merely as individuals scattered here and 
there, is undoubtedly the beech, which has most in common 
with its natural habit of growth. No other species of forest 
tree supplies so well as it the soil-protecting qualities in 
which the oak is deficient, and none is at the same time 
able to thrive so well under the side-shade thrown by the 
usually older and quicker-growing oaks. The less the pro- 
portion in which the latter is admixed, the greater must be 
the attention paid and the assistance given to it during all 
the operations of thinning out, for where it is scattered 
singly, it is not sufficient that it should be merely domi- 
nating along with the beech, it must be unquestionably pre- 
dominant over its neighbours, otherwise it has a weakly 
expansion of crown not suitable for its retention to the full 
term of maturity; an insufficiency of coronal development ° 
is more likely to lead to stag-headedness than to expansion 
of the crown when such trees are freely and fully exposed 
to light, air, and sunshine on the beech being harvested. 
Its treatment as a subordinate of the beech has, however, 
already above been dealt with in detail (see pp. 170 to 174). 

Oak is less frequently to be found growing along with 
spruce, except in places where the latter has had to be intro- 
duced to fill up blanks in the natural reproduction of beech 
forests, or where the soil has deteriorated so far that the 
cultivation of a crop of spruce instead of beech seems pre- 


204 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


ferable under the shade of the standards that are retained to 
develop into full maturity. But, for the formation of mixed 
forests of about the same age, the oak is out of place along 


with the spruce, as the latter is, during the thicket and pole- 


forest stages of development, of so much more rapid growth 
in height that it shoots ahead of the oak, and is very apt to 
suppress it even when introduced in patches or small groups ; 
where the groups are larger, the drawbacks of pure forest of 
oak are noticeable on a small scale. Where, however, it is 
desired to introduce the oak into woods of spruce, it is best 
to plant it in small groups surrounded with a girdle of beech, 
silver fir, or larch, to protect it to a greater or less extent 
against the more aggressive suppressing power of the ruling 
species. In spruce tracts generally, the cultivation of mixed 
forests of purely coniferous species will as a rule be found 
much more remunerative than any attempt to grow the oak 
as a subordinate tree. 

In forests of Scots pine, the oak has also no right to 
expect a favourable welcome and a home, for on the poorer 
classes of soil it would not thrive, and on the better classes 
the principal species would be of so much quicker growth 
that the oak could not compete with it at all, besides 
which its admixture to any extent, under either of these 


circumstances, would only entail forfeiture of some portion — 


of the full remunerative returns that might otherwise be 
fairly expected from the soil. Where old oaks are still 
at the present day to be found growing in admixture with 
Scots pine, they are in all probability only the last survivors 
of deciduous broad-leaved forests on areas where the present 
ruling species had to be resorted to in order to recuperate the 
exhausted vigour and productiveness of the deteriorated soil. 

The Formation and Reproduction of Oak Forests are usually 
carried out artificially by sowing or planting in the open, 
although natural reproduction under parent standards is 


—— a 


~rs we; 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 205 


occasionally adopted where the danger from rank growth 
of grass is not to be feared. As the light-loving oak requires 
no early shade, and is not apt to suffer from frost and 
weeds, standards are by no means essential to its well being ; 
but when parent trees of full maturity show a good acorn 
or mast year, natural reproduction is often ‘most satisfactory, 
as well as being the cheapest method of regeneratioh. 

The formation of oak coppices frequently takes place 
by planting three-year-old transplants, the leading-shoot 
being removed close to the ground as soon as ever the roots 
have established themselves. A preference is in many places, 
however, given to the use of four-year-old transplants, the 
leading shoots being removed close to the roots, and only 
these latter planted out. The reproduction of the coppice 
woods is accomplished naturally by the growth of stool 
shoots, which spring more plentifully, and form roots for 
themselves more easily, when the cut is made smooth and 
close to the ground, so that hardly even a short neck is 
visible ; where stools die off here and there, fresh ones are 
planted in their stead. 

For the production of standards in copse, and for the 
maintenance of a due supply of good stems of the various 
age-classes grown from seed, and therefore better likely to 
thrive to a ripe old age than stool-shoots, it is usual to 
plant up small groups here and there with large transplants, 
and to protect them as far as possible against being inter- 
fered with too much by the surrounding coppice-shoots 
and softwoods of quicker growth. 

Artificial formation and reproduction of oak takes place 
both by sowing and planting, the preference being determined 
to a great extent by local circumstances ; as a rule these 
more frequently demand the adoption of the latter method, 
sometimes, too, with strong transplants, and at considerable 
outlay, Where one has free choice in the matter, sowing 


206 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


generally comes cheaper than planting, even if small plants 

be used, so that in a good acorn year sowing is preferable 
on soil that does not require any extensive or costly 
preparation for the reception of the seed. Thickets of 
seedlings often have advantages over those formed by plant- 
ing, as the development of the. predominating classes takes 
place Sooner, and makes the earlier clearings and thinnings 
easier to carry out, whilst the returns yielded in such cases_ 
are obtained earlier, are more remunerative, and recur more 
frequently. On the light or prepared soils where sowing is 
preferable, the fact of the tap-root not being interfered with 

in any way, enables the seedlings to develop more normally 
and regularly than when more or less injury is done to it 
in the operation of transplanting. Wherever acorns are not 

plentiful, or where it is advisable to give the oak some 

advantage in growth over its neighbours, planting deserves 

the preference, the choice of the size of the transplants 
varying greatly according to the circumstances of each case. 

Natural Reproduction by Seed can be accomplished in 

mature pure forests of oak, or where it is the ruling species 

in mixed forests, as in many parts of northern Germany, 

France, and Austria, simply by the removal of the sub- 

ordinate species, or by a seed-felling made during the 

mast-year and confined to the small-girthed oaks, so that 

~ on the average the number of trees will be about fifty to 

sixty per acre. But as old oak forests, and mixed forests 

with oak as principal species, have usually only a patchy 

growth of mature trees to show, the disposition of the parent 

standards over the area is seldom so regular as in the case of 
the beech. The probability of a seed-year can be foretold, 

although not so plainly as in the case of the beech, by 

the larger, swollen appearance of the future flowering buds 

during autumn and winter, signs chiefly to be met with after 

warm summers favouring the formation of starchy reserves, 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 207 


Wherever the soil is suitable for the reception of the 
acorns, a good flush of seedling growth follows the mast- 
year, but, in order to take full advantage of it, herds of 
swine should, if convenient, be driven into the woods for 
pannage, as, though they feed on the acorns, they do much 
more good than harm by treading the seed into the 
ground, and by disturbing the soil-covering both with their 
feet and with their snouts. Where such simple means are 
not at hand, some artificial assistance must be given by 
dibbling or treading in the seed, or by hoeing the ground, 
as unless the acorns have a covering of earth about one to 
one and a half inches deep, they are apt to lose their germin- 
ative power through the frosts of the ensuing winter. 

Even in mixed forests of beech and oak, a good acorn 
year is generally followed by a fair growth of seedlings of 
the latter species, which only require light and air, through 
clearance of the standard trees, to enable them to develop 
normally into groups of oak. But whenever, under the light 
shade of aged oak trees, the soil has any strong tendency to 
growth of grass, natural reproduction is less likely to yield 
satisfactory results than planting, and in general it may be 
said that regeneration under parent standards offers its best 
results on soils of only average or inferior quality ; more or 
less of artificial aid is, however, usually requisite under 
nearly all ordinary circumstances. 

In order to utilise a good seed-year to its fullest, the area, 
over which the seed-felling extends, should comprise the 
fall of several successive years ; but. care must be taken not to 
include more annual falls than can be totally cleared during 
the period of regeneration, as the seedling growth demands 
the speedy removal of the parent standards. It is better to 
await the advent of the next good seed-year for a portion of 
the area, than to comprise too many annual falls in any one 
seed-felling. Wherever convenient, the largest standards, 


>. i 


208 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


whose felling and dressing would be most likely to do 
some injury to the seedling growth, should be removed 
at once after the fall of the mast, and during the subsequent 
clearances of the mature crop it is well to remove the 
largest stems first. 

When oak forests are being reproduced naturally, the 
admixture of beech on drier situations, and of ash, elm, 
maple, sycamore, or, where advisable for soil-protection, 
hornbeam on those that are moister, can easily be accom= 
plished by sowing seed. If these species are only introduced 
by means of planting when once the oak is in active growth, 
they run great risk of being suppressed. 

Sowing.—Like the Scots pine, oak well repays any soil 
preparation which may permit of the easy development of its 
large tap-root ; wherever, therefore, it can be carried out with- 
out too great outlay, this should take place by ploughing, 
or by trenching or bastard-trenching in strips or patches on 


the drier varieties of soil, and by the formation of ridges or’ 


of small mounds on those that are moister. An excess of 
moisture is not good for seedling growth of oak on any 
class of soil, but in carrying out drainage works in wood- 
lands it is not easy to regulate the extent to which the 
process should be confined, and on deep, light sandy soils 
the thriving of oak or pine is intimately connected with the 
supply of moisture available for their deep root-systems. 
The simplest method of sowing is broadcast over the 
whole area, but this requires large quantities of seed, some- 
times as much as ten to twelve bushels or more per acre 
when no special preparation of the soil has taken place, so 
that it is only applicable in years when the acorns have been 
plentiful. Even for broadcast sowing on trenched strips 
or bands only, from five to eight bushels are found neces- 
sary, whilst for partial sowing in furrows made by the 
plough, or for dibbling-in in rows on the strips, about four 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 209 


to five bushels are needed, and for broadcast sowing on 
prepared patches, or for dibbling-in with ordinary or with 
two-pointed hoes, about three to four bushels are requisite ; 
where dibbling-in is confined to prepared patches only, two 
to three bushels per acre may suffice. 

In general, fresh acorns require a covering of earth about 
one to one and a half inches thick, the rapidity of germination 
being regulated by its thickness ; when mixed thus with earth 
the seed is much less apt to lose its germinative power than if 
simply lying under the dead foliage, or incompletely incorpo- 
rated with the soil by means of harrowing or raking. The 
lighter the soil, the thicker should be the covering of earth, 
but when the acorns are not sown till the spring following 
the mast, this should be thin in order to stimulate germin- 
ation. Except where circumstances are unfavourable, 
autumn is the best time for sowing, as being most in 
accordance with the natural process, the simplest to carry 
out, and yielding on the whole the best results. On low- 
lying tracts and moist localities where late frosts are frequent, 
a preference is, however, often given to sowing in spring, as 
the seedlings run less danger owing to their later germination. 

When coppice is formed by sowing, this is best carried 
out in lines four and a half to six feet apart, the soil being 
well trenched, and the acorns sown closely. 

Planting of oak of all sizes up to seven or eight feet 
can quite well be carried out without balls of earth around 
the roots, but with the older plants some mutilation of the 
tap-root can hardly be avoided, which may later on lead to 
hollowness of the stem in the mature tree ; at any rate there 
can be no doubt that, when the tap-root has been reduced 
to any considerable extent, the young plant does not regaina 
healthy appearance, until its underground nutritive organs 
have recovered from the injuries inflicted. On the other 
hand, planting with an undiminished tap-root is comparatively 

P 


210 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


expensive, especially on hilly or stony soil, where the 
pricking out of the seedlings with iron pegs or notching 
tools is not as feasible as on deep low-lying soils. 

One and two-year-old seedlings from self-sown woods or 
seed-beds are usually notched in thickly on the lighter 
varieties of soil, no shortening of the tap-root being then 
necessary ; but for all seedlings and transplants beyond that 
age, some trimming of both the ascending and the 
descending axes is necessary. Very good results can 
frequently be obtained by the use of two to three-year-old 
transplants in rows of 4 to 5 feet x 3 feet. When older 
transplants are desirable the distances at which they are 
put out vary from about 4 feet x 4 feet to 10 feet x Io 
feet, or the equivalent growing-spaces if in rows, as the 
initial costs rapidly increase with the size of the transplants. 
It is in fact this question of cost that at times determines in 
favour of sowing, for quicker, and on the whole more 
reliable, results are undoubtedly attained by planting than 
by sowing. 

Planting is usually carried out in spring, but somewhat 
later than in the case of the beech, as the oak is about a 
fortnight later in breaking into leaf. As, owing to the tap- 
root, transplants are seldom put out with balls of earth 
attached, care must be taken to preserve the rootlets from 
becoming dried up. The transplants are put somewhat 
deeper in the soil than they have stood in the nursery, 
especially in loose porous soils, as experience has shown 
that the soil has generally a tendency to sink in setting. 
Where pits are prepared for single plants, or patches are 
trenched for groups or knots, the earth-work should be 
carried out in autumn, so as to give it full opportunity of 
setting on the surface before the transplants are put out in 
the following spring. The use of older transplants of four 
to six or eight feet in height is generally now confined to 


> 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 211 


situations where it is necessary to give the oak a good 
advantage over the beech, and in localities where it is 
exposed to danger from cattle or deer. 

Wherever coppice woods are to be formed in localities 
prone to rank growth of grass, planting has undoubted 
advantages over sowing, and in order to stimulate to quicker 
growth of shoots, the transplants used should be at 
least three years old. As soon as the roots seem to have 
established themselves the ascending axis may be removed 
close to the ground. A preference is, however, given to the 
use of four-year-old transplants whose leading shoots are 
removed close to the roots, which are then planted out 
rather deep in the soil. Transplants thus cut back yield a 
thicker growth of shoots. 


B. Softwoods. 
1. Biren (Betula alba, L. = B. VERRUCOSA and 
B. PUBESCENS, Ehrh.) x 


Distribution.—The original Betula alba of Linneus was 
found by Ehrhart to comprise two distinct varieties, 
B. verrucosa and B. pubescens, whose indigenous zones seem 
to overlap and merge into each other, so that hard and fast 
lines of identification and distribution can hardly be 
drawn. The southern limit of the birch, within which 
B. verrucosa is chiefly found, extends from north-west Spain, 
across the Pyrenees, and along the southern slopes of the 
Alps to Croatia, Servia, and Thrace ; this is the chief variety 
occurring on dry soils throughout northern Germany and 
Britain, but on moist and wet soils it often passes from the 
warty into the soft-haired form, B. pudbescens. In the birch 
forests of the far north, which extend from Scandinavia 

P 2 


212 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


across Russia to Siberia, Blasius found that B. pubescens 
was the variety of most frequent occurrence. Gayer again 
states that B. verrucosa goes much further to the north and 
east, whilst 2. pubescens extends further towards south and 
west. 


The macroscopic differences between these two varieties of B. alba 
are :— 


~- verrucosa,—Leaves and young twigs warty; leaves without hairs ; 
lower portion of bole with coarse, blackish, deeply 
fissured bark. This is the usual variety. 
pubescens.—Leaves and twigs without warts ; young leaves, petioles, 
and shoots covered with velvet-like hairs; bark 
remaining white and smooth at lower extremity of 
the stem. 


On the mountains of southern Europe there is no zone 
of birch corresponding with its extension towards the colder, 


higher northern latitudes, but it remains rather a distinctive’ 


tree of the plains and uplands. In Scandinavia, though 
more particularly in northern Russia, it forms extensive 
forests, and attains a high degree of development. In 


northern Germany it often forms forests along with the 


aspen, the alder, and the Scots pine. 

Tree-form and Root-system.—In its northern home the 
birch develops a tall, straight, fairly cylindrical stem, with 
a well-formed, but thinly-foliaged, oval crown borne by 
comparatively few branches, though in Scotland, and 
throughout central Europe, its growth is usually neither 
straight, nor approaching the cylindrical form of bole so 
prized in timber trees. On suitable soils it has a tendency to 
extend its crown laterally, and to assume a somewhat circular 
to obovate outline of canopy, whilst in isolated positions 
a lively and vigorous branch development often gives it the 
pendulous appearance known as a “hanging or drooping 
birch.” 


EE —— 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 213 


It has a weak root-system, weaker than that of any other 
species ; the growing-space required by the roots is not 
extensive, although on loose soils they spread further than 
in tenacious or binding soils. In addition to the root- 
system being weak and inextensive, it is also shallow, 
though not quite so shallow perhaps as that of the spruce, 
for the horizontal development of the side-roots always 
takes place at some little depth below the surface of the 
soil, 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—The birch is 
more a tree of the cold, raw north, with its prolonged 
winter, than of localities with a milder, southern climate ; 
more an inhabitant of the lowlands and uplands, than of 
mountain districts ; indigenous rather on sandy and loamy 
soils, than on varieties of any very strong nature; more 
frequently to be found self-sown on light soils, than on 
heavy tenacious clays or limes. Its best development is 
attained on loamy soils. 

Both varieties can endure great cold throughout the 
winter, and a considerable degree of warmth in summer ; 
they excel, indeed, all other species of forest trees in this 
power of accommodation to both extremes of climate, 
Both, however, make considerable demands on humidity of 
the atmosphere, those of B. verrucosa being somewhat the 
greater. A large supply of soil-moisture is essential for the 
proper development of B. pubescens, whilst B. verrucosa 
requires merely freshness of soil, and is often found in 
comparatively dry situations. 

On the whole, birch is seldom found forming forests in 
Britain on the better soils and situations, and forest land 
on which it is plentiful can-not in general be regarded as 
being utilised to the greatest possible advantage. 

Requirements as to Light.—The birch stands on a level 
with the larch as the most light-loving{of all the species of 


214 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


forest trees ; it demands entire freedom of crown, even on 
the soils and situations which suit it best. It therefore 
shuns the coombs and dingles, and avoids the bends and 
hollows of hilly land, preferring the insolation of open 
plains or of warm southern and western exposures. In 
mixed forest it is to be found in companionship with other 
light-loving species, Scots pine, aspen, oak, alder, &c., 
rather than with the densely-foliaged beech, silver fir, or 
spruce, which evidently keep the soil too cool for its require- 
ments. ‘The growing-space required for the crown is con- 
siderable, as the birch brooks no interference or competi- 
tion even from the lightly foliaged crowns of its own 
species. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
The birch begins to bear seed as early as the twenty-fifth to 
thirtieth year, though not infrequently even so soon as the 
fifteenth to twentieth where the crown has free develop- 
ment, and produces it nearly every year, ripening in | 
September, or on sandy soils often in August. It has a 
very small germinative capacity, and 20 to 25 per cent. are 
reckoned a good result in experiments for testing the 
quality of the seed. There are about 800,000 to 900,000 
seeds in one pound. As might almost be expected from 
its enormous seed-production, the power of regenerating 
itself from the stool is somewhat limited and capricious, 
though varying with the nature of the soil and situation. 

Wherever it is desirable to restrict the number of self- 
sown seedlings at the time of natural reproduction of 
other species, the birch must be cut out early from mixed 
forests ; but where there is little danger of the seedlings 
interfering with the regenerated growth, as for instance in 
copse or stored coppice, the birch is well adapted for being 
held over as a standard, and allowed to develop into a 
fair-sized stem. In general its sylvicultural maturity is 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 215 


reached between the fortieth and eightieth year, according 
to circumstances, and only exceptionally is it allowed to 
attain so long an existence as a hundred years. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers cannot be 
ascribed to the birch. Against drought and frost it is 
equally insensitive ; winds, snow, and ice are alike incapable 
of doing it much damage ; from deer or cattle it has little 
to suffer, although rubbed stems have only a weak recupera- 
tive power ; in the insect world it has no enemies of real 
importance. Stems covered with the tree-louse, Zachnus 
longtrostris, attract swarms of wood-ants, Zasius fuliginosus, 
which gnaw the cambium, and undermine the _ bark. 
Many larve and weevils feed on the foliage (Azomala, 
Brachyderes, Ctmbex, Nematus, Polydrosus, Phyllobius, 
Porthesia, Rhynchites, &c.), without in general committing 
very much havoc or destruction. Somewhat more import- 
ant, however, is the damage done to timber by the grubs of 
Hylecetus dermestoides, and the caterpillars of Cossus 
ligniperda, Sesia culiciformis, and Zeusera escult. 

From fungoid disease it is also comparatively exempt, 
although red-rot is occasionally caused in the wood by 
Polyporus betulinus and sulphureus, and white-rot by 
P. levigatus at places where the stems have sustained 
injuries. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of the Birch.— However valuable 
may be the services of the birch in forming forests in the 
far north and north-east of Europe, its sylvicultural import- 
ance is somewhat limited in Britain, particularly in the 
southern portion, and its chief value is rather as a nurse 
against frost, or for stimulating to growth in height, with 
subsequent retention here and there as a subordinate species, 
than in the formation of pure forests. For with its unequi- 
vocal demand for light, its branching growth, its early 
interruption of canopy, and its light foliage, it does not 


Se 


216 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


unite the qualities necessary to improve in the slightest 
degree, or even to conserve against deterioration, the pro- 
ductive capacity of the soil. Except during the earliest 
periods of growth, when all forest trees protect the soil, the 
ground is only too apt to become overgrown with grasses 
and rank growth of weeds on moister localities, or with 
whortleberry and heather on drier situations. Where the 
birch occurs more frequently than simply scattered here 
and there, it is not usually considered a very creditable 
sign of able sylvicultural treatment. With its light seed, it 
is apt to make its appearance in large numbers wherever 
clearances are made in the vicinity of seed-bearing trees, 
and often becomes a perfect weed, the eradication of which 
not infrequently causes great trouble. Wherever it has 
been retained as a ruling species under such circumstances, 
or wherever it has been deliberately sown with the intention 
of yielding early and good returns as a quick-growing 
species, deterioration of soil has in general been the result, 
for the insufficient overshadowing of the ground, and the 
light fall of foliage render it incapable of forming much mould. 
Even on soils by no means deficient in humus, the birch is of 
itself unable, when in large groups, to protect the soil from 
deterioration for any length of time. Where such experi- 
ments have been made, although the first crop of birch 


may have been satisfactory, later crops (especially when | 


formed from stool-shoots) have only too often necessitated 
the planting up of areas with Scots pine or spruce, in order 
to revive the deteriorated productive capacity of the soil. 
To a certain extent this failure is due to relying too much 
on the natural capacity for reproduction through root-stools, 
in place of carefully selecting plants of seedling growth for 
the second and following generations, as though the develop- 
ment of the stool-shoots is lively and energetic at first, they 
do not remain faithful to this early promise, but soon fall 


1 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 217 


off in their growth in height, and spread out their slender 
branches to form a comparatively wide-reaching crown. 
The best returns are obtained when each generation of the 
birch is formed by planting, or by thinning out judiciously 
wherever patches of self-sown seedlings stand, especially on 
fresh, but not too binding loamy soil, on loamy sand, or on 
moist, sandy, or gravelly soil, or in short on soils that have a 
greater tendency towards growth of grass than of heather,— 
soils, however, that are as a rule perfectly well adapted for 
more remunerative species of trees than birch. On heavy 
tenacious soils, or on their opposite extremes, poor, dry, sandy 
situations, its growth is neither vigorous nor remunerative ; 
on moist, marshy soils it does fairly well, especially on 
the higher-lying localities, and is often gladly seen there, 
although it is not usually able to attain large dimensions. 
Its best development is attained on soils suitable also for 
the oak, where, scattered as single individuals here and there 
on_moist*patches, it soon develops into a large and profit- 
able assortment of stem. On marshy soils that are becom- 
ing too dry for the alder, it often also yields very satisfactory 
results. 

Although both as regards soil-protection and the yield of 
satisfactory financial returns, pure high forest of birch is 
not recommendable, it finds as standards in copse a réle 
much more suited to its natural requirements. In the full 
enjoyment of sun-light and air, it rapidly thickens in girth ; 
whilst, under its light shade, the hardwoods forming the 
coppice do not suffer much. For underwood it is totally un- 
suited. At each fall of the coppice, birch and other soft 
woods are apt to find their way in among the hardwoods, 
and often occasion much trouble owing to their rapid growth 
before they can be cut out, or at any rate reduced to the- 
proper scanty proportion, during the weedings and clearings. 
According to the soil, birch varies greatly in respect to 


218 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


reproductive power from the stool, and it generally happens 
that on fairly good soils, where it is not wanted, it becomes 
a noxious weed, whilst it reproduces itself sparsely where 
one might be glad to have it. Deep felling, close to the 
ground, increases its power of reproduction, as also an 
early fall before the flush of leaves comes, for otherwise 
there is apt to be considerable d/eeding and loss of sap, 
from the stool. ; 

With a tree so easily satisfied as to soil, of such spon- 
taneous growth, and so easily transplanted, there are many 
ways of utilizing the birch without encouraging its growth 
at the expense of nobler and more remunerative species. 
In high forests of beech, birch along with other softwoods 
often finds a suitable home till they are all removed éarlier 
or later in the periodical thinnings. Sometimes it may have 
for sylvicultural reasons to be cut out about the thirtieth or 
fortieth year, if not earlier ; but at others it can perfectly well 
remain till the seventieth or eightieth year, by which time it 
should yield a valuable assortment of timber for cabinet- 
making and similar technical purposes. As nurses to 
stimulate the growth in height of oak and pine, it has, how- 
ever, usually to be cleared away as soon as its services are 
completed, particularly in the former instance. In pine 
woods it is the best tree for planting along roads, or along 
the fringe of the woods to mark the compartments; and . 
several rows of birch, with the ground below them carefully 
cleared of inflammable material, are the most generally 
adopted, but unfortunately not always successful method of 
protection against fire in northern Germany, wherever a 
railway line runs through pine forests. 

Birch as a Subordinate in Mixed Forests of other Species.— 
Of the species forming pure forests, and naturally capable of 
being the ruling species in mixed forests, Scots pine has 
certainly more in common with the birch than any other 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 219 


tree. They are both capable of accommodating themselves 
to soils of the most varied description, from dry sand to 
marshy moors, and it often happens that naturally mixed 
forests of these species are to be seen in fairly good growth 
wherever the soil-moisture is supplied in sufficient quantity ; 
where this condition is wanting, however, interruption of the 
canopy and deterioration of the soil are too often the results. 
Even on poor classes of soil, birch is more rapid in develop- 
ment than pine until about the fifteenth to twentieth year, 
but the latter then generally overtakes it, and succeeds in 
suppressing it, unless it seems desirable to come to the 
assistance of the birch when the woods are being tended by 
thinning ; yet even then it is as a rule necessary to utilise it 
about the thirtieth or fortieth year in order to avoid the bad 
effects of a considerably interrupted canopy. On _ good, 
moist soils birch can hold out a rotation of seventy or eighty 
years along with pine, but its cultivation under such circum- 
stances would be somewhat inconsistent with the fundamental 
principle that in Britain sylvicultural operations must be 
mainly guided by actuarial and financial considerations, as 
the introduction of spruce, silver fir, or beech would yield 
much better ultimate results in favour of the main crop of 
pine. For fringing pine woods at every possible opportunity 
however, there is no better species than birch, and even 
this scant admixture can assert appreciable influence in 
diminishing the dangers from insects, snow accumulations, 
and fire. 

On the poorer qualities of beech soils, and in localities 
where natural reproduction of the beech is a matter of diffi- 
culty, birch and other softwoods usually manage to effect an 
entrance and assert a foothold, often to the great detriment 
of the former. Unless prompt measures be taken to secure 
their removal, they maintain themselves so obstinately that 
seedling growth of beech is a matter of impossibility. They 


220 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


shoot up quickly in pure patches or even in groups, but 
soon thin themselves out, and by the twentieth or thirtieth 
year are so broken and incomplete in canopy, that the soil 
beneath them is bound to deteriorate. * Whilst their retention 
in patches, or singly in too great numbers, would undeniably 
be a mistake, yet the selection of good, healthy, individuals 
of vigorous growth, scattered here and there wherever nature 
has shown the soil to be congenial to the birch, is in every 
way justifiable, and often yields very fair returns about the 
fortieth or fiftieth year, up to which time they can under 
such circumstances usually hold their own with the beech, 
and when they can be removed without interrupting the 
density of the canopy of the crop to any serious extent. This 
is perhaps still more the case where the silver fir is concerned, 
and then even the retention of the birch in small patches also 
often yields satisfactory results, for the former can thrive 
fairly well on good soils under the light shade of the latter 
until its removal, which, however, is often necessitated when 
the silver fir begins to catch up the birch in growth, as other- 
wise the whip-like twigs and sprays injure the leading-shoots 
of the fir. The injury thus caused is still more marked in 
the case of the spruce, into young growth of which the birch 
very frequently pushes its way; but until the spruce begins 
to equal it in height, which happens sooner than in the case 
of the beech or silver fir, it is generally advisable to allow it 
to continue forming a portion of the crop, provided always 
that it occurs merely as scattered individuals, or in lines or 
rows, and not in patches or groups ultimately unable to pro- 
tect the soil, and then finally only forming unprofitable blanks. 
Older patches of birch often give good returns if under- 
planted with spruce and removed later on when they begin 
to interfere with the further development of the latter by 
rubbing off the foliage ofthe leading-shoots. Along with 
aspen, ash, and alder, it often forms mixed forests on 


) oom 


f 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 221 


soils of a more swampy character, which will be referred to 
in treating of the alder (vide page 230). 

Formation and Reproduction of Birchwoods can be easily 
accomplished naturally wherever broken soil is in the vicinity 
of trees over twenty-five to thirty years of age, for this species 
usually produces a large quantity of seed annually, which, 
being very light, is carried far and wide by the wind. 
Wherever it seems desirable to form forests of birch for the 
first time, sowing is usually adopted except on dry soils ; but 
for the artificial introductton of birch as a subordinate into 
mixed forests of other species, the preference is given to 
planting as better enabling the number and position of the 
plants to be fixed. 

Sowing.—Fresh birch seed easily becomes heated, and 
soon loses its germinative capacity, so that sowing should 
be carried out early in autumn, especially on situations with 
sandy soils, where the seed often ripens in August ; seed 
that has been dried, often lies for eighteen months in the 
seed-bed before germinating. Some little preparation of the 
soil is necessary, but this need only be confined to passing 
over the soil with a coarse harrow, or bestowing on it any 
similar treatment, to break up the surface of the ground and 
expose the naked soil; where any strong growth of weeds 
makes this necessary by manual labour, the breaking up of 
the ground is confined to bands or strips, and, after sowing, 
the covering of the seed is amply provided for by passing 
along the strips with light rakes or even with simple foot- 
pressure. If sowing has been carried out soon after rain, 
the seed adheres to the ground, and requires no further 
attention. From 35 to 50 lbs. of seed per acre are required, 
according as broadcast sowing is confined to strips or carried 
out over the whole area. 

Planting is generally carried out with seedlings of two to 
five years, a preference being given in the older plants to 


i 
222 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


such as still have brownish bark ; older plants already having 
a grey or white rind are reckoned somewhat inferior in 
quality, although under certain circumstances their use can 
hardly be avoided. Except on sandy or marshy soil, where 
notching can be practised with success, the seedlings are 
usually put out with balls of earth attached to the roots, and 
under any circumstances, mutilation of either the ascending 
or the descending axis should be avoided as much as 
possible, for which reason the use of two to three-year-old 
seedlings with earth attached is advantageous wherever 
practicable. On moist soils tumping on mounds is the usual 
method of planting out older seedlings or transplants of three 
to five feet in height, and in general, care should be taken 
not to plant too deep. Where birch is to be introduced as 
a subordinate species in mixed forests, transplants should be 
reared in nurseries, as the use of the very best class of 
material is advisable. The most favourable time for plant- 
ing birch is early in spring, before the buds have swollen 
much ; but, on account of the early flush of leaves, one is 


often forced to plant in autumn on marshy soils. Close 


planting yields the best returns in the thinnings ; seedlings of 
14 to 3 feet high should be put out at about 4 feet x 4 feet, and 
transplants of 3 to 5 feet high about 6 feet x 6 feet. On dry 
sandy soils planting deep is recommendable as long as small 
pits are left open above for the catchment of rainfall, so that 
the root-system is not actually deep or much below the 
surface of the soil. 


era rey 


= er, They 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 223 


2. ALDER, COMMON OR BLACK ALDER (Betula alnus, 
L. = Atnus Guutinosa, Gaert.). 


Distribution—The alder is found in moist situations 
throughout nearly the whole of Europe from Asia Minor and 
the Caucasus up to the 62° of latitude on the average ; it is 
also indigenous to Siberia, to Japan, and to Algiers. In 
Norway it ascends to 1,080 feet above the sea-level, in the 
Harz mountains to 2,170 feet, inthe Bavarian Alps to 2,800, 
and in the Tyrolese Alps to 4,100 feet.! At anything ap- 
proaching to these limits, however, its development is not 
normal, it being essentially a tree of the low-lying lands, 
marshes, and riverine stretches, and of the tracts adjacent to 
the sea-coast, especially when they are subject to freshwater 
inundations rich in silt. On fen soil in the Baltic pro- 
vinces of northern Germany it is often found in pure forests 
of scores of square miles in extent, and at other times in 
extensive mixed forests along with birch, aspen, ash, &c. 

When met with on the uplands and hilly tracts, it is nearly 
always in low-lying wet localities, in the valleys, coombs, and 
dingles formed by the undulations of the hill-sides, and kept 
wet and marshy by springs, or owing to an undrained, im- 
permeable or impervious subsoil. 

Tree-form and Root-system.—When grown in close canopy, 
and to a considerable extent even when grown in an isolated 
position, the alder develops a straight bole, with an easily 
traceable ascending axis. In this respect it somewhat 
resembles the conifers, more so indeed than any other broad- 
leaved species, but in their approach to a cylindrical form of 

! Burckhardt, Sden und Pflanzen, 1880, p. 209, states, however, that 
this alder is not indigenous to the Alps, ‘* One sees here, especially in 


the valleys, only the white alder (4. zmcana, D C.), and higher up the 
bushy mountain alder” (4. viridis, D C.). 


224 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the stem it falls far behind. Its branch development is slight, 
whilst the foliage forms a somewhat light crown confined 
to the uppermost portion of the stem, and bluntly conical in 
general outline. On the cessation of activity of growth in 
height, the upper portion of the stem tends more towards 
branch formation and ramification, whilst the crown in 
extending assumes a somewhat blunted and flatter form. 

In root-system it differs from other trees by having no 
proper tap-root, but in sending out instead a number of 
comparatively weak strands from the short main root : these 
work their way down to the subsoil, and there ramify into 
long stringy rootlets, which determine its claim to rank as an 
essentially deep-rooting species. 

Requirements as to Sotl and Situation.—The demands 
made by the alder as to atmospheric warmth are by no means 
so great as those made in regard to atmospheric moisture. It 
attains normal development both in warm and in cold 
climates, but it cannot thrive in dry localities, and attains 
its best growth in a damp insular climate, and in situations 
which, from local causes, have great relative humidity. For 
the proper normal and unhindered development of its 
peculiar root-system, depth of soil is essentially necessary ; 
swampy tracts with shallow soil and impermeable subsoil of 
moorpan, tenacious clay, or undecomposed, unfissured rocks, 
are not the situations suitable to it. At the same time it 
demands a greater degree of soil moisture than can be borne 
by the majority of other timber trees, and thrives best when 
both soil and subsoil are moist. When the amount of 
moisture is so great as to render the soil wet during the dry 
period of the year, it can no longer be expected that the 
alder will attain its normal development. This is more 
especially the case if the water be stagnant, for when the 
soil-moisture is in motion, the chances of aeration are 
considerably better; thus at the edges of streams and 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 225 


rivulets its growth is better than in fens, marshes, bogs, and 
swamps. It can, however, stand an approach to wetness of 
soil better than any tendency towards mere freshness in 
the ground. -A slight alteration in the amount of soil- 
moisture, such as might be occasioned by the reduction of 
the water-level owing to neighbouring drainage-works for 
example, at once affects its development, and speedily leads 
to the crowns becoming dry and dying off. 

With regard to the mineral constituency of the soil, the 
alder is, taken all in all, by no means indifferent, or even 
easily satisfied. Its best development is attained on humose 
loam, or loamy sand, with an admixture of lime, or on 
humose sand with loamy or marly subsoil. The less the 
percentage of loam the poorer the subsoil, and the more the 
tendency towards stagnation of soil-moisture with consequent 
formation of humic and other similar acids owing to the 
imperfect decomposition of dead vegetable matter, the less 
suitable are marshy soils for the alder. Pure limes, and 
pure sandy soils, are alike unfavourable to its growth. And 
not every moist soil produces its fair growth of alder woods ; 
cold clays, poor loam, peat-bogs, and salt alluvial deposits 
along the coast with brackish soil-moisture, yield alike un- 
satisfactory results. 

The alder is not particular as to aspect ; its preference 
for northern and eastern exposures is to be attributed rather 
to their greater relative humidity of atmosphere and generally 
moister soil than to any conditions dependent on their low 
degree of warmth. 

The yield of timber varies greatly according to the soil 
and subsoil, the average annual increment ranging from 
15 to 150 cubic feet per acre. ‘The better classes of alder 
soils are, however, as a rule such that they can easily be 
drained to serve a higher economic purpose as grazing lands 
and meadows. 


Q 


226 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Requirements as to Light.—The density of its foliage, and 
consequently its capacity for bearing shade, are determined 
to a very great extent by the general qualities of soil and 
situation. On sandy soils and rubble deficient in subsoil- 
moisture, or with such excess of it as to cause an approach 
to stagnating swamps, the alder must be ranked as requiring 
a large amount of light; but on good, moist, loamy soils it 
can bear a considerable degree of shade, and makes lower 
demands on individual growing-space. In the warm climate 
of southern Germany its capacity for enduring shade seems 
considerably greater than in central and northern Germany, 
where it ranks next after birch and aspen as a light-demand- 
ing species. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.—The 
alder begins to produce seed freely, and almost annually, 
from its twentieth to thirtieth year. From 280,000 to 300,000 
seeds are contained in one pound, which, when fresh, should 
exhibit a germinative power of about 35 to 40 per cent. in 
experimental tests ; it loses its germinative power after it is 
a year old. It ripens in September, and falls in November. 

It possesses a strong reproductive capacity for shooting 
from the stool, which it retains up to beyond the fortieth 
year ; but it does not, like the white alder, reproduce itself by 
_means of stoles or suckers thrown out from the roots. When 
the soil is suitable, and the amount of soil-moisture not exces- 
sive, the power of shooting from the stool is long maintained 
in such vigour that thé shoots can develop into as good 
stems as are formed by seedlings. Where, however, condi- 
tions of soil and moisture are unsuitable, the effects of frost 
are greater, and the reproductive power is so weakened as to 
cease after the first or second coppicing. Its sylvicultural 
maturity varies according to the treatment to which it is 
subjected ; coppices are cut over at periods varying from 
twenty to forty years, whilst in the less frequent clumps 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 227 


worked as high forest the fall is usually fixed between sixty to 
eighty years ; reproduction as coppice is, however, the rule. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers is on the whole 
not a plea that can be urged against a more extended 
cultivation of the common alder. From the brittle nature 
of its wood it is apt to have its branches snapped off by 
heavy winds, but with its deep root-system it is little apt to 
be thrown as windfall. Late frosts often damage the young 
foliage, especially of coppice-shoots, but the recuperative 
power is so great that, as a rule, the damage done is not 
very considerable. Inundations occurring in spring to such 
an extent as to submerge the stools, act injuriously on the 
coppice-shoots, and also on the foliage of older alders if 
taking place at the time of the flushing of new leaves ; 
otherwise a temporary excess of moisture is not in general 
followed by injurious results. On the other hand, it can 
maintain no successful struggle against drought, and is 
injuriously affected by loss of subsoil-moisture. 

From insects it suffers little damage on the whole, its 
chief enemy being the larva of Cryptorhynchus lapathi, 
which attacks the wood of young shoots and stems, whilst 
older trees suffer from the larvae of Anobium tesselatum and 
Ptilinus pectinicornis, and the caterpillars of Cossus ligniperda 
and Zeuzera aesculi ; Apoderus coryli, Rhyncites betulae, and 
R. betuleti, both as larve and beetles, do noticeable damage 
to the foliage. Vectria ditissima originates cankerous fun- 
goid growth in ‘the stem, whilst species of Po/yporus cause 
red and white rot in the timber. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of the Alder.—The common alder 
is capable of forming pure forests, or the ruling species in 
mixed forests on low-lying marshy soil where it often covers 
extensive areas, but on the lower hills and uplands, and in 
moist valleys and patches, or along the banks of streams, it 
is usually limited to large groups or clumps differing 

Q 2 


228 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


essentially in treatment from the surrounding woods, and 
practically forming pure forests on a small scale. 

Its treatment in pure forest is as a rule rather as coppice 
than as high timber forest, after its growth has once been 
begun ; the original formation of crops usually takes place by 
means of planting rather than by either natural or artificial 
sowing. When the stools are young, and the area is not sub- 
ject to inundation in spring, the fall takes place close to the 
ground, but when, on the contrary, the stools are old, and the 
soil inundated, larger stumps are left standing. The growth 
of the stool-shoots, which are usually numerous and _ not 
spreading, is very vigorous on the more favourable classes 
of soil; but the rate and continuance of their growth in 
height, the total production of timber, and the repro- 
ductive capacity of the stools, depend to a very great 
extent on the general quality of soil. The best marshy soils 
are those having good loamy, limy, or marshy subsoil, but 
most extensive marshes have only a sandy, stony, or clayey 
substratum, or consist of deposits of peat with humose sur- 
face-soil. Stagnating, sour water, or a large percentage of 
iron held in solution, spoils the quality of marshy soil ; 
whilst from the low levels they sometimes occupy they 
may at all times of the year be too wet for sylvicultural 
operations to be properly conducted. Whilst willows and 
aspen are the first trees with which cultural operations can be 
begun so long as the soil is still too wet for the alder, any 
spontaneous growth of birch, pine, and spruce, indicates that 
the requisite quantity of soil-moisture is no longer available, 
and that achange in the crop would seem advisable. 

On the better classes of soil suitable for the alder, such 
as moist loamy deposits with excess of moisture throughout 
the summer months, the growth in height and in average 
annual increment does not culminate until the twentieth or 
twenty-fifth year, and continues without marked decrease 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 229 


till about the thirtieth to fortieth year, yielding crops far 
in excess of any other species of coppice, and especially 
prized for the manufacture of cigar-boxes. 

Grebe! gives the following as the average out-turn from 
alder coppice :— 


Cubic feet per acre. 


| Age or crop 


in years. Quality of soil. 


I. Il. Ill. IV. We 


| 
i 
15 1,580 1,197 899| 546| 261 
20 2,102 | 1,624 | 1,189| 739] 333 
25 2,624 | 2,015 1,479, 9I 377 
30 3,117 2,363 | 1,740 | 1,05 420 


On good soil each stool bears two to three dominating 
shoots that ultimately form part of the mature crop; with 
their smooth straight stems these have far more the appear- 
ance of young high forest than of mere coppice. Where the 
demand for wood simply extends to the smaller assortments 
for cigar-boxes, a rotation of twenty-five to thirty years is 
ample, but where good soil and a fair market for larger 
dimensions of timber exist, the fall may be extended to 
forty to fifty years without jeopardizing the reproductive 
capacity of the stools. On sandy soils with only a poor 
admixture of loam, the period of rotation should not in 
general exceed twenty years ; for although the growth of the 
shoots is rapid at first, yet it soon falls off, and the rege- 
nerative power of the root-system and the stool at the same 
time diminishes, as may be noted in localities subject to 
inundation during winter and spring, but liable to dry up in 


1 Die Betriebs- und Etragsregelung der Forste, 2nd edition, 1879, 
p. 103. 


230 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the warmest season of the year. Even on the better classes 
of alder soils there often comes a time when one cannot 
fail to note that the soil seems somewhat lacking in moisture 
for the normal and remunerative growth of the alder, though 
it may be still rather too moist for the normal requirements 
of other species of forest trees. In many cases the way can 
certainly be at once prepared for these others by drainage, | 
and often easily and cheaply ; but care must be taken not to go 
too far in this direction, as a dried-out marshy soil does not 
by any means promise good results sylviculturally. When 
diminution of the returns from alder coppices is properly 
ascribable to decrease of soil-moisture, the question naturally 
presents itself, whether the area in question should be retained 
under sylviculture and transformed into woodlands of other 
species, or should be utilised agriculturally and transformed 
into grazing-grounds and pasture-land, a certain amount of 
drainage being necessary in both cases. When still retained 
under wood, the transformation may take place into willow 
coppice, or into mixed forests in which ash, birch, pine, 
spruce, and oak are the chief species—the oak and the ash 
on the better patches of soil, the Scots pine on the higher- 
lying, drier parts. Local configuration of soil isan important 
factor in such cases, and it often happens that the whole 
woodland is made up of small groups of alders and birches on 
the moister parts, oaks, ashes and elms on the merely damp 
portions, and pine and spruce, both pure and mixed, on the 
drier patches; but it must be borne in mind that on such 
localities the spruce is apt to suffer from late frosts, unless 
it has the shelter of some good nurse like birch. 

In mixed forests the alder is often found associated 
along with the birch and the aspen in marshy hollows in 
upland and hilly districts, unless the soil has become soured 
by long-continued growth of heather, or from other causes. 
Such woods, composed for by far the most part of light-loving 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 231 


species, and growing on soils not particularly well suited to 
their normal requirements, seldom show anything like close 
canopy, but consist of sparse patches often of indifferent 
development ; where, however, the soil is good, and the 
moisture not excessive, they occasionally show very fair 
development, and include also good specimens of the ash. 
In other localities, whenever the water-level has slowly sunk 
from one reason or another, the spruce often also finds its way 
into the alder groves spontaneously, and shows a develop- 
ment more or less generally proportional to the degree of 
moisture contained in the soil. The alder is usually the 
more forward in growth, and stimulates the spruce to rapid 
development in height, and where the latter occurs in 
scattered individuals only, this is sufficient to improve the 
shape of the bole of the former. Where the spruce is not 
self-sown, but is introduced artificially, the admixture takes 
place most advantageously after the puiz poles have thinned 
themselves freely. 

The fall of timber in alder coppices is usually accom- 
plished during hard frost, as the harvesting of the crop is 
much easier then than at other times; but felling and 
extraction must then take place almost simultaneously. 
Where such difficulties do not exist as to extraction, the 
fellings can preferably be made either in late autumn or 
in spring, as, there being then less danger of the stools 
chipping, the fall can be made low down close above the 
ground ; where inundations are to be feared in spring, 
higher stools must be left, otherwise the shoots run the risk 
of being suppressed by rank grass and weeds. In many 
alder woods raised mounds are necessary as paths here and 
there ; without these, sylvicultural operations could some- 
times hardly be carried out or superintended properly. 

The Formation of Alder Woods by sowing is occasionally 
accompanied with greater difficulties than are usual with 


232 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


other species of forest trees, the principal reasons being 
excess of water in spring and insufficiency in summer, com- 
bined with danger from rank growth of grass, and from frost 
as well as from cattle. Planting is, on the contrary, much 
easier and more satisfactory, although special arrangements 
are often necessary on account of the soft spongy nature of — 
the moist ground, and the danger of the soil lifting through 
frost. 

Sowing is usually confined to the production of seedlings 
for planting out, as the ordinary circumstances of forest 
nurseries are not adapted for the special requirements of 
this species, the first condition being the equable distribution 
of a considerable degree of moisture throughout a good soil. 
This is best arranged for by forming beds often ten to fifteen 
feet broad between ditches connected with some drainage 
scheme ; the earth taken from the ditches is spread equally 
over the beds, and sand is scattered over this to keep down 
the growth of grass and form a better seed bed, on the 
top of which the seed is sown. A simpler method, often 
employed with good results, consists in merely digging 
trenches about 14 feet broad and deep and 6 feet apart, 
levelling the output as beds between the ditches, and sowing 
somewhat thickly on these beds. The seed is obtainable 
almost every year, and should, wherever possible, be collected . 
locally, as it only retains its germinative power for one year, 
and it is impossible to tell how much old seed may be 
admixed if it has been bought elsewhere. The little ‘“‘ cones” 
ripen in October and November, and should be plucked 
soon after that; when brought into warm rooms, the seed 
soon falls out. Where the collection of the cones is 
inconvenient, and only small quantities of seed are requisite, 
a sufficient supply may be obtained on sunny December 
days by holding large sheets under the seeding trees, and 
shaking the stems so that the seed may fall out. Where 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 233 


neither of these methods is adopted, the seed can be easily 
collected by being skimmed off the surface of the water of 
ponds, or of pools on the ground ; but such seed is always 
deficient in germinative capacity as compared with that 
collected by either of the other methods, and should always 
be utilised at once. | 

When the plants are to remain and be put out as seedlings, 
the beds must be carefully weeded, and at the same time all 
weaklings should be plucked out. But better results are 
ultimately obtainable with transplants pricked out in lines of 
twelve to fourteen inches by six to eight inches when one 
year old, or twelve inches by twelve inches when they are 
two years old, before being brought into the nursery. 

Planting with one-year-old seedlings is usually out of the 
question, on account of the strong growth of grass on alder 
soils, and on the whole the use of two to four years old 
transplants is most general after they have stood a couple of 
years in the nursery-beds. 

As a rule, the transplants are put in without earth attached 
to the roots, except on wet soil, where the balls of earth 
enable them to establish themselves sooner, and where also 
the larger assortments of the four to five-year-old transplants 
are generally used. The operation of planting is simple, 
notching being frequently adopted on moist soils, but 
tumping or planting on mounds has often to be resorted 
to on wet situations. Close planting of the quick-growing 
alder is out of place, and the plants should not be put out 
nearer than four and a half or six feet apart, or in rows of 
five feet by seven feet. The time of planting depends very 
much on the soil. Where mounds or beds have been pre- 
viously prepared, the putting out of the plants may take place 
in the spring, though as a rule this operation is performed 
in autumn, when there is less moisture in the soil ; but when 
this is even then too soft, the advent of the first frosts has 


234 . BRITISH FOREST TREES 


to be awaited. Plantations can also be made in the latter 
part of summer, when least moisture is present in the ground, 
but the transplants must then have balls of earth attached 
to the roots, and this heightens the cost considerably. 

The Reproduction of Alder Coppices takes place in the 
usual manner from the stool, but the height of the latter is 
dependent on the height to which the soil is apt to be in- 
undated in spring. Should high water not be probable, 
felling close to the ground is advisable ; but if there is likely 
to be water above the ground at the time when the shoots 
spring from the stool, the latter must be left standing at such 
a height, varying from one and a half to four and a half feet, 
as will ensure that the shoots are not submerged, for ex- 
perience has shown that even a few days’ submersion of the 
stools at the time of flushing is apt to kill off the shoots. 
Where blanks in coppice are filled up with transplants that 
have not been cut over above the roots before being planted 
out, they are often allowed to grow up during the first period 
of rotation without being cut back to the stool. 


Minor Speciks either not capable of forming, or at any 
rate not usually forming pure forests in northern Europe, 
but generally associated tn mixed forests along with one or 
more of the chief species above described. 

Concerning a good many of these it will only be necessary 
to give a very brief description, as they are included in this 
work more for the sake of completeness than on account of 
their present sylvicultural importance in Britain. A fuller 
description of the more important broad-leaved subordinate 
species will, however, be given, following the lines above 
adopted in treating of the chief species. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 235 


Conirers. A. /ndigenous to Europe. 


1. THE BLACK, AUSTRIAN, OR CorRSICAN Pine? (Pinus 
Nigricans, Host.=P. Austriaca, Hoss. =P. Laricio, Poir., 
‘Var. Austriaca, Endl.). This pine, two-leafed like the Scots 
pine, extends from Spain across southern Europe to Asia 
Minor, and in the specially recognised former variety forms 
extensive pure forests in lower Austria, and south-east towards 
Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the first-named localities it 
ascends the mountains to 3,000 feet, but is in general indige- 
nous to the outlying hills and the gently undulating plateaux 
rather than on the steep mountain slopes in the inner ranges. 
In its true home it attains, with good straight growth, a height 
of a hundred feet and a girth of over ten feet at breast-height, 
with dark, blackish-grey, deep-fissured bark. Its crown is 
conical, and densely foliaged during the youthful period of 
growth, the leaves being retained for three to four years ; but ° 
with advancing years it becomes rounded off to a semi- 
circular or ovoid contour, with the thick foliage confined to 
the younger twigs. The further northwards it is removed 
from the region to which it is indigenous, the weaker becomes 
its development of bole, and the stronger its tendency to 
crown-formation and ramification generally. In southern 
Germany its growth in height is by no means equal to that 
of the Scots pine. 

Its root-development is energetic and extensive, being 
similar to that of the Scots pine, but with greater power of 
accommodating itself to the nature of the soil and sub-soil, 
of throwing out strong horizontal roots, and of sending rami- 
fications from these deep down into the soil and sub-soil. 


' For fuller details of this species see the author’s ‘‘ Report on the 
Corsican Pine” in the 7ransactions of the Highland and Agricultural 
Society for 1876. (Fourth Series, Vol. VIII., pp. 220-238.) 


236 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Being an inhabitant of a southern clime, the black or 
Austrian pine naturally demands a high degree of atmo- 
spheric warmth, but combined with this it shows a con- 
siderable capacity for sustaining the severe cold of the 
hard Continental winter, and it has equal claims with 
the Scots pine to be classed among the hardy species of 
forest trees. As regards soil-moisture, it seems to prefer 
dry situations so long as they are not shallow, and at 
the same time not superposed on impermeable subsoils 
hindering the development of the root-system ; otherwise 
it will thrive on dry soils where even the Scots pine finds 
difficulty in maintaining itself. Wherever it grows indi- 
genously, the black pine shows a preference for limy soils, 
and for dolomitic lime in particular, although its demands 
in this respect do not prevent its growth being satisfactory 
on soils of other geognostic origin. Both with reference to 
mineral strength and to soil-moisture, its demands are even 
_ somewhat less than those of the Scots pine, and it must 
therefore be reckoned as the most easily satisfied species of 
forest tree growing—although not of course luxuriantly,—on 
poor soils, where even the former finds the situation too hot 
and dry. For the planting up of poor lands, especially those 
with warm, southern exposures, and of a limy nature, the 
black or Austrian pine is a most useful tree. 

On soils of fair quality it is better able to stand shade 
than the Scots pine, and its position as regards demands on 
light may be assessed at about midway between the light- 
loving and the shade-bearing species ; on favourable soils and 
situations it becomes the latter, on unfavourable the former. 

Like the Scots pine, it enters its reproductive age at about 
thirty years ; its cones ripen in the second autumn, eighteen 
months after flowering, and the seed is scattered during the 
following spring. Its germinative power is considerable, 
good seed showing 75 to 80 per cent. in successful experi- 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 237 


ments for testing; about 25,000 to 27,000 seeds without 
wings are contained in one pound, the seeds being much 
larger than those of the common pine. 

External dangers threaten it less than the Scots pine. It 
is not liable to be damaged by frost, or to be thrown by 
violent winds ; accumulations of snow and ice on its branches 
do little harm on account of their great elasticity ; though 
subject to attacks from the same insect enemies as the 
Scots pine (vide page 61), it is generally less liable to them, 
and much less seriously injured when befallen ; mice often 
kill it by gnawing, and roe-deer are fond of the succulent 
leading-shoots, but, protected by its branches and coarse 
needles, roe and red-deer leave it comparatively unmolested 
when rubbing the velvet from their antlers. 

It is richer than any other conifer in the production of 
resin, and is worked chiefly for this—from which the Venice 
turpentine of commerce is made—in many localities whence 
timber transport to the nearest markets would be too costly 
to be profitable, and where labour is scarce and insufficient. 

Its total energy in production of timber may be put at 
about 20 per cent. lower than Scots pine; according to 
Feistmantel, its average yield under average circumstances 
as to soil and situation, is 3,335 cubic feet per acre at sixty 
years of age, 4,495 cubic feet at eighty years, and 5,220 
cubic feet at a hundred years; it culminates in average 
annual growth in height between the fortieth and sixtieth 
years, and in average annual increment of timber between 
the sixtieth and eightieth years.! 

2. MARITIME PINE (PINUS MARITIMA, Lam.), including also 
the Pinaster or Cluster Pine (Pinus Pinaster, Ait.). This 
species has attained celebrity owing to the success with which 
its cultivation has been attended on the barren “ Landes” of 


1 Hempel and Wilhelm, Die Baume und Strducher des Wales, 
seventh number for July, 1892, p. 153. 


238 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


Bordeaux, and throughout the enormous sand-dunes stretch- 
ing along the shores of the Bay of Biscay. Favoured by the 
warm southern climate, its production of resin is very con- 
siderable, yielding the French turpentine of commerce. It is 
on the whole little suited for growth in the colder climate of 
Britain, except perhaps in the south of England. Early 
frosts in autumn often find its shoots with the wood not 
properly formed and ripened into hard wood, but in our 
insular climate its growth in height is vigorous and satis- 
factory wherever it is protected from frost. 

Its root system resembles that of the Scots pine, and its 
demands on soil are not great. It shows a preference for 
light and dry sandy soils, where the tap-root can be developed 
without hindrance, and where, the annual period of vegeta- 
tion being somewhat shorter than on those of a more loamy 
or clayey description, it has a better chance of hardening the 
wood in the young shoots and branches. It enters the re- 
productive period about the twentieth year ; its seed is some- 
what larger than that of the black pine. It improves the 
soil considerably, having a somewhat dense foliage, retained 
for three or four years. 

3. CEMBRAN PINE (PINUS CEMBRA, L.) is found in the Alps 
and Carpathians at elevations above those of spruce and 
larch, ranging from about 2,300 feet to 7,500 feet, and also 
both on the plains and mountains of Russia and Siberia. 
It attains in Alpine districts a height of sixty to seventy feet, 
and a girth up to fifteen feet at breast-height. Its crown is 
conical in youth, then somewhat cylindrical in middle-age, 
and finally irregularly ovate in form throughout the more 
advanced periods of growth ; its foliage is dense rather than 
sparse, the leaves being persistent for four or five years. Its 
root-system is extensive and deep-reaching, a necessity of 
the exposed localities to which it is indigenous. Although 
its timber is of good quality, and often beautiful in colour 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 239 


and texture, its growth is so slow that it could never be 
grown in Britain with a view to profitable money returns ; 
for esthetic reasons, however, it deserves a place in planta- 
tions, more especially on moist clayey or loamy patches on 
high hill-sides. 

4. THE MounraIN PINE (Pinus Montana, Mill) is also a 
native of the mountains of central and southern Europe, 
often attaining a height of seventy-five feet, but at high eleva- 
tions gradually dwindling down to an almost creeping shrub 
before yielding place to the rhododendrons or Alpine roses. 
It is found at elevations varying from 550 feet in Silesia to 
nearly 9,000 feet in northern Italy. Its principal use is as pro- 
tective forest, binding the soil by means of its extensive root- 
system, and thereby hindering land-slips and offering mecha- 
nical opposition to avalanches starting on their destructive 
course. For Britain its production in forests is fortunately 
not necessary, and, like the Cembran pine, its cultivation is 
a matter for the favourable consideration of the arboricul- 
turist rather than of the forester. Its foliage is somewhat 
dense, the leaves being retained for four or five years. 

5. NORDMANN’S Fir (Apiges NORDMANNIANA, Link.), in- 
troduced from the Caucasus in 1845, is a tree of frequent 
occurrence in the Crimea and the mountainous tracts to the 
east of that. It makes less demand on the quality of the 
soil than silver fir, but more than the Scots pine ; it thrives 
both on light and on binding soil, on fresh or on moist, but 
evidences a stronger objection to a wet than a dry soil. In 
its general growth and sylvicultural qualities it resembles the — 
silver fir, but is hardier in respect to frost, as its buds are 
later in opening ; it suffers badly from deer, however. Owing 
to its excellent shade-bearing capacity it is very well adapted 
for the underplanting of pine standards on soils of the better 
quality. 


240 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


B. ILntroduced from North America. 


1. WEYMOUTH PINE (Pinus Srrosus, L.). This species 
was introduced by Lord Weymouth about 1705 on his 
estate in Wiltshire, and has since then become thoroughly 
acclimatised in northern and central Europe. It is in- 
digenous to the eastern part of North America, from Canada 
southwards to Virginia, forming forests on the uplands and 
hills, and reaches its finest development from 43° to 47° 
north latitude, attaining a height of 200 feet and a girth at 
breast-height up to twenty feet. In Europe it is occasionally 
to be found in pure forests, but more generally forming 
clumps, groups, and patches in mixed forests of other 
conifers. In production of timber it is second in rate of 
growth only to the poplar, but its timber, known as American 
white pine, is neither so durable nor so remunerative that its 
production is likely to become as inviting as would un- 
doubtedly be the case if it could command an easy and 
good market. As, according to Gayer,! it is the lightest of 
all our acclimatised exotics, its cultivation may be recom- 
mendable wherever there is any fair demand for timber for 
packing-cases or similar requirements. 

In general growth the Weymouth pine resembles the 
spruce and the silver fir rather than the Scots pine, being 
straight, sending out branches in regular whorls almost 
horizontally from the stem, and forming a crown of conical 
shape. Grown in close canopy, the crown is confined to 
the upper portion of the stem in a pointed spindle-shape ; 
but it is thicker and denser than on the Scots pine, whilst 
the needles are longer and finer, and also remain persistent 
for two to three years. It develops a root-system similar 

Die Forstbenutzung, 7th edition, 1888, p. 28. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 241 


to that of the latter, but even stronger and sinking deeper 
into the soil and subsoil. 

The Weymouth pine possesses a considerable power of 
accommodation in respect to climate; it is found on the 
Swiss Alps at 4,000 feet elevation, as well as on loamy soils 
in northern Germany not much above sea-level. It can 
thrive on soils too poor for the spruce, or too binding for 
the Scots pine, but prefers a light soil not wanting in 
moisture ; it can even stand a moist soil better than the 
larch. In contradistinction to the black or Austrian pine, 
limy soils seem unsuited to this variety of pine. Situations 
exposed to violent winds are not adapted for it; broken 
tops, diminished growth in height, and bent crowns are too 
frequently the poor results, although, owing to its forming 
dense, close-canopied forests, it suffers less in this respect 
than the Scots pine. 

The Weymouth pine occupies an intermediate position in 
regard to demand for light, but it is only on soil unsuited 
to it that it must be classed as light-loving. In general it 
can bear a considerable amount of shade without losing the 
power of developing normally when cut clear and free, and 
excels the other species of pine in this respect; side- 
shade, and a confined growing-space in youth, are even to 
a certain degree necessary in order to repress the natural 
tendency to branch-development and ramification. 

It enters the seed-bearing stage about the thirtieth 
year. The seed, which is produced freely almost every 
alternate year, ripens early in the second autumn after 
flowering, and has a germinative capacity of about 65 per 
cent. in experiments; about 30,000 to 35,000 seeds are 
contained in one pound. Germination takes place some- 
what late in spring, and often not until July, with some of 
the seed. 

From late frosts little danger need be apprehended to it, 

R 


242 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


and accumulations of snow and ice do less injury to it than 
to the less elastic Scots pine. Its insect enemies, in general 
those of the Scots pine (Aylesinus piniperda, Fissodes 
notaius, &c.), do on the whole little damage, and altogether 
it is classifiable as rather a hardy forest tree. Roe and 
red-deer select it eagerly for rubbing off their velvet, but 
it possesses a strong recuperative power in respect to such 
wounds. 

2. Pircu PINE (PINus RIGIDA, Mill), was introduced from 
North America about 1759. It attains a height of eighty 
feet on sandy soils of good quality, but also thrives, and 
yields good timber on those of inferior quality; in general 
its development is not so straight as might be wished. It 
prefers adeep sandy or somewhat loamy soil, and an amount 
of moisture varying from fresh to moist, although it can 
still thrive either on a dry or on a wet soil. In tree-form 
and root-development it generally resembles the Scots pine, 
and like it is classifiable as light-loving, though not to the 
same degree. It is strongly reproductive, beginning to bear 
seed about the tenth year, and has the power of throwing 
out shoots from the adventitious or dormant buds. It is 
not liable to be damaged much by external influences either 
of an organic or an inorganic nature. nus australis 
(Mich.) is also known as pitch pine. 

3. YELLOW PINE (PINUS. PONDEROSA,) introduced from 
North America in 1826, and 

4. JEFFREYS Pine (Pinus JEFFREYI, Murr.) introduced 
from Oregon and California in 1852, are very similar in their 
normal requirements, and in their general qualities, to the 
preceding species; they yield good timber, and suffer less 
from insect enemies than our indigenous Scots pine. The 
former is, however, little able to withstand danger from frost. 

5. Douctas Fir (Psrupotsuca Douc.iasu, Carr) intro- 
duced from Canada and the north-eastern States about 1826, 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 243 


and recently receiving almost more attention than any 
other exotic in northern Europe, reaches a height of 300 
feet and a girth of 27 feet in its own home, and yields timber 
of excellent quality. It thrives on sandy downs, but attains 
its best development on loose, mild, permeable, fresh soil, 
whilst on a dry soil it does better than on a damp or wet 
one. In Germany it is said—although this seems to be 
contrary to experience in Scotland—to make a good stand 
against the violence of winds, and also bears a considerable 
degree of shade. In rapidity of growth in height it far excels 
the spruce, the Scots pine, and even the larch or the 
Weymouth pine. Being tardy in sending out its shoots, it 
is little apt to suffer from late frosts. In a great many respects 
it resembles rather the spruce than its closer relative the 
silver fir. It begins to bear seed about the twenty-fifth year. 
It does not suffer so much from insect enemies as. our in- 
digenous conifers, and is not particularly sought after by roe 
or red-deer. Up till the present, experience and experi- 
ments throughout Germany have tended to show that it bids 
fair to prove the most remunerative of all the exotic conifers 
(with the exception perhaps of spruce so far as Britain is 
concerned). It certainly deserves very special attention in 
the formation of fresh woodlands, and during the reproduc- 
tion of existing coniferous forests. Seedlings put out in 
nursery beds at 8 inches x 4 inches can be transplanted in 
the following year if necessary, as they develop rapidly. 


BROAD-LEAVED, DECIDUOUS TREES. A. HARDWOODS. 
1. ASH (FRAXINUS EXCELSIOR, L.) 


Distribution.—The ash is to be found over nearly the 
whole of Europe and the Caucasus, southwards from 63°40’ 
in Norway, 61° in Sweden, and 62° in Finland, and forms 

kK 2 


244 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


one of the comparatively few species indigenous to Britain 
in the earliest historic times. It is mainly an inhabitant of the 
valleys and the uplands, but seldom of the mountain chains 
of middle Germany extending above 3,500 feet, although 
reaching up to and over 4,000 feet in the Alpine districts. 
It extends further northwards than the beech, but does not 
attain an equal elevation above sea-level. It is seldom 
found forming pure forests, and its 7é/e seems to be 
emphatically that of a subordinate species in mixed woods, 
occurring scattered as single trees rather than in large 
groups or clumps. 

Tree form and Root system.—If comparatively undisturbed 
in the enjoyment of light and air, the ash at an early stage 
exhibits a decided tendency to forked and branching growth ; 
but when its growing-space is limited, it can on favourable 
situations develop a straight, full-wooded stem of eighty to 
ninety feet high, surmounted by a lightly-foliaged crown. In 
the later stages of growth its natural tendency to ramification 
and branch-development is irrepressible, the crown increasing 
laterally to a considerable extent. 

Its root-system is deep. Numerous and strong branches 
extend laterally from the tap-root, but soon exhibit likewise 
a tendency to work their way down deep into the soil; 
whilst as the tree advances in age, the development of 
superficial roots beomes marked, more particularly on the 
poorer classes of soil, and on such as are somewhat deficient 
in moisture. « 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—In the whole 
character of its growth the ash plainly shows its preference 
for localities which are rather moist both as regards soil and . 
atmosphere. Low-lying tracts of country, or the cool, damp, 
northern and eastern exposures on hill-sides, are therefore 
more congenial to it than well-drained plains or warmer, 
sunnier aspects. Not every soil, however, and not even every 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 245 


moist soil, is suited for its growth, as the ash is, so to speak, 
discriminating and particular in its choice; where other 
species fail to find a sufficiency of nutriment to stimulate 
them to good growth, attempts with the ash may at once be 
given up, and needless time and trouble spared. 

Its root-system requires depth and a fair degree of 
porosity of soil for its proper development, whilst a due 
supply of moisture is necessary both in the soil and the 
subsoil ; but stagnating subsoil moisture is unsuited and 
detrimental to it, unless combined with a full enjoyment of 
genial summer warmth stimulating the foliage to increased 
evaporation and transpiration from the leaves. Sandy soils, 
unless moist, are in general unfavourable to it ; it thrives 
best on strong, rich, loose, mineral soil, and is altogether in 
this respect one of the most exacting species of our forest 
trees. 

Requirements as to Light.—On the whole the ash must at 
least be classed along with the oak with regard to its 
demands for light, although its foliage is sparser and lighter. 
Growing generally only on the best classes of sylvicultural 
soils, it often appears to be more capable of bearing shade 
than is actually the case under ordinary average circum- 
stances. As it approaches maturity, its requirements in 
this respect increase, although throughout the earlier stages 
of growth it can often thrive under standards with a light 
canopy, when such is necessary to protect it against frost. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
Occurring usually as scattered individuals in forests of shade- 
bearing species, and of beech in particular, the ash must be 
privileged at every time of thinning, and of course rapidly 
increases in girth and in cubic contents. Sylvicultural con- 
siderations, however, demand its removal before reproductive 
measures are to be carried out for the whole forest, so that 
it is seldom allowed to attain an age beyond eighty to 


246 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


a hundred years, by which time it has already assumed 
good proportions for the technical purposes to which its 
timber is suited. 

From the fortieth to the fiftieth year onwards, the ash 
yields, almost annually, large quantities of fruit or ‘eys’ ; 
about 7,000 of the seeds are contained in one pound. They 
possess a germinative capacity of about 65 to 70 per cent., 
which they retain for one to three years. Seed sown at any 
time does not usually come up till the second spring after 
the time of sowing. 

The ash possesses strong reproductive power, coppices 
freely, and under favourable circumstances sends out suckers 
from the roots as well as vigorous shoots from the stool ; 
easy replacement of injured shoots renders it suitable for 
pollarding. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—In respect to 
frost, the ash stands on about the same level as the beech, 
but as it prefers the moister, low-lying localities it is exposed 
to greater dangers during the youthful period of growth ; 
nurses are therefore desirable. On loftier situations the 
ash is backward in breaking into leaf, hence many of the 
dangers of late frosts are obviated. Red-deer, roe, and 
cattle are all inimical when the ash is young; but, on the 


other hand, it soon outstrips weeds in growth, and easily gets - 


beyond reach of cattle, whilst later on it has little to fear 
from winds and storms. With its deep root-system, light 
foliage, and tough, elastic wood, it stands in little danger of 
being either thrown or broken by the wind. 

The ash is comparatively exempt from attacks of insects, 
although Zyda vesicatoria and Pachytylus migratorius destroy 
the foliage, whilst species of Aylestnus (especially A. fraxint) 
and Scolytus in their larval stage injure the cambium and 
sap-wood, and wood-lice, Chermes fraxint and Aphis fraxint, 
destroy the bark. The omnivorous Me/olontha also spares 


“ a 


' BRITISH FOREST TREES 247 


the roots or young seedlings of ash as little as it does those 
of other species of trees. 

It is free from fungoid diseases except those, common to 
most forest trees, originated by Phytophthora omnivora on 
cotyledons and leaves, and by Nectria ditissima in the 
branches and near the base of the stem. Like the beech, horn- 
beam, sycamore, lime, and chestnut, it is somewhat subject to 
a diseased condition of the smooth-barked bole on the west 
and south-west sides owing to the scorching and drying-up 
power of strong sunshine, in consequence of which the 
technical value of the stem is often greatly lessened. From 
this ‘ swn-burn’ the rougher barked trees are happily exempt. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of the Ash.—FPure forests, or 
even large clumps of ash that have been produced either 
artificially, or by the retention of too many self-sown seed- 
lings, seldom yield satisfactory results, even on the better 
classes of soil, as their light foliage, broken canopy, and 
early attainment of maturity, render them somewhat un- 
suited for treatment as pure high forest. Spontaneous 
growth of self-sown seedlings is seldom wanting on the 
moister patches during regenerative fellings in beech woods ; 
and when once the young crop of the latter species is in 
vigorous growth, a struggle begins which sometimes reduces 
the number of the former to a desirable proportion, but at 
other times ends in favour of the ash, and with bad ultimate | 
sylvicultural results, unless the aid of the axe is freely given 
in favour of the beech. Even on moist, low-lying situations, 
which in general are such as show the best development of 
ash, its growth as scattered individuals, or in small knots 
or patches only, is decidedly better than in groups or larger 
patches. For large groups or clumps of pure ash there can 
be no better treatment than early under-planting with beech, 
spruce, silver fir, or hornbeam according to the nature of the 
soil, as has already been described with reference to the oak 


248 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


(vide pages 194 and 199), for the chief sylvicultural import- 
ance of ash lies in the production of the larger assortments 
of timber for cabinetmaking and the like, and this can only 
be well arranged for by insuring the protection of the soil. 
Wherever this is moist and fertile, the ash deserves to be 
associated with the oak and the beech; even though it can 
never hold out the full period of rotation of the former, 
and only under favourable circumstances the shorter one 
(100 to 120 years) of the latter, it yields good, remunerative 
returns, without leaving serious blanks in the canopy when 
its admixture has been confined to single scattered stems 
only. On the better classes of marshy soil where the oak 
is grown, a sprinkling of ash seldom fails to improve the 
growth of the former, and among alders it is often charac- 
terised by excellent development in patches and rows. 
Where it occurs in groups along with alder, the treatment 
accorded has practically much resemblance to under-plant- 
ing after the average growth in height has culminated. 
When suddenly exposed to light and air during the later 
stages of growth, it is apt like the elm, and to a less 
extent the oak, to show sickly growth, and often eventually 
becomes “‘stag-headed ” and dry. 

During its younger stages of growth, ash has a much more 


rapid development than beech, and on suitable soils main- - 


tains the advantage thus won; but later on, when its growth 
in height has culminated, and it is gradually caught up by 
the beech, the development of its crown begins to be inter- 
fered with, and it then becomes advisable either to harvest 
it at this juncture, or to assist it materially in the struggle. 

An admixture of ash with silver fir, spruce, or pine does 
not in general yield good results, as it is too easily caught 
up and over-topped in growth ; and besides this, spruce or 
pine soils are seldom good enough for the ash. 

As a standard in copse, the ash finds conditions very well 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 249 


adapted to its requirements, for with a comparatively undis- 
turbed enjoyment of light, air, and sunshine, it soon thickens 
in girth, without throwing too great a shadow over the 
surrounding coppice-growth. Among the coppice, and even 
under a considerable degree of shade, it can throw out 
vigorous shoots, which rapidly develop into good-sized poles ; 
but the stools are apt to get exhausted soon. Where any 
considerable demand exists for hammer-shafts, carriage- 
poles, felloes or spokes, oars, and similar small material, 
coppice-shoots often give very good and remunerative returns. 

Agriculturally the ash is also a very useful tree, besides 
adding beauty to the landscape. On low-lying pasture lands 
it affords a grateful shade to the cattle, without diminishing 
the growth of grass; and when pollarded, the foliage and 
young shoots yield healthy fodder readily eaten by sheep, 
and also by red-deer. Along with elm, maple, and sycamore, 
ash is deservedly prized for the formation of avenues. 

As already mentioned, self-sown seedlings are frequently 
to be found on moist suitable localities in beech forests 
undergoing regeneration, where the shade of the beech 
after the seed-felling does them little harm—less at any rate 
than would be done by rank growth of grass on lighter 
situations. But where natural reproduction is not likely to 
effect itself spontaneously, and where no parent standard trees 
exist, the mere sprinkling of seed on prepared patches here 
and there during the seed-felling of the beech is generally 
all that is required in order to produce a sufficient admixture 
of ash; and even then a weeding out of all the weakly seed- 
lings is usually necessary, so as to retain only the better 
developed plants. No particular attention or after-tending 
is requisite, as, although unequivocally a light-loving species 
during the later stages of growth, it can during the earlier 
periods of development sustain a very fair amount of shade. 
But in many localities the preference is given to planting, 


250 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


as giving a better and much more effective control over the 
disposition and interspersion of this subordinate among the 
ruling species. In copse and coppice, and on all varieties 
of marshy soils, rank growth of grass threatens it with greater 
danger than may be apprehended from frost ; for although 
late frosts often damage the seedlings and the young shoots, 
its recuperative and reproductive power is good. Where grass 
and frost are feared, planting is usual, transplants of all sizes 
being easily put out so as to establish themselves readily. 
Where a strong head of game is maintained, ash, like 
maple and sycamore, is apt to suffer considerably, for deer 
love to strip the comparatively smooth bark from trees, as 
well as from young poles. 

As nearly every October brings a good supply of ash ‘ £eys,’ 
which mostly remain hanging on the twigs throughout the 
winter, there is seldom any lack of seed which may easily 
be plucked by hand. And as the bulk of the seed only 
germinates in the second spring after its ripening, it is 
preferable to bring it under cover until it can be sown 
during the second autumn or spring after its produc- 
tion, otherwise voles and field-mice are apt to devour it. 
The preservation of the seed can be effected simply by 
mixing it with sand, and putting it away in boxes in a 
damp place; when wanted, it can be sown out just as it. 
is, or the seeds can be collected by running the sandy 
soil through a sieve. For seed-beds, preserved seed is 
preferred ; but for sowing in beech or other mixed forests, 
the fresh seed is merely strewn on the prepared patches. 
Except for the production of seedlings and transplants, sowing 
of ash seed on any extensive scale is not adopted ; even if 
pure forests, or mixed woods with ash as the chief species, 
were considered desirable, the danger from rank growth of 
grass would usually determine in favour of planting. Where, 
however, Sowing is carried out under the shade of standards 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 251 


of oak, alder, willows, or aspen, or on moist places in beech 
seed-fellings, the soil is prepared either in strips, or, especially 
in the latter case, in small patches by means of the rake; 
the surface-growth is removed and the upper soil lightly 
mixed, then the seed is sown in the proportion of about 
thirty pounds per acre actually operated on. Passing 
over the strips or patches lightly with the rake gives the 
seeds the thin covering of soil, which is most favourable 
to their germination, 

Planting of the ash, either as naked seedlings or trans- 
plants of almost any size, is easy, as the plants establish 
themselves readily when put out. In moist frosty localities 
it succeeds best when carried out under shelter, as for example 
under alder poles a few years before their clearance, so that 
the young ash may have a few years’ growth in advance 
of the future flush of quick-growing coppice-shoots; the 
assortments then used are either healthy seedlings, or trans- 
plants from the nursery. Although the ash can stand trim- 
ming of the rootlets and sprays better than most other 
species, this operation is seldom necessary, owing to the 
simplicity of planting in the loose, soft soil; the methods 
adopted are much the same as with the elm, and the maple, 
that is to say, generally notching and pit-planting with the 
hand. ‘The production of seedlings in nurseries takes place 
on beds having a fair supply of soil-moisture, transplants be- 
ing pricked out as one or two-year-olds at distances varying 
from 9” x 9” up to 12” x 12”, and care being taken to supply 
more growing space for the older and larger classes of trans- 
plants by the preliminary removal of every alternate plant. 


252 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


2. MAPLE OR Norway MAPLE (ACER PLATANOIDES, L.), 
AND SYCAMORE OR GREAT MAPLE (ACER PSEUDOPLA- 
TANUS, L.). 


Distribution.—The maple extends from 61—62° in 
Scandinavia throughout central Europe eastwards to the 
Caucasus, Armenia, and northern Persia, and southwards 
to the Balkan Peninsula, Dalmatia, central Italy, the 
Cevennes, and the central Pyrenees, whilst it is not indigen- 
ous to western Europe, including Great Britain. It does 
not ascend so high above the sea-level as the sycamore, 
scarcely attaining an elevation of 1,650 feet in central 
Germany, 2,350 feet in the Vosges, and not over 4,000 feet 
in the Bavarian Alps. 

The sycamore extends across central and southern Europe 
to the Caucasus with a northern limit from the upper 
Carpathians through Silesia and Saxony, skirting the Harz 
mountains, and crossing the hilly tracts of western Germany ; 
owing, however, to extensive artificial introduction and dis- 
tribution, its natural limit is hard to define exactly. In the 
Harz it ascends to nearly 2,000 feet, in central Germany 
to 2,700 feet, and in the Bavarian Alps to alittle over 5,000 
feet onthe average. Whilst, therefore, the maple extends- 
further northwards, the sycamore is capable of ascending 
the hill-sides and thriving at higher elevations. 

Neither maple nor sycamore occur forming pure forests 
over large areas ; both are naturally better adapted for form- 
ing groups, or for scattering as patches or individuals 
throughout high forests of other species of trees. Neither 
of them is indigenous to Britain, but the sycamore was 
introduced at least two centuries earlier than the maplé, 
which was brought across during the seventeenth century. 

Treeform and Root-systen.—The sycamore attains a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 253 


height of over ninety feet, and a girth of about twenty five 
feet, and in respect to both height and gitth somewhat 
surpasses the maple, although both take rank along with the 
oak and the beech as regards dimensions generally attain- 
able. In early youth their development is straight and 
‘regular, and grown in unbroken canopy there is, little 
tendency to ramification and branch-development ; but at 
later periods of growth they throw out branches at a low 
angle, and make considerable demands for growing-space. 
In form of stem the maple approaches nearer to the beech 
than does the sycamore, which is apt to deviate very much 
from the cylindrical, full-wooded form of bole, and to develop 
an elliptical, or often fluted or flanged stem, and a buttressed 
trunk, especially on binding and stony soil. In fact, 
though the growth in general is straight, the boles of both 
species are rather apt totaper. Their crowns are moderately 
foliaged and of moderate expansion, but when grown in 
the open they extend far outwards, and are formed by a 
comparatively few, strong, irregularly developed branches 
with somewhat scanty foliage. 

The root-system is heart-shaped, consisting of several 
strong branches from the tap-root, which penetrate deep 
into the soil, but do not usually ramify much or extend far 
horizontally. Strongly-developed surface-roots, like those 
of the oak and beech, are seldom to be found either in the 
case of the maple or the sycamore, both of whose roots 
are distinctly classifiable as deep-reaching, and indeed 
eminently so as regards the latter. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—Like the beech, 
maple and sycamore in general make only moderate demands 
regarding climate ; but the sycamore requires more warmth, 
and particularly more summer heat than the maple, which is 
thus able to extend further northwards than the otherwise 
hardier sycamore. Both, however, can bear a considerable 


254 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


degree of winter cold. The moist air of mountain forests, 
of damp valleys, and of the sea-coast, is beneficial to the 
growth of both species, and is in fact almost a necessity for 
the maple. The sycamore is more the tree of the hills and 
uplands, where it prefers the cool, moist, northern and 
eastern exposures, whilst the maple thrives best on the 
plains or gentler slopes. 

For the production of good boles, a considerable measure 
of mineral strength in the soil is necessary, and where this 
fails, their growth is not satisfactory. Depth and penetra- 
bility of soil are important factors demanded for the normal 
development of their root-systems. A shallow soil, more 
especially with stiff or rocky subsoil, is no suitable situation 
for either maple or sycamore, although, of the two, the latter 
can the more readily accommodate itself to a rocky soil 
sufficiently fissured and broken to admit of the strong side- 
roots penetrating deeply. Like the ash, both species make 
higher demands as to mineral composition of the soil than 
the beech, and differ also from the latter in not accepting 


a due admixture of vegetable mould as an equivalent for ~ 


actual want of mineral strength. Sandy soils, pure limes, 
and heavy clays are alike congenial to neither species ; their 
best growth is attained on light loams, and somewhat clayey 
limes not liable to be dried up. On the whole, the maple 
is less exacting than the sycamore, and, except in hilly tracts, 
deserves more attention than the latter for cultivation on 
fresh loams, and moist sandy soils with a fair amount of 
humus ; sour marshy soils are suited to neither species. 
In respect to soil-moisture, too, the maple is less exacting 
than the sycamore, being able to accommodate itself more 
readily to any excess of moisture on loamy flats, or to a 
merely fresh soil on the uplands. Soil-moisture is, however, 
as requisite as in the case of the beech, and the best growth 
is obtainable where subsoil, as well as surface-soil, has an 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 255 


abundant supply. Dry exposed situations, and such as suffer 
from frost, are not the localities for which either maple or 
sycamore are in any way really adapted by nature. 

Requirements as to Light.—Although not, perhaps, to be 
reckoned among the absolutely light-demanding species of 
trees, maple and sycamore require a free growing-space for 
the expansion of their crowns, in order to attain their full 
development. At early stages of growth they can bear 
without permanent injury the shade of lofty standards, pro- . 
vided the soil is strong and moist, but on soils deficient in 
either of these respects intolerance of shade soon exhibits 
itself ; in this respect again the maple shows itself more 
tolerant and accommodating than the sycamore. Pure 
plantations of maple or sycamore maintain themselves longer 
in moderate canopy than the majority of other light-loving 
trees, especially on strong fresh soils ; but they can never be 
ranked as shade-bearing, or as naturally and sylviculturally 
suitable for planting as underwood, even under light- 
demanding standards. In the damp climate of Holland, 
however, oaks may sometimes be seen under-planted with 
maple on fertile soil. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity. —¥rom 
about the fortieth to the fiftieth year onwards, maple and 
sycamore bear seed annually, in September and October, 
fairly freely every second year, though only sparsely in the 
alternate years. The seed retains its vitality till the second 
spring, but is then apt to be a year late in germinating after 
being sown, if it has been kept too dry during the winter. 
Its germinative capacity is about 50 to 60 per cent., whilst 
from 5,000 to 6,000 seeds are contained in one pound. 

Their reproductive power is only moderate. On good 
soil they throw out numerous stool-shoots of rapid growth, 
but these do not maintain their power of development long, 
whilst the quickly-decaying stools soon diminish in power 


256 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


of reproduction. By felling the stems almost flush with the 
ground, the stool-shoots can, however, be forced to throw 
out roots for themselves, and thus become independent of the 
parent stool. ‘True stoles or suckers from roots are of com- 
paratively infrequent occurrence, as these species have’ not 
usually a system of surface-roots. On the whole, maple and 
sycamore are not well adapted for coppicing. ‘They have 
weaker recuperative power, and are much less able to heal 
wounds than the ash, and consequently require more careful 
treatment at the time of transplanting or of pruning. 

Like the ash, maple and sycamore are well placed in 
copse as standards over the coppice, or in mixed forests 
where fair enjoyment of light and air can be secured to them. 
When cleared then at an age of 100 to 120 years, their boles 
usually bring very fairly remunerative prices. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—When special 
measures are not taken to obviate danger from frost, both 
species are apt to suffer severely, but especially the syca- 
more ; late frosts in May are particularly dangerous to young 
plants till they are over three feet in height. Endowed 
with a good root-system, and on the whole bearing but a 
moderate foliage, little danger is in general to be appre- 
hended from storms. When’ fully exposed to the direct or 
the refracted rays of the sun, a diseased condition of the 
bole on the west or south-west side is often occasioned in 
the sycamore, but is much less frequent on the thicker and 
rougher-barked maple. Inundation is more fatal to them 
than to any other species of forest tree, whilst roe, red-deer, 
cattle, and hares all inflict wounds that are only healed with 
difficulty ; but to counterbalance these weaknesses and de- 
fects, maple and sycamore suffer less from injuries inflicted 
by insect enemies than any other trees of the forest. 

They are not, however, altogether exempt from attacks by 
insects. Lytta vesicatoria and species of Melolontha destroy 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 257 


the foliage; caterpillars of Zeuzera a@sculi and Cossus 
ligniperda, and to a slighter extent larvae of Anobium tessela- 
tum and Hylecoetus dermestoides, injure the quality of the 
timber. 

Fungoid diseases of the stem are originated by JVectria 
ditissima and JN. cinnabarina, the latter with characteristic 
bright vermilion gonidia, which subsequently turn darker. 
As with other trees, Phytophthora omnivora infects the seed- 
lobes and leaves in nurseries. The curious black spots so 
frequently seen on leaves is a disease caused by Rhytisma 
acerinum ; it is much more common in parks and orna- 
mental woods than in true forests, but should be treated 
as a disfigurement of the foliage, and encountered by collect- 
ing and burning the leaves in autumn and winter in order to 
prevent the scattering of the spores and the spread of the 
disease during the following spring. 

The Sylvicultural Treatment of Maple and Sycamore re-, 
sembles in most points that accorded to the ash and the 
elm. They are not naturally intended to be grown in pure 
forests, or even to be allowed to grow up in clumps or 
groups, as they are distinctly light-loving after they have 
passed through the pole-forest stage of growth; hence they 
soon exhibit a tendency towards branching and sparse crown, 
and with their scanty broken canopy, and light annual fall 
of foliage, prove unable to protect the soil against ultimate 
deterioration. Scattered here and there, however, and 
interspersed as single stems, or in occasional small knots or 
patches throughout woods of other species, that are more 
efficiently endowed by nature with soil-protecting qualities, 
they develop into valuable timber trees, and often yield 
very handsome returns where there is a good market for 
furniture woods. 

Like other species of trees that are beyond all doubt light- 
loving, maple and sycamore can stand a considerably greater 

s 


258 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


degree of shade on rich, fresh soils, than on situations 
deficient either in moisture or in fertility ; but to underplant 
oak with maples, as is done in Holland, is, despite the 
greater relative humidity of the air, in accordance neither 
with the true natural requirements of these species, nor 
with the fundamental principles of sylviculture. Better 
results, both for the soil and the increment on the standard 
trees, might undoubtedly and confidently be expected if the 
underwood were made to consist of the soil-improving 
species, beech or hornbeam. 

It is especially in high forests of beech that maple and 
sycamore reach their finest development when scattered as 
single individuals, or in knots of a few trees, which can re- 
ceive any requisite attention that may be thought necessary 
during the ordinary operations of thinning out. When in 
good growth, they hold out the full period of rotation (100 
to 120 years), and are harvested as large-girthed valuable as- 
sortments of timber whilst the beech is being reproduced ; 
but except on the better soils, and the more favourable 
situations, they have usually to be removed at an earlier 
age. During the regeneration of the beech, self-sown 
seedlings of these species frequently make their appearance 
to a greater or less extent, and very often the mistake has 
been made of allowing them to remain in too great number 
as individuals, or in patches almost large enough to be called 
groups ; in such cases, where the superfluous individuals 
have not been removed in favour of the young crop of beech 
during the earliest clearings and weedings, the development 
of the ruling species is greatly interfered with by the more 
rapidly developing maples, as soon as these have outgrown 
the danger of suppression by rank grass and weeds, and 
not infrequently the beech entirely disappears when they 
form canopy in the thicket stage of development. As 
in the case of the ash, which is very commonly found asso- 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 259 


ciated with them, perhaps the best that can be done after 
that is to await the time when they begin to get somewhat 
broken in canopy after culmination of the average an- 
nual growth in height at about thirty to fifty years of age 
(according to*the quality of the soil), and then to thin them 
out, and underplant with beech. Wherever any intentional 
formation of pure clumps or holts of maples has taken 
place, the best treatment that can be accorded is practically 
the same,—aiding Nature when it is evident that she is 
making efforts to attain freer individual enjoyment of light 
and air after the greatest activity of growth in height has 
been accomplished, and providing, by underplanting with 
some shade-bearing species, not only for the protection of 
the soil, but also for the better growth of the standard trees. 
Whether the choice should be given to beech, hornbeam, 
spruce, or silver fir, is a matter that depends in each case 
on the local peculiarities of the soil and situation; but in 
general no mistake will be made by giving the preference to 
beech, unless a special market for bean-sticks and poles 
points to conifers as likely to be more remunerative. But 
it may be remarked that the areas having the necessary 
qualities of the soil to make them suitable for pure forests of 
maple are somewhat limited in our woodlands, 

Where an admixture of maples has to be artificially pro- 
duced, beech offers advantages beyond other shade-bearing 
trees as the ruling species, for in respect to requirements re- 
garding soil and situation, and in development, there is a 
considerable degree of similarity between them, whilst the 
former still have the great advantage of being somewhat 
forward in growth during all the earlier stages of development, 
when tending would otherwise be most difficult. During 
the first years the maples are also more rapid in growth 
than the spruce, and considerably more so than the silver 
fir, but these both catch them up sooner than the beech,— 

62 


260 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the spruce often during the fifteenth to the twentieth year, 
—and soon succeed in overtopping and suppressing them, 
without assistance being possible in the way of thinning 
out except at the cost of ultimate loss, or of deviation from 
the principle that the treatment of the woodlands shall be 
such as to yield the most remunerative returns. 

As standards in copse, maple and sycamore find, like the 
ash, circumstances admirably suited to their development ; 
and among the coppice they are to be found wherever the 
shade of the standards does not weaken them in the struggle 
with their neighbours for existence. 

In very many respects alike, so far as sylvicultural char- 
acteristics and treatment are concerned, there is, however, 
this marked difference between maple and sycamore, that the 
former is more the tree of the low-lying tracts and the 
gentle uplands, whilst the latter is distinctly a denizen of 
the hilly tracts, and is in general more exacting as regards the 
mineral strength of the soil. On sandy soils, only selected 
patches of good quality are suitable for either species, but 
the best development is usual on fresh, humose soil, 
especially when containing some admixture of lime; dry, 
exposed situations, sour soils, or those exposed to frost or 
inundation, and unprotected tracts along the sea-coast, are 
not localities likely to show good, healthy, and remuner- 
ative growth. 

Seed is produced almost annually, and is sown with the 
wings attached ; the seed of the mapie should be gathered 
in September, but that of the sycamore does not ripen until 
October, and then remains some time hanging before it 
falls. ‘The seed can be gathered either by shaking down 
on sheets, or by collecting the fallen fruits from off the 
ground. Its germinative power is but of short duration, so 
that it should usually be sown in autumn, when it comes up 
early in the following spring ; though where the danger from 


_ oe ae ~ 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 261 


late frosts is great, it can easily be mixed with sand, and kept 
over the winter in sacks hung up in damp places, out of the 
reach of mice and voles. Seed that has become too dry during 
the winter often does not germinate until the second spring. 

Sowing is confined, as in the case of the ash, to sprink- 
ling the seed on prepared patches wherever the introduction 
of these species is desired in forests where no self-sown 
growth has made its appearance; a sufficient soil-covering 
is given by raking superficially. Where the use of 
seedlings or transplants seems preferable in order to gain 
some advantage in growth, to avoid danger from rank 
weeds and grass, or to secure a better disposition of the 
subordinate species, the choice ranges from two-year-old 
seedlings up to strong transplants of nine or ten feet in 
height; but in general a preference is given to transplants 
four to six feet high, especially for putting out singly. On 
mild soils notching can be performed with younger 
material, though in general pit-planting is better, the plants 
being set deep in the ground, with a cup-shaped hollow left 
above for the collection of rain-water. For the production 
of seedlings, beds of good moist soil are best, the seed 
being sown in rills, or else broadcast, and then raked in 
and pressed down with a roller; transplants are put out in 
the nurseries in similar manner as in the case of the ash. 
Planting should be carried out in spring, and somewhat 
late when frosts are to be feared, even although the buds 
may be beginning to break into leaf. Trimming of the 
seedlings or transplants should usually be unnecessary, and 
ought not to be done if avoidable, as both species are 
somewhat deficient in recuperative power, and rather sus- 
ceptible to damage, especially of the rootlets. 


3. Rep or Harpwoopep E.ms, including the Common 
ENGLISH OR SMALL-LEAVED ELM (ULMUS CAMPESTRIS, Sm.), 


262 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the Mountaln, Scots, oR WycH E_m (ULMUS MONTANA, 
Sm.), and the Cork Eitm (ULMus susEerosa, Ehrh.), which 
were all comprised (as also the soft-wooded WHITE ELM, JU. 
effusa, Willd.), by Linneus under the comprehensive name 
Ulmus campestris. ‘These species show so many mutual inter- 
changes, that they are often exceedingly hard to distinguish ; 
they seem to be varieties rather than distinct species. 

Distribution.—The red or hard-wooded elms are distri- 
buted throughout the greater part of Europe, Algiers, Asia 
Minor, and Siberia as far as the drainage of the Amur, but 
are characteristic rather of southern than of northern Europe, 
where they are never found forming pure forests, and not 
generally even in large clumps. They are to be found more 
frequently in France, Spain, and Italy than in Germany and 
Switzerland, more frequently in the south of England (where, 
indeed, throughout many counties, as in Suffolk, Essex, and 
Dorsetshire, they form quite characteristic features of the 
rural scenery) than in Scotland or in Norway. The wych 
elm, more abundant in Scotland than in England, is in- 
digenous to Britain and Ireland, but it seems probable that 
the English or small-leaved species was originally introduced 
by the Romans,—a conjecture strongly supported by its poor- 
seeding capacity in this country, as well as by historical data. 

The mountain elm ascends the Alps to over 3,300 feet, 
but in general the elms prefer the lower-lying localities, such 
as dingles, coombs, and sheltered valleys, or level stretches 
even when subject to inundation, where they thrive equally 
well as coppice, pollards, or high timber trees. In many 
respects useful and valuable trees, it is to be regretted that 
more is not done for their cultivation on a large scale in 
compact forests, although no doubt large quantities of fine 
timber are produced at present along roads and in the hedge- 
rows dividing fields. ‘They thrive well in the neighbourhood 
of the sea-coast. 


> 


7 
| 
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BRITISH FOREST TREES 263 


Tree-form and Root-system.—Although under favourable 
circumstances the elms can assume first-class proportions 
equalling those of the oak, ash, maple, and sycamore, yet 
when grown in forest canopy such good dimensions are not 
generally attained. Isolated stems in hedge-rows often 
attain a height of 130 feet, whilst a girth of over twenty feet is 
at the same time not uncommon. But the development of 
the bole is also often unsatisfactory, bent and crooked, with 
an irregular, wavy-lined, elliptical section, and frequently de- 
formed by gnarled and knotty excrescences. When growing 
in the full enjoyment of light and air, they have rather a 
strong tendency to forked growth, and freedom from 
branches can only be obtained by confining their growing- 
space to the narrowest limits. The branches are long, and 
only moderately thick; they do not ramify much, but 
towards their ends divide into broom-like wisps or clusters 
of twigs bearing a somewhat thick and dense foliage. Seen 
in their bare winter condition, the elms are readily dis- 
tinguishable from oaks by the greater regularity of the twigs, 
and the smaller angle formed by these with the branches. 
The Cork elm has a narrower crown than either of the other 
two varieties or species. 

The root-system is heart-shaped, and consists of several 
strongly developed, branching side-roots, with strong deter- 
mination downwards; these do not expand much horizontally, 
unless the soil is wanting in depth or penetrability. At the 
later periods of growth, and particularly on shallow soils, 
their expansion laterally becomes considerable, superficial 
roots being thrown out in all directions. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—All varieties of 
elm demand a somewhat mild climate, and thrive best in 
warm localities, more especially where the atmosphere is 
humid. Severe winters not only retard the growth of young 
plants, but often do considerable damage to mature trees, 


264 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


although the common and mountain elms seem hardier in 
this respect than the Cork elm. 

A good fertile soil is necessary for all three varieties, none 
of which attain satisfactory dimensions except on the deep, 
light or mild accumulations in coombs and valleys, or at 
the base of hill-sides. Alluvial deposits, strong, friable 
mineral soil on hill-sides, good loam, and moist humose sand 
are, however, their favourite soils. Shallow limes and dry 
loams are no situations on which to experiment with elms as 
high-forest, although for coppicing these soils yield fairly 
good results. Like the ash, the elms can endure a con- 
siderable degree of soil-moisture ; but in general they may be 
ranked mid-way between the beech and the ash as regards 
the amount of it requisite for their proper development, 
although the mountain elm is more moderate in its require- 
ments than the other two varieties. Temporary inundations 
do not injure their development, and in general a superfluity 
of soil-moisture, or even an actual excess (within moderate 
limits), is preferable to any deficiency. Their development is 
conspicuously improved by a rich admixture of humus in the 
surface-soil ; in forests from which the dead foliage is regularly 
removed as manure for any adjacent fields, stag-headed- 
ness and decay of the crown soon make their appearance. 


Atmospheric humidity is congenial to their growth though 


not a necessity for it, and in regard to aspect they exhibit no 
distinct or decided preference. On the uplands, and along 
the lower ranges of hills, they do well with north-eastern 
exposures when protected, but shun the situations unpro- 
tected from the cold, dry, north-east winds. They break 
early into leaf, but are not on that account liable to suffer 
much from late frosts in April and May. 

Requirements as to Light.—The elms occupy, in regard to 
their demands for light, a place between the oak and the 
ash, on the one hand, and the maple and sycamore on the 


— 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 265 


other; they are certainly classifiable as light-loving, if not 
exactly light-demanding species. In their earlier stages of 
growth they can bear, on sufficiently moist soil, the shade of 
lofty standards for several years without suffering loss of 
recuperative power when allowed to have a freer enjoyment 
of sunshine and warmth. ‘Their love of light is, how- 
ever, unmistakable ; groups of pure elms do not main- 
tain themselves long in full canopy, and, in coppices 
especially, the necessity for a fuller measure of light and air 
is soon noticeable. ‘The crown of foliage is distinctly dense 
in the English and Scots elms, but the shade cast by the 
Cork elm is somewhat lighter. According to Ney, they bear 
less shade than the beech and hornbeam, but more than 
ash, maple, and sycamore ; they are certainly endowed with 
a denser foliage than these latter species. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity, —From 
about their thirtieth year onwards, elms produce seed almost 
annually ; they flower in April, and the fruits ripen and fall 
about the end of May or the beginning of June. Good seed- 
years occur every two or three years ; but unless utilised at 
once, the seed is apt to become easily heated and to lose its 
germinative capacity rapidly, which even in fresh, good seed 
averages only about forty to forty-five per cent. Owing to 
the loss of germinable capacity, the seed cannot be kept over 
winter till the following spring, though, as a sufficiency of seed 
seldom fails in any year, this is of little importance. The 
English elm, which makes greatest demands on warmth of 
climate, does not bear seed in Scotland, and even in England, 
is a very poor seed-producer ; but it compensates for this by 
its capacity for throwing out stoles or root-suckers, which 
establish themselves, and are removable as single individuals. 
The Scots elm throws out very few, if indeed any, suckers, 
but produces good seed abundantly. The seed of these 
two varieties is very much alike; in the English elm, how- 


266 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


ever, the seed is above the middle of the obovate fruit, and 
the notch between the wings reaches down to near the top 
of the seed, whilst in the Scots elm the seed is nearer the 
centre of the almost oval fruit, and the notch in the wings 
does not reach down to it. 

The reproductive power of elms is considerable, exhibiting 
itself not only in shoots from the stool and along the whole 
stem, especially from the cicatrices or callus growth of 
former wounds, but also in suckers from shallow super- 
ficial roots,—although in this respect aspen shows still more 
energy. In isolated trees and in avenues this capacity is 
also exhibited by the tendency of adventitious buds to 
develop into shoots along the bole. On good fresh soil 


their reproductive power is especially good. ‘They stand — 


pollarding well, and both as pollard and coppice yield good 
fodder for cattle, as well as fair returns in timber, whilst 
they long retain their power of shooting from the stool. 
Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—As regards 
frost, elms belong to the hardier species of deciduous trees. 
Late frosts do them little damage, in which respect they 
follow closely on the hornbeam, but on the other hand 
drought, or strong growth of rank grass, is very prejudicial to 
their development. During severe winters, however, super- 


ficial roots, both of young and of old trees, suffer when the 


soil has no proper covering to protect it. When in healthy 
growth, they are neither apt to be thrown nor broken by the 
wind ; but as they continue to flourish outwardly long after 
they are over-mature and rotten in the heart of the stem, 
their power of resisting storms may sometimes appear less 
than it really is. Deer and cattle both love to browse on 
elm foliage, but with its strong recuperative power the 
damage done is not of much consequence. Rubbing by 
stags and roe-buck often occasions severe wounds on young 
stems, and red-deer are apt to strip the bark of poles before 


. 
“ 
d 

. 
a 
: 


a. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 267 


it becomes thick and hard ; but in the power of healing such 
wounds the elm surpasses even the ash. As a tree of the 
forest, growing in admixture with other species, it stands next 
to maple and sycamore in immunity from the ravages of in- 
jurious insects. It is practically almost exempt from danger 
on a large scale, although both active forms of Aylesinus 
wittatus and Scolytus destructor often do considerable damage 
to the bark and sapwood of trees growing in the open, more 
especially in and around large, smoky towns. Among cater- 
pillars, those of Vanessa polychloros and Porthesia aurifiua 
do most injury to the foliage, whilst the greatest damage 
inflicted on the mature wood is caused by the larve of 
Ptilinus pectinicornis and the caterpillars of Zeuzera escult. 

Elms are exposed to the same fungoid diseases as maple 
and sycamore, arising principally from Mectria ditissima, N. 
cinnabarina, and Phytophthora omnivora. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Elms.—Nowhere in northern 
Europe dorelms occur forming pure forests, or as the principal 
species in mixed woods, and there are very many localities, 
well suited to its growth, where it is not even to be found 
among the subordinate species, despite its vigorous growth, 
the fine dimensions attainable on good soil, and the beauty 
of its wood for cabinetmaking and furniture. Its neglect 
sylviculturally—and there is every reason to believe that 
it was formerly to be found in our woodlands to a greater 
extent than is now the case,—is doubtless entirely due to 
the large extent to which it is to be found throughout the 
greater part of Britain along roads, as standards in hedge- 
rows, in avenues, parks, &c., whence the supply of timber is 
enough to cover the present demand for this particular kind 
of wood. Throughout Holland, Belgium, and northern 
France, it is to be seen adorning the towns and villages, as 
well as along the main highways, to a much greater extent 
than in Britain. In England it is a favourite tree for 


268 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


avenues, one of the best known being that on the Wimpole 
Estate, in Hertfordshire, consisting of a double row nearly 
three miles in length. 

Where grown in woods, the culture of the elm should be 
confined to warm, sunny exposures, and to soils un- 
doubtedly congenial to it, such as the moist patches suited 
to the ash, the better qualities of binding soils that are just 
a little too tenacious for the oak, fertile marshy land, good 
loamy or moist, humose, sandy soil, and the fresh, better 
classes of beech soils ; for, on the whole, elms undoubtedly 
belong to the species that make considerable demands in 
regard to the quality of the soil. 

Elms are as little qualified by nature as ash and maples 
to form pure forests, or even clumps or groups, and in 
general their sylvicultural characteristics and treatment 
exhibit very close resemblances to these species; their proper 
position is as single stems in mixed crops. But where, 
either intentionally or through force of circumstances, they 
have grown up in large patches or groups, they should be 
thinned out when their chief growth in height has been 
completed, and when the natural desire for lateral develop- 
ment begins to make itself distinctly apparent ; after that 
they should be underplanted with beech or hornbeam, 
silver fir or spruce, according as the nature of the soil, and 
the wishes and interests of the proprietor, indicate one or 
other of these species as preferable. When grown among 
oaks and beeches, elm has sometimes, if lagging behind 
in growth in height, to be cut out about fifty to sixty years 
of age ; but, in the majority of cases, on suitable soils it can 
maintain its crown dominant among the neighbouring trees, 
and can well hold out the full rotation of the latter, being 
then removed during the first or second reproductive fell- 
ings at ninety to a hundred years of age, as a large-girthed 
stem of considerable technical value. 


< 
< 
Se ee oe 


a. 


—— 


: 
i i i ce Ne 


a ee ee re 


—« 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 269 


The most natural treatment that can be accorded to elm 
is its growth in admixture with beech or hornbeam on moist 
patches with a warm aspect ; for without a considerable degree 
of warmth its development is not energetic. Under such 
circumstances it often attains a more rapid growth in height 
than these species, but when intermixed with the spruce or 
silver fir it is more easily overtaken in growth, and soon 
outgrown and suppressed by them. Rank growth of grass 
or weeds is very inimical to elm at the earliest stage of 
growth; yet when once it has passed through the bushy 
period and commenced its upward growth, it shoots up 
rapidly ahead of the beech, and maintains a vigorous growth 
in height into the pole-forest stage of development, towards 
the end of which, however, it is apt to be caught up by the 
latter. After that, except on good soils, even assistance 
given at the time of thinning out fails to prevent its being 
suppressed, unless it has been grown in small knots or 
patches, the centre of which cannot be reached by the 
ruling species ; but on soils and situations more favourable 
to its development, it either remains dominant, or can be 
aided during the operations of thinning. On the better 
classes of low-lying, and deep, moist, humose soil, to be still 
found here and there under forest, mixed woods of oak, 
ash, elm, &c., with the two first-named as ruling species, 
are often formed, care being taken either to avoid close 
planting, or better still to arrange the different species in 
groups on the various patches of ground best suited to their 
individual requirements, so that each species may at any 
particular time receive the special treatment, as regards 
thinning, underplanting, &c., best adapted to its cultivation, 
and to the production of the most remunerative assortments 
of that kind of timber. This latter method is in many 
respects the better, as, even with the use of strong and 
large transplants of oak, the ash and elms are of speedier 


270 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


growth, and succeed in shooting ahead of it, often very 
much to the detriment of the oak, although on such soils 
it can bear more side-shade than elsewhere, and has less 
distinctly the character of a light-demanding species. On ‘ 
these fertile soils—which, however, are far more usually i 
under agricultural than under sylvicultural treatment,—it is . 

4 

’ 


possible to reproduce the ash, elm, and maple naturally under 
the light shade of the standard oaks, and to allow all these 
species to grow up till the latter reach their full period of 
marketable maturity. Natural regeneration of the minor ‘ 
species has generally little then to fear from its chief p 
enemies, rank grass and frost,—although in any case the elm 
does not suffer much from the latter,—and can be easily 
accomplished, with a little outlay for soil-preparation in strips 
or patches, whilst the seedling growth—especially that of 
the ash—can develop fairly well under the chequered, 4 
broken, and mobile shade of the high forest of oak. Where 
this is not the case, utilisation of the existing undercrop, 
and timely formation of underwood of the shade-bearing and 
soil-improving species best adapted to the particular circum- 
stances of the patches in question, can always be taken in 
hand. Well-managed mixed forests of the above description 
form the most valuable crops of timber, and every individual 
group deserves the careful attention of the forester. 

The reproductive power of elms, especially of the English 
elm, is relatively greater from the root and stool than by 
seed-production, which is on the whole poor except after 
exceptionally warm summers that have favoured the secretion 
of reserve supplies of starch &c., for the formation of flower- 
ing buds. It is therefore weH adapted for pollarding, or as 
coppice under standards; but in the latter position the root- 
stools are apt to grow rapidly, and to spread out widely to 
the detriment of the other hardwoods, whilst the number of 
shoots per stool ultimately diminishes so much, that, as 


~y 
Te se 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 27! 


coppice, it is less remunerative tian many other species. As 
standards in copse, however, it finds its normal requirements, 
and rapidly develops a large-girthed bole. 

Sowing of elm is usually confined to the production of 
seedlings and transplants in nursery-beds, and requires some 
care as the young seedlings are sensitive to drought. The 
seed, which should be sown on loose, fertile, fresh soil im- 
mediately after it ripens about the end of May or the 
beginning of June—for it has no period of rest before 
germination, and loses its germinative capacity before the 
following spring—is scattered broadcast over the beds, and 
receives a very slight covering of earth passed through a 
sieve. What falls first is only imperfectly formed fruit ; but 
the matured seed, even if only collected in heaps or sacks 
for a few hours, gets heated very easily and then its germi- 
native power becomes materially diminished. In dry 
weather, watering daily for seven to ten days is necessary till 
germination takes place, and after the seedlings have appeared, 
they should have some protection from the strong summer 
sun, whilst care must be taken to weed out all grass that 
makes its appearance. Before autumn the plants develop 
quickly, harden so as to be able to resist the cold of winter, 
and can even be put out in the forest if desired ; but it is 
better to prick them out in the nursery.at distances varying 
from 8” x 8’ to12” x12”. At the latter distance the seed- 
lings develop into plants of one and a half to three feet in 
one to two years, and, by the removal of each alternate 
transplant, into strong transplants of five to seven feet high 
in four to five years. Forked growth is somewhat common 
in the nursery, but the elm stands trimming well. 

Planting has no difficulties to contend with, and the 
choice of material extends from yearlings to four or five-year- 
old transplants, a preference being generally given to two to 
three-year-old transplants, in order to obviate danger from 


272 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


rank growth of grass. Reproduction of elms can also take 
place by layering, as is extensively practised in Holland ; but 
this is rather a matter for the arboriculturist than the sylvi- 
culturist. Layering and planting take place most advan- 
tageously in autumn, from the middle of October till the 
middle of November, as the movement of the sap begins 
early in spring. Asin the case of the maples, planting may be 
either performed by notching and replacement of the sod, 
or by pit-planting with the hand, either operation being 
easy and without any special peculiarities. 


4. HoRNBEAM (CARPINUS BETULUS, L.) 


Distribution.—The hornbeam is described as being in- 
digenous from the south-west of France eastwards across 
central and eastern Europe to Persia, northwards to England 
and Ireland (but not Scotland) and the southern portion of 
Sweden, and southwards to lower Italy and Greece. The 
evidence of historical records goes, however, to prove that 
it was not originally among the forest trees of England, but 
was introduced from the Continent before the close of the 
fifteenth century. Its vertical distribution is limited to 


about 3,300 feet in the Swiss Alps, 2,900 feet in the - 


Bavarian Alps, 2,600 feet in the Vosges and the Black 
Forest, and 1,200 feet on the Harz mountains. Although 
not liable to suffer from cold, it does not stretch far north- 
wards, its growth being practically limited as a forest tree by 
the German Ocean and the Baltic. It hardly belongs to the 
ruling species of forest trees, although in eastern Russia, 
and beyond the Weichsel and the Oder, where the beech 
ceases to form forests its place is taken to a great extent by 
the hornbeam, which there attains excellent growth, and 
covers an area of immense extent. It is prized rather for 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 273 


its toughness and its adaptability to machinery requirements 
and cogs of wheels, and for its great heating power as fuel, 
than for any of its other qualities as timber. It is more the 
denizen of the valleys and the lower uplands than of the 
higher hill-ranges, which it cannot ascend so far as the 
beech. It is principally found in groups or patches, or as 
individual trees interspersed among beech along with oak, 
lime, ash, and Scots pine on moist patches of soil. 

Tree-form and Root-system.—On thoroughly congenial 
soil and situation, the growth of the hornbeam closely 
resembles that of the beech in regard to tree-form and 
development of the stem, and when there grown in close 
canopy, it attains to equal height and symmetry of bole, 
the ramification of the branches beginning also at about 
the same height as in the case ‘of the beech. Single stems 
grown in the open on strong, fresh soil attain a height and 
girth in no way inferior to the beech. 

The hornbeam is, however, as a rule relegated to soils of 
only inferior, or at least average, quality, and there its 
development sinks rapidly to very indifferent proportions, 
the bole becoming short and tapering, with a very irregular, 
fluted and flanged section, and soon dividing into branches 
that ramify into numerous clusters of broom-like twigs with 
somewhat dense foliage forming an extensive crown. 
Under such circumstances the hornbeam hardly approaches 
the majority of our forest trees in regard to attainable’ 
proportions, seldom exceeding sixty to seventy feet in height 
and about three feet in girth, whilst on the poorer qualities 
of soil it assumes rather the form of shrub or bush than of 
a normally developed tree. Growth in close canopy is 
necessary to secure a straight bole; with enlargement of 
growing-space the tendency to ramification soon manifests 
itself. 

Its root-system is endowed with a considerable power of 

T 


274 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


accommodating itself to the circumstances of the soil, and 
although on the whole heart-shaped in form, it exhibits a 
tendency rather towards lateral development than to deep 
growth ; on deep soil, however, the ramification commences 
lower down, and the numerous side-roots spread through 
the soil at a moderate depth below the surface. On shallow 
soil, more especially when subject to drought, the root- 
system resembles that of the spruce, long superficial roots | 
being thrown out close to the surface for the purpose of | 

, 


utilising to the full the moisture supplied by the atmospheric 
precipitations. It is therefore not reckoned among the 
deep-rooting species of forest trees. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—The hornbeam 
cannot be classed as at all exacting with regard to soil, in 
which respect it differs considerably from the beech, and on 
the whole its demands may certainly be called moderate. 
It is to be found alike on fresh sandy and loamy, as well 
as on clayey, limy, marly and other strong soils ; but for the 
attainment of its best development either a fresh and 
humose, or at least a strong, mineral soil is desirable. 
It shows, however, an undeniable and distinct preference 
for the fresh or even moist soil to be found in dingles and 
dells, and skirting the base of hill-sides; a sour soil is 
unfavourable to it, although it manages to maintain itself 
on the edge of marshy land, and can withstand the effects 
of temporary inundation. Porosity and penetrability seem 
of greater moment than depth of soil, although of course, 
other things being equal, the best growth is to be obtained 
when depth is also available; hard, tenacious soil is 
totally unsuited to it. 

In regard to demands on soil-moisture it occupies a 
position between the beech and the ash. Grown along 
with the beech, it asserts itself on the moister patches ; and 
where the soil is somewhat too moist and shallow for 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 275 


the former, the hornbeam can still often yield satisfactory 
results. Altogether, it is less exacting than the beech, both 
as regards soil and soil-moisture. When grown as coppice, a 
good layer of humus or mould is desirable, and at times 
indispensable, particularly on soils that are inclined to be 
stiff and dry. When, however, soil-moisture and a good 
layer of humus fail, the want of these must be counter- 
balanced by a good strong mineral composition of the soil 
in order to achieve anything like good development and 
vigorous growth. 

Although a hardy wood not suffering much from frost, 
and content often with but a meagre degree of warmth, yet 
the best results of its cultivation are obtained in localities 
favoured with genial atmospheric temperature. Low-lying, 
sheltered tracts, where during the heat of summer the air is 
always damp and heavy with aqueous vapour, answer better 
for the hornbeam than open, upland situations where the 
comparatively free play of winds and breezes tends to 
stimulate transpiration from the foliage, and to carry off by 
evaporation any surplus moisture from atmosphere and soil. 
As underwood, grown in coppice under standards, on hilly 
land, it is often worked with short rotation, one of the most 
advantageous crops. Its moderate demands on temperature, 
combined with its preference for atmospheric humidity, of 
themselves indicate that in hilly tracts the damper eastern 
and northern exposures are best suited for its growth and 
normal development. 

Requirements as to Light.—At no period of its growth 
does the hornbeam take rank among the light-demanding, or 
even among the light-loving trees, but it is rather to be 
ranged somewhere near beech and spruce as a shade-bearing 
species. Not only during the earlier years of growth, but 
later on in the more advanced stages of development, it can 
bear, without marked diminution of vital energy, a consider- 

T 2 


276 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


able degree of shade, more particularly on a good, fresh soil. 
On shallower ground, however, and on poorer localities 
mainly dependent on rainfall for their supply of moisture, 
the want of free enjoyment of light and air is more rapidly 
felt; its development under such circumstances suffers 
considerably, and its yield in cubic contents is of course 
much diminished. Under the more favourable circumstances 
it can yield good returns when grown as coppice, with or 
without standards, and as such is often allied with the 
beech, which, however, on the whole ranks higher as a 
shade-bearer than the hornbeam. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
From about its thirtieth year the hornbeam bears seed 
almost annually, even when nearly suppressed in growth by 
standards. The seed, which ripens in October, and of 
which about 14,000 to 16,000 go to a pound, has a germ- 
inative capacity of about 70 per cent. (according to Gayer ; 
Ney gives 50 per cent as satisfactory), lies over one year, 
and only germinates during the second spring, but retains 
its germinative power for from two to three years. In the 
reproduction of stems and of branches it likewise possesses 
a recuperative faculty of the highest power. It coppices 
freely, and maintains? its reproductive power for sixty or 
even eighty-five years like the oak, whilst on soils of the 
best classes it also sends out root-suckers when the stem is 
felled close to the ground. It is well adapted for pollarding, 
and for the formation of live hedges. Pollarded hornbeams 
may attain the age of a hundred and fifty to two hundred 
years. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—Thanks to its 
strong recuperative power, the hornbeam suffers little from 
external dangers. When once it has taken good root, it can 
bid defiance to attacks of all sorts ; as coppice it maintains 

1 According to recent experiments conducted by M. Bartet at Nancy. 


—_— 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 277 


itself, and the shade overhead must be heavy indeed before 
it succumbs. The bite of cattle, and the nibbling of sheep, 
do less permanent damage to it than to other species of 
trees, for its recuperative power is such, that, whenever 
badly bitten, or even regularly grazed over, a short period 
of protection suffices to repair the damage done. In damp 
localities exposed to frost it is one of our hardiest trees, 
thriving where even the beech is unable to. It is equally 
exempt from serious damage through snow and hanging ice, 
and, having a well-shaped root-system, it is little apt to be 
thrown by wind ; but on the other hand it often suffers 
during periods of drought, and like the beech and other 
smooth-barked trees, is apt to be damaged or “sunburnt” 
on the west and south-west side of the stem, if exposed to 
the scorching heat of the sun. 

Among its enemies are to be numbered chiefly mice and 
squirrels. In the wood-mouse (Aus sylvaticus), indeed, it 
has a bitter enemy which kills many young seedlings; the 
damage, however, is not so great as would be the case with 
other species less endowed with recuperative faculty, for the 
stems are easily replaced by stool-shoots, without necessi- 
tating either coppicing or the removal of the damaged 
portions. Injuries from insects are comparatively unim- 
portant, although species of: MZe/olontha often do considerable 
damage to the roots, the caterpillars of Chetmatobia brumata 
to the buds and leaves, and those of Gastropacha neustria 
and Porthesia chrysorrhea to the foliage. Like all the broad- 
leaved deciduous species, except perhaps the birch, infection 
with JVectria ditissima \eads to a cankerous fungoid disease 
of the stem and branches. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Hornbeam must in Britain be 
mainly confined to its use as underwood for protecting the 
soil, and stimulating the standard trees to increased annual 
production, in situations that are somewhat too fresh or 


278 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


moist for the beech. It is less capable than most forest 
trees of attaining large proportions in our climate, and 
though its tough wood is excellently adapted to various 
small timber requirements, the market for such minor 
assortments is easily satisfied without the cultivation of 
hornbeam on any extensive scale beyond its natural position 
in coppice. There owing to its strong, long-sustained power 
of shooting from the stool, and of throwing out stoles also 
with deep felling, and its capacity for enduring shade, in 
which it approaches but does not quite equal the beech, it 
often forms a very considerable portion of the crop. 
Wherever it is desired to grow the hornbeam in high 
forest, this can only be successful either on fresh and humose 
or strong mineral soils ; it is best attained by admixing the 
hornbeam with the beech, as except in close canopy it fails to 
develop a long, straight, round stem. Grown along with oak, 
ash, maples, and elms on damp or moist patches with good 
strong soil, where there is always a certain amount of danger 
from early and late frosts, it is often in some respects a 
better ruling species throughout such groups than the beech ; 
it is not so energetic in growth, and is therefore less likely 
to overtake and suppress, or at any rate inconvenience in 
growth, these nobler and more valuable species. As a 
subordinate scattered singly or in small knots throughout 
beech woods, even with some advantage in growth it is apt 
to be caught up about the twentieth to the twenty-fifth year, 
and in any case has to be removed—usually about 
the sixtieth to seventieth year—during the periodical 
thinnings, long before the ruling species has arrived at 
maturity. But near the edges of the forest, and wherever the 
shade overhead is not too dense, it generally endeavours to 
assert itself again as coppice ; as already remarked, the over- 
shadowing must be strong indeed to suppress it altogether. 
Where soil and situation are favourable to the hornbeam,— 


a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 279 


on the better, fresh or moist deposits in low-lying tracts, or 
on the lower uplands and undulating localities, in contra- 
distinction to the distinctly hilly ground on which the 
beech asserts itself most readily,—it is perhaps deserving 
of more attention than any other forest tree as a protecting 
and soil-improving species distinctly conducive to the finer 
development of the more valuable varieties of forest 
produce. In many instances these localities, if still under 
forest crops, are somewhat too damp, moist, and frosty for 
the beech, or its growth is so energetic as in some cases to 
interfere with the further development and expansion of the 
light-loving species forming by far the most remunerative 
portion of the crop, and in many respects the hornbeam 
accommodates itself, better than any other shade-bearing 
species, in general growth and as regards special character- 
istics, to the sylvicultural treatment carried out in favour of 
the dominant mixed crop. Being slower in growth than the 
beech, hornbeam even on the richer classes of soil never 
interferes with the more rapidly developing oak, ash, maples 
or elm; and as it attains its economic maturity between 
sixty and eighty years of age, or just at the time when the 
oak requires a larger measure of growing-space, and a freer 
enjoyment of light, air, and sunshine, it can then be utilised 
and reproduced as underwood, regenerating itself naturally 
by seed as well as by stoles or shoots from the stool. At 
that age, too, its timber is more remunerative than that of 
beech, or even than oak of the same age. Where oak forests 
are being reproduced, a self-sown growth of hornbeam is 
welcomed, as, if cut back during the weedings and clearings, 
it still asserts itself as protective underwood to the advantage 
both of the soil and of the principal crop, although its fall 
of leaves is neither so great, nor productive of such rich 
humus as in the case of the beech. 

On damp exposures subject to frost, hornbeam in 


280 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


admixture with Scots pine also in general gives better results 

‘than can be shown by beech, despite the lighter fall of foliage. 
Grown in equal-aged crops raised either from sowing or 
planting in the open, it leads to the early formation of closed 
canopy, and to vigorous growth in height of the pine; this 
soon outgrows the hornbeam, and the latter gradually 
disappears unless it is considered advisable to favour its 
retention by the formation of patches or groups at the time 
of sowing or planting. For the underplanting of pine or 
larch woods on fresh soils not quite moist enough for silver 
fir or spruce, hornbeam will usually be found the broad- 
leaved species most likely to yield fairly satisfactory results ; 
the operation should be undertaken about the thirtieth 
to fortieth year,—or earlier in the case of the larch,—at the 
time the natural tendency towards lateral expansion manifests 
itself plainly by the self-thinning of the pole-forest. 

For a standard in copse, hornbeam is not naturally so well 
suited as for coppice, as it casts too dense a shade over the 
surrounding underwood. But where the standards consist of 
oak, ash, and the like it does best service as coppice, and 
although not so soil-improving as the beech, it has a decided 
advantage over the latter in longer-sustained power of re- 
production from the stool ; it thus permits of a greater choice 
in the matter of fixing the periodic fall and the number of 
annual hags, the rotation varying from twenty to forty years 
according to the local demand for the material harvested 
from the coppice on the clearance of each hag. 

Self-sown growth of seedlings is at times capricious, and 
even troublesome in reproductive fellings in beech woods on 
fresh soil ; but in copse, free shedding of seed often remains 
practically abortive, as the young seedlings are easily sup- 
pressed by grass on the moister localities, whilst the seed 
either gets eaten by voles and mice or fails to germinate on 
the drier soils. Artificial production and reproduction are 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 281 


usually accomplished by planting,—which is essentially safe in 
its results, although the plants remain sickly for some time,— 
rather than by sowing, —which is exposed to great danger from 
grass on moist soil, from drought on dry soil, and from being 
lifted out of the ground by successive frosts on loose soil. 

Hornbeam is a troublesome species to deal with in so far 
as it very often shows good spontaneous growth where not 
at all wanted, and is extremely difficult of cultivation where 
its appearance is especially desired. On the better classes 
of soil hornbeam seeds almost annually, with a really good 
seed-year about once in three years. Like that of the ash, 
the bulk of the seed germinates only in the second spring 
after ripening, so that it is usually only sown then, after 
having been collected in sheets by shaking the boughs and 
branches about the end of October, or early in November, 
when it is beginning to assume a brownish appearance ; it 
falls best on days that have been ushered in by hoar-frost in 
the early morning. The keeping of the seed is exposed to 
no special dangers except from mice and drought; where 
large quantities are to be kept over, this can easily be managed 
by burying it in trenches about one foot deep. 

Sowing is most successful where the soil is only slightly 
prepared with rake or harrow, and the clean unwinged seed 
simply raked in, as it should not have a greater covering than 
4 to } inch, the quantity of seed sown being in the proportion 
of 25-40-50 to 60 lbs. per acre according as it is confined to 
patches, or strips, or sown broadcast over the whole. Unless 
measures are taken to protect the seedlings against rank 
growth of grass, the results of sowing are seldom satisfactory. 
Planting is in general preferable, but, except on fresh or 
moist soil, it also may prove somewhat disappointing unless a 
good stout assortment of transplant be used. Where seedlings 
of three to four years old are available from the woods, they 
should at once be put out in the nursery-beds about two feet 


282 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


apart, so as to develop into large transplants without loss of 
time, and with diminished danger of being gnawed by mice. 
Otherwise its treatment in the nursery consists of sowing in 
shallow rills, and pricking out in nursery beds as in the case 
of the beech. The planting of hornbeam offers no special 
difficulties to overcome ; for underplanting groves of light- 
loving species with two-year-old seedlings, notching with 
broad spades, or in the usual manner, is easily applicable on 
all except very binding soils. But for all other cases in which 
seedlings or transplants from two to seven feet high are put 
out,—and even larger material is used for grazing grounds 
and the like,—they can easily be transplanted in ordinary pits 
without earth attached to the roots ; the use of naked trans- 
plants, however, is not advisable on dry soils or for exposed 
positions, where the difficulty the plants find in establishing 
themselves is greater than on more favourable situations. 
For the formation of coppice, or the filling up of blanks there, 
good large transplants are preferable ; they should be put out 
about 43 feet apart after having their tops lopped, and then 
cut back to the ground after a year or so, when they have 
thoroughly established themselves. ‘The planting operations 
can equally well be carried out either in ‘spring or autumn, 
as may be most convenient. 

As pollards, the hornbeam yields a good flush of shoots, 
especially when one of the branches is left for a year “‘ to draw 
the sap” each time that the crop is harvested, that is, every 
six to ten years; one of the lower shoots should be selected 
for this purpose as being easier of removal than if one near 
the middle of the poll were chosen. For shade and shelter to 
the cattle, it also finds a suitable abode on grazing-grounds at 
wide intervals, being pollarded at about eight feet above the 
ground ; but where it may be intended to improve the grazing 
at the same time, better results are in general attained by 
wide planting of the larch. 


Pi ee a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES , 283 


With its strong recuperative power, young transplants of 
hornbeam stand trimming of the roots or branches well, but 
the latter should be sparingly done wherever there is danger 
from scorching or sunburn. This quality of the species finds 
its use in the formation of thick live hedges, which sometimes 
form quite a characteristic feature in old-fashioned gardens, 
especially in northern France. As underwood it forms an 
excellent cover for game during winter, thereby enhancing 
its other desirable qualities as underwood in mixed forests 
on good, fresh soil. 


5- SWEET OR SPANISH CHESTNUT (Fagus castanea, 
L. = Castanea vesca, Gaert.=C. VULGARIS, Lam.). 


Distribution.—The edible chestnut occurs throughout the 
whole of southern Europe, and is also indigenous to the 
warmer, extra-tropical localities of Asia and North America. 
It is found as a forest tree in the outlying ranges of southern 
Switzerland and France, and forms forests of considerable 
extent and importance throughout Spain, Austria, Italy, and 
Greece. Wherever it may be met with north of the Alpine 
range its presence has originally been due to artificial pro- 
duction. It ascends to 2,900 feet in the Alps, 2,200 in 
Spessart and the Odenwald, 2,000 feet in the Vosges, and 
1,700 to 1,800 feet in the Bavarian uplands. Even in 
Germany it is of importance from a sylvicultural point of 
view only in the warmer districts of the Rhine or Bavaria, 
where it is grown in coppice for vine-props, and in high 
forest for wine-casks and for general timber requirements. 
In Britain, where it was introduced by the Romans, its pro- 
fitable growth as a forest tree must be confined strictly to 
the warmest localities. 

Treeform and Root-system.—In suitable locality and on 


284 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


good soil, the chestnut resembles the oak in the dimensions 
attainable, aithough in general it is neither so lofty nor so 
regularly developed. During the pole-stage of growth its stem 
is straight and normal, but it soon ramifies and breaks into 
branches, and forms on the whole only a short bole. With 
advancing years the crown broadens and spreads consider- 
ably; the strong branches become gnarled and _ twisted, 
reaching far and wide in circumference, and bearing a wide- 
spreading, closely-foliaged canopy. 

In the development of the root-system it still more closely 
resembles the oak. It has a deep-seated, strong tap-root, 
the ramifications of which, as well as the ordinary side-roots 
of the stem, tend frequently towards an almost perpendicular 
growth into the soil ; with the spread of the crown, a devel- 
opment of superficial side-roots also takes place. 

During the early period of its development it has a some- 
what more rapid growth than the oak, which, however, it 
equals in length of life, and often surpasses in attainment of 
girth, thus compensating for its subsequent feebler energy of 
growth in height. In the south of England it attains sixty 
to eighty feet in height in fifty to sixty years; in Scotland 
it is less rapid in growth, but still retains its advantage over 
the oak during the pole-forest stage of development. 

Requirements as to Sotl and Stituation—The demands - 
made by the chestnut as regards soil are by no means slight. 
Depth and penetrability are factors more necessary for its 
satisfactory development than actual mineral strength. Stiff, 
binding, shallow soils are totally unsuited to it, even as 
coppice-wood ; somewhat less unsuited are the much-fissured 
or broken, stony soils through which the root-system can, 
in ramifying, penetrate to a better subsoil. Though -fond 
of moisture, a wet soil, or even temporary excess of 
moisture, is unfavourable to its proper development. Given, 
however, sufficient depth and porosity of soil, it can easily 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 285 


content itself with less than the favourable quantity of soil- 
moisture. Loamy soils are in general best suited to the 
chestnut, as they most frequently yield the conditions favour- 
able for the development of its normal root-system, whilst 
limes, for exactly the opposite reason, seem in general 
unsuited to its growth. On the whole, however, it is not 
exacting with respect to the mineral composition of the soil ; 
granites, basalts, clay slates, and sandstones, can each of 
them yield soils capable of affording it all the essentials for 
successful growth and normal development. 

A mild, genial climate is necessary for the chestnut, and 
even a somewhat high mean annual temperature if maturity 
of the edible fruit is to be reckoned on; the extreme of 
summer heat is at the same time prejudicial to it, as may 
be deduced from its preference for eastern rather than 
southern exposures on hill-sides. It is a tree rather of the 
uplands than of the valleys, more suitable for sheltered 
localities than for situations exposed either to heavy winds 
or to frosts; mildness of climate exhibits its favourable 
influence on the general energy of growth more in regard to 
this than to any other species of our fcrest trees, particularly 
in the matter of coppicing. Sheltered localities on low hill- 
ranges’ and uplands, but avoiding the coombs and dells 
where frost is first to come and last to leave, woodlands 
bordering on the sea-coast, or within its equalising influence, 
and unexposed situations in parks and ornamental clumps, 
are the places where its cultivation is most to be recom- 
mended. Grown as coppice, it often yields good results 
and proves itself well adapted for forming an underwood 
under standards of Scots pine, larch or oak. In general, 
however, its success as a forest tree in Britain is somewhat 
uncertain ; despite its many indisputably good qualities, it 
must continue to receive more attention from an arboricultural 
than from a sylvicultural point of view. It prefers the eastern 


286 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


aspects on hill-sides, and yields only poor timber on the 
colder northern exposures. 

Requirements as to Light.—The chestnut is classifiable as 
a light-demanding tree, in which respect it takes rank along 
with the oak and the ash. In its true southern home, how- 
ever, it can bear a greater amount of shade than in this 
colder climate, and even demands there a certain degree of 
light shade for the proper development of its fruit. Between 
the vineyards on the Rhine and in the vine-growing tracts 
of southern Germany, it is somewhat less intolerant of shade 
than the oak, along with which it is chiefly associated in 
growth, both in coppice, irf high forest, and also as coppice 
under standards, in order to supply the various demands of 
the wine-growing and coopering trades. In these localities, 
however, the summer heat is great, and the climate in many 
respects more resembles that of its true home. Even 
further north, where the summer heat is less, it often sur- 
passes the oak and the ash in shade-bearing capacity, as is 
proved not only by its often very fair returns as underwood 
below the light canopy of old Scots pine woods, but also 
by the less pronounced necessity for thinning-out during 
the pole-forest stage of growth. Grown as coppice for 
minor timber requirements, such as hop-poles, bean-sticks, 


cask-hoops, withes, &c., it should have the fullest possible - 


measure of light and air, so as to stimulate speedy growth 
and at the same time attain the maximum of density and 
durability in the woody fibres. Grown in the free enjoy- 
ment of light, its crown has a thick foliage, and throws a 
somewhat dense shadow, unfitting it for the 7é/e of standards 
over coppice, save on exceptionally good soil where the 
underwood can bear a slight excess of shade; stems, how- 
ever, that have been drawn up in close canopy bear only a 
moderate crown with comparatively light foliage. 
Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.—In 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 287 


the wine-producing districts of Germany this stranger from 
lands further south bears germinative and edible seed from 
about its twenty-fifth year, and even somewhat earlier in 
coppice-woods. The fruit ripens and falls in October, and 
has a germinative capacity of about 60 per cent. On the 
more favourable localities seed or mast is produced almost 
annually, but good seed-years occur only every three or 
four years, like good mast-years with the beech, or good 
vintage-years with the vine. The seed germinates in the 
following spring, the cotyledons, as in the case of the oak, 
being left in the ground whilst a strong tap-root makes its 
way down into the soil. Unless collected, the seed loses its 
germinative capacity from the effects of the winter frost. It 
does not generally attain full edible maturity in Britain, 
where, too, the seed developed is small in size in com- 
parison with that ripened on the Continent. About 150 
seeds are contained in one pound. 

Although capable of attaining large girth and a great age, 
its maturity as a timber tree in our somewhat cold northern 
climate should not exceed sixty to seventy years, as it is 
then apt to develop “ zizg-shakes,” which destroy to a con- 
siderable extent the value of the timber, although in no 
way interfering with the outward appearance and esthetic 
value of the tree for ornamental purposes. In the open it 
can attain an age of over 500 years, and in point of longevity 
is only rivalled by the oak and the lime. 

From asylvicultural stand-point, chestnutis chiefly valuable 
as coppice-wood, not only for its yield in material, and its 
fairly moderate demands on mineral strength of soil, but 
also on account of the superior humus-producing quality of 
its fallen leaves, and their power of recruiting and improving 
poor or exhausted soils Its reproductive power is very great 
and long-sustained, but its capacity for forming new roots is 
not equal to its energy in developing stool-shoots. As coppice 


288 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


it reproduces itself vigorously from the stool, and occasion- 
ally, according to Burckhardt, develops root-suckers in 
addition, although Gayer and Ney expressly state the 
contrary. Felling close to the ground and the heaping up 
of earth on the stumps stimulate its naturally strong repro- 
ductive capacity, which on suitable soils and situations is 
more vigorous and enduring than in almost any other species 
of timber tree. Even stools of a hundred years in age re- 
tain sufficient energy to throw out a good crop of shoots. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—Notwith- 
standing its many good qualities, the cultivation of this 
southern exotic must always in Britain be a matter of 
uncertainty, as it is so liable to suffer from frost. The 
ordinary winter of our climate it is able to withstand, but in 
hard winters young plants and poles get frozen to death, the 
frost working down even to the roots. Hence sowings and 
plantings are only advisable in sheltered localities where 
some protection is afforded by lightly-foliaged standard 
trees. It is apt to suffer badly from late frosts in May, in 
consequence of which it is little adapted for woodlands on 
the plain, although this danger is to a great extent counter- 
balanced by the extraordinary reproductive power of the 
chestnut from the stool. Where exposed to a hot sun, it is 
also apt to develop the stem-disease caused by scorching or 
sun-burn, and is therefore unsuited for the warmer south- 
western aspects exposed to insolation and refraction. Wind- 
fall is of infrequent occurrence, as might be expected from 
the strongly ramified and deep root-system. Young growth 
suffers at times from the grazing of cattle and the browsing 
of deer; but, gifted with strong recuperative power, it soon 
rehabilitates itself. From injuries arising from fungi and 
insects it has comparative immunity. 


1 Gayer, Der Waldbau, 1889, p, 110; Ney, Lehre vom Waldbau, 
1885, p. 410. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 289 


Sylvicultural Treatment of Sweet Chestnut can never be a 
matter of first importance in Britain. ‘The climate is not 
sufficiently warm to yield such good results as are attained 
with the cultivation of this tree on the Continent, on the 
warmer parts of which, as for example in the Rhine valley, 
it has great resemblance to the oak, but is more rapid of 
development in crown, stem, and root-system, and even 
retains its power of coppicing freely up to a hundred years 
of age. In Britain, on the contrary, the cultivation of this 
species can only take place in sunny, sheltered localities, in 
woodlands skirting the sea-coast, in parks, &c. But in 
general it is too liable to danger from frost to hold its own 
with the other hardier denizens almost naturalised within 
our forests. The wine-districts of central Europe are the 
chief localities where the sweet chestnut is cultivated along 
with the oak as high forest or as standards in copse for the 
supply of staves for casks, whilst as underwood and coppice 
it yields excellent withes and hoops, as well as material for 
vine-poles in the vineyards, its reproductive power being 
stimulated and increased by cutting the stems flush with 
the ground and covering the stools with earth. 

In the warmer tracts of southern England, wherever there 
is any good local demand for sticks for hop or bean cultiva- 
tion or similar petty requirements, coppice of chestnut may 
yield very favourable returns on the sunnier exposures on 
uplands where little danger need be apprehended from 
frost ; as the out-turn of small material is very large, a rota- 
tion of sixteen to eighteen yearly hags generally yields 
poles varying from twenty to thirty-five feet in height, 
according to the nature of the soil and the degree of warmth 
enjoyed. Well-stocked pure chestnut coppice in Germany, 
worked with a rotation of fifteen years, can yield? about 
2,800 poles per acre averaging thirty feet in height and 3°2 


1 Gayer, Der Waldbau, 3rd edition, 1889, p. 210. 
U 


290 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


inches in diameter ; but a mild warm climate is a condition 
of greater importance than depth or fertility of soil. Newly- 
formed coppices should be cut over for the first time at ten 
years of age, in order to strengthen the stools. Owing to the 
expense of obtaining chestnut seed from the warmer parts of 
the Continent in order to be sure of its quality, and owing 
to the dangers to which it is exposed from mice, game, 
and frost, planting is usually adopted in the production of 
crops of this species, or for its introduction as a subordinate 
among other forest crops. The fruit, after being collected 
in autumn, should be preserved in the cupules till the 
following spring, and then sown out point downwards, in 
order to obviate malformation, at distances of three to four 
inches in rills eight inches apart ; about one to one and a half 
inches of soil-covering should be given to the seed. Trans- 
planting is not as a rule necessary, as, after standing two 
years in the beds, the seedlings are sufficiently developed 
for ordinary requirements ; where, however, a larger assort- 
ment is desirable, they may be put out, either as one or two- 
year-olds, at one foot by one foot in nursery beds before 
being transplanted, every alternate one being allowed to 
remain if very large transplants are specially requisite for 
any particular purpose. As a rule one or two-year-old 
seedlings are put out at distances of four to six feet, whilst 
blanks are filled up with four to five-year-old transplants. 
The method of planting is practically the same as with the 
oak, pit-planting with the hand being perhaps most prefer- 
able, and on the whole yielding the best results. Planting 
operations can be carried out either in spring or autumn ; 
but, in general, experience tends to show that the latter 
is preferable, as enabling the plants to establish themselves 
more easily, and as causing less derangement in regard to 
the comparatively early flow of the sap in spring. 

Chestnut stands thinning out well, whether as regards the 


( 
: 
| 


ede es 


it 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 291 


roots or shoots. In the neighbourhood of Heidelberg the 
seedlings are cut back close to the ground at the time of 
pricking out in the nursery-bed, in order to strengthen the 
root-system, and to attain a more vigorous growth by means 
of a stool-shoot. 


6. Mountain AsH, FOWLER’s SERVICE, OR ROWAN TREE 
(Sorsus AucupariA, L.), is a species of minor importance, 
which, however, occurs so frequently over the whole of the 
mountainous tracts of Scotland and England that it certainly 
must not be omitted in the enumeration of the forest trees 
of Britain, more especially as it is undoubtedly one of 
our comparatively few indigenous species. It is found 
throughout nearly the whole of Europe and of northern 
Asia, but seldom attains over fifty to fifty-five feet in height. 
No: kind of soil comes amiss to it, although it exhibits, like 
the beech, a preference for such as contains some admixture 
of lime. It thrives on soils of the most varied character, 
and under conditions of the most varying description, 
whilst at the same time it exhibits a similar disregard with 
respect to aspect and elevation. Alike as regards soil and 
situation, it is undoubtedly the hardiest and least exacting 
of all our forest trees. 

Thanks to its extreme adaptability, it readily asserts itself 
wherever it can gain a foothold, the seed being widely 
disseminated in the excreta of birds, to which the berries 
afford grateful nourishment during winter. Pleasing alike 
in foliage, flower, and fruit, it is a welcome casual guest in 
woods formed of other species ; but it must not be allowed to 
outstay the welcome extended to a temporary guest, by be- 
coming a permanent resident. Its timber is highly prized on 
account of its superior toughness and elasticity, but as a tree 
it unfortunately only attains small dimensions in girth, and 
when these have been reached it should be cut out at once, 

U 2 


292 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


for after that it can no longer keep pace with the further 
development of most other species of forest trees. On 
exposed hill-sides it often, along with the birch, does good 
service as a nurse, but it is then sometimes just as difficult 
to be got rid of when no longer required, since it is also 
gifted with strong reproductive power, particularly in respect 
to the production of stoles or root-suckers. __ 

One can hardly speak of any particular sylvicultural treat- 
ment as being accorded to the rowan tree. It is the Israelite 
among our forest trees, thriving on soils of all descriptions— 
good, bad, and indifferent,—from the sea-level upwards to 
the limits of sylvan vegetation along with the mountain pine 
and the mountain alder (Alnus viridis), asserting itself 
wherever there is the slightest foothold on crags, rocks, ruins, 
or even where moss and fallen leaves have collected in the 
forks of trees, néver receiving any material encouragement, 
but merely allowed occasionally to associate with other 
species for a certain time, then to be invariably removed 
during the operations of weeding and clearing, or later on 
of thinning out,—always being cut down and operated 
against, but always making its re-appearance wherever it has 
a chance of maintaining itself. 

Even on raw exposed situations its cultivation in forests 
is not likely to be remunerative ; but for the adornment of 
mountain roads, and for many similar esthetic purposes, it 
possesses qualities unsurpassed by any other tree, and the 
ease with which it can be transplanted, either as seedling or 
stole, pleads for a little more being done for its distribution. 

Closely allied to the mountain ash is the true Service Tree 
(Pyrus torminalis, Ehrh. = Sorbus torminalis, L.) with its 
fine-grained wood, which is occasionally to be found in dry 
situations along with the beech on limy soils, but is nowhere 
of anything like frequent occurrence. It also is characterised 
by beauty of foliage, especially during autumn, when its 


BRITISH FOREST TREES m 293 


bright yellow, golden leaves contrast well with the darker 
russet hues of the oak and beech. | 

Growth in high forest is suited for neither species, whilst 
they are not remunerative enough, and do not attain 
sufficiently good proportions, to make it worth while to 
train them as standards in copse to take the place of trees 
yielding better monetary returns. For arboreta, parks and 
the residential portions of large estates, however, their culti- 
vation deserves a fair amount of attention. 


B. Softwoods. 


1. THE WHITE ALDER (Befula alnus, L.=ALNUS INCANA, 
D.C.). 


Distribution.—The white alder is distributed throughout 
central and northern Europe, and the greater portion of 
western and northern Asia and North America. It is 
found at elevations up to 5,100 feet in the Tyrolese Alps, 
4,500 feet in the Bavarian Alps, 2,300 feet in the Baierwald, 
and 2,100 feet in the Erzgebirge. Its development, how- 
ever, is incomplete at lofty elevations, and it is in reality 
more a tree of the plains, and the lower hills and uplands, 
than of the mountains. It nowhere forms extensive forests, 
but occurs mostly in small pure clumps and patches, or, 
when artificially formed, in combination with willows, horn- 
beam, and other moisture-loving trees, 

Treeform and Root-system.—It develops a_ straight 
smooth stem with a moderately foliaged crown, which 
rounds off and broadens as early as the fifteenth to 
twentieth year, demanding thereafter increased growing- 
space. Its growth in height therefore is not great. The 
crown, borne by long, straight, elastic branches set at a 


294 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


small angle with the stem, is moderately dense, more so on 
favourable situations than that of the common alder; but 
like the latter the white alder may be classed as holding an 
intermediate position between the light-demanding and the 
shade-bearing species of forest trees. Its root-system is 
superficial and far-reaching ; the side-roots are studded with 
small clusters of rootlets, sometimes of considerable length. 
In rate of growth, and as regards its attainable dimensions, 
it much resembles the common alder. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—The white alder 
is not a denizen of the fens and the marshy tracts like the 
common alder ; nor does it, like the latter, form pure forests 
over areas of any considerable extent. For moist, porous 
soil, such as is so often to be found along the banks of 
streams and at the foot of hill-sides, it has a decided pre- 
ference, but the soil-moisture must be water in slow motion, 
and not altogether of a stagnant nature. On sour marshes, 
or water-logged bogs, its growth is backward and unsatis- 
factory in comparison with the common alder. It thrives 
best on a rather fresh or even moist soil, not too stiff or 
binding, moderately deep, and not wanting in loamy con- 
stituents. Although on the whole a moisture-loving tree, it 
is content with a much smaller amount of soil-moisture than 
the common alder, without, however, being capable of 
showing vigorous and energetic growth on dry soil of any 
description. It also differs from the other species in making 
somewhat stronger demands on the mineral strength of the 
soil, and especially shows a certain degree of preference for 
soils with limy admixture. Cool localities with heavy 
humid atmosphere, such as coombs and hollows at the 
base of hills, are better suited for its growth than more open 
and exposed situations. 

In Switzerland the white alder does yeoman service in 
bringing under cultivation the stony channels of disused 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 295 


water-courses. When once it has established itself, a good 
growth of grass soon follows on stretches where only bare 
stones were formerly to be seen ; and frequent coppicing in 
such localities only strengthens its power of improving the 
soil. On the Rhine, too, it and willows are generally the 
first trees to assert themselves on fresh, stony soil, thus 
gradually paving the way for soil-formation and subsequent 
growth of grasses. 

Requirements as to Light.—Both alders occupy an inter- 
mediate position between the light-demanding and the 
shade-bearing species of forest trees. But the white alder on 
the whole makes a lower demand for light and air than the 
other, as is shown by its somewhat denser foliage, its better 
growth in secluded dells lying at the base of hills and 
favoured perhaps with but scant sunshine, or as underwood 
below standards of birch, Scots pine, common alder, or even 
occasionally the oak. On suitable soil it can thrive fairly 
as coppice under standards casting only a moderate amount 
of shade, though under such circumstances its reproductive 
energy from the stool is apt to be prematurely weakened. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.—The 
white alder is seldom allowed to attain its normal maturity 
as high timber forest, but under any circumstances its timber 
is not so good as that of the common alder. Its chief use is 
for filling blanks in plantations, and thus forcing young oak, 
ash, maple, &c., to a more energetic growth in height ; it 
can be coppiced twice or thrice under such circumstances 
before the stools and roots lose their reproductive power. 
In cool situations, where soil and atmosphere are both 
humid, it can attain an age of forty to fifty years without 
exhibiting signs of senile decay and over-maturity; but in 
drier or warmer localities it reaches its full maturity in 
little over half that time, whilst not only its energy in growth, 
and its timber production in cubic contents, but also its 


296 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


reproductive power, become reduced in proportion. Under 
normal circumstances, however, it has a considerable 
power both of shooting from the stool and of sending out 
root-suckers, in which latter respect it has some advantage 
over the common alder. The shoots are of rapid growth 
for about the first ten to fifteen years, but then decrease 
considerably in their rate of annual increment. 

The capacity for reproduction from the stool also 
diminishes much more rapidly than in the case of the 
common alder, but, with failing power in this respect, the 
tendency towards increased development of root-suckers 
becomes distinctly apparent. Deep felling of the timber 
and coppicing close down to the ground also stimulate the 
formation of suckers. As regards the production of seed, 
it closely resembles the common alder ; the seed, however, 
is lighter in colour, and has not the same tendency to 
scatter quickly before it can be conveniently harvested. ‘The 
seed is somewhat smaller than that of the common alder. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—Grown 
usually in sheltered localities, the white alder is little 
exposed to danger from heavy storms, against which its 
root-system is little fitted to offer strong or effective re- 
sistance. Against hard frosts in winter it is somewhat 
hardier than the common alder, the reproductive power of 
the stools being less liable to be damaged by ice. Like the 
other species, however, it is not exempt from being killed 
outright, or being interfered with in growth, by having its 
roots exposed when a rapid thaw suddenly succeeds a 
sudden frost,—a danger that increases in proportion to the 
amount of soil-moisture. Inundation of the stools after 
felling is on the other hand more injurious to the white 
than to the common alder. 

Like nearly all deciduous broad-leaved trees, it is liable 
to the cankerous fungoid attacks of JVectria ditissima on the 


) 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 297 


stem. From insects it suffers comparatively little, although, 
like the common alder, its roots are exposed to damage 
from the larvze of species of A/e/olontha, and its wood in the 
thicket and pole stages of growth to injury by the larva 
of Cryptorhynchus lapathi ; this latter also feeds on the 
foliage as a perfect insect. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of White Alder.—Although closely 
resembling the common alder in many respects, this species 
shows marked differences in others ; it is no denizen of the 
marshy soils, and does not naturally form pure forest, but 
prefers rather the fresh, mellow soil to be found in the 
vicinity of brooks and streams, and in narrow valleys, where 
it usually occurs in patches or small groups that have arisen 
from stoles flushed by the roots of a parent tree. This 
capacity of throwing up a wealth of rapidly developing root- 
suckers is a marked characteristic in which it differs essentially 
from the common alder, whilst, as regards power of bearing 
shade, it also has some little advantage over this species. 
They are nearly alike as regards rapidity in growth and 
development, and in general reproductive capacity, but on 
the less moist soils preferred by the white alder this power 
is not so long retained. Like the common species it is only 
treated as coppice, and worked with a rotation varying 
generally from ten to thirty, but not exceeding thirty to 
forty years. Where there is any demand for its soft timber, 
it is well adapted for the underplanting of standards of oak, 
ash, maple, &c., in order to protect and improve the soil 
when these have completed their growth in height and have 
become interrupted in canopy ; it can there be harvested 
several times before being so weakened in reproductive 
power by the shade of the standards as to be suppressed. 
For the planting up of stony soil through which a supply of 
water trickles slowly, this species is of great value as paving 
the way for a growth of grass, to better accumulation of soil, 


298 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


and towards subsequent utilisation either as pasturage or for 
sylvicultural purposes. 

Production and reproduction of white alder are practically 
the same as with the common alder, except that deep cutting, 
close to the soil, stimulates the formation of stoles and 
obviates the necessity of filling up blanks after inundations of 
the stools, against which this species is more susceptible than 
its relative. Where it is necessary to provide seedlings and 
transplants for the purpose of planting, the procedure adopted 
in the nursery is the same as in the case of the common 
alder, except that the seed-beds should not be quite so 
moist. In planting out, somewhat wider distances are given 
to the white alder, as greater density is generally attained by 
the after-growth of suckers ; where grass is intended to be 
utilised for some time, it is best to plant out in rows of about 
eight to nine feet to allow for the swing of the scythe, the 
plants being then put out from four to six feet apart in the 
lines. The plants are generally put out as two to four-year- 
old naked seedlings or transplants, and the methods em- 
ployed are either notching and packing below the turf, or 
else pit-planting with the hand. On the somewhat drier 
situations affected by the white alder, the operations may 
either be carried out in spring or in autumn, but the pre- 
ference is generally deservedly given to the latter.. Some 
measure of trimming, both of the roots and the upper por- 
tion of the plants, is often necessary. ‘This is borne even 
better by the white than by the common alder, so that even 
when the whole of the upper part is lopped off, and the 
root alone is planted, as is sometimes advisable with weakly, 
drooping seedlings, and in windy localities, it soon establishes 
itself and commences to grow vigorously. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 299 


2. THE LIME OR LINDEN (Tilia europea, L. =T. PArvi- 
FOLIA AND T. GRANDIFOLIA, Ehrh.). 


Linneus’ original nomenclature has been altered by later 
authorities owing to certain botanical differences noted, and 
as these are accompanied by very apparent changes in the 
form and size of the leaves, the two species of linden are 
now. known as the smadl/-leaved, or winter lime (T. parvifolia, 
Ehrh. = 7: ulmifolia, Scop.), and the large-leaved or summer 
lime (T. grandifolia, Ehth. = T. platyphylla, Scop.). 

Distribution.—The small-leaved lime extends from central 
and northern Russia, where it forms forests and attains its 
highest development, westwards towards the north of Spain, 
northwards to Finland and Scandinavia, southwards to 
southern Italy, and eastwards to western Siberia. In the 
Tyrol it ascends to nearly 3,900 feet above sea-level, and 
2,000 feet in the Baierwald. The larger-leaved species is 
indigenous throughout southern Europe up to central Ger- 
many, and eastwards to the Caucasus, attaining its best 
development in southern Russia; it ascends to a greater 
elevation than the other lime, reaching 3,000 feet in the 
Baierwald. In Britain the limes are slow to break into leaf 
in May, and are usually among the first to defoliate in early 
autumn ; they are only in activity during the warmest time 
of the year, and it is evident that they require in general a 
very considerable degree of warmth. It seems beyond 
question that neither species is indigenous to Britain, for the 
ripening of their seed cannot be depended on; but in any 
case it is known that the larger-leaved lime was -introduced 
from the Continent during the eighteenth century, and it is 
supposed that both species had previously been brought 
across by the Romans. Along with the aspen, the small- 


300 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


leaved lime forms good forests in the plains skirting the 
southern coast of the Baltic. The large-leaved species, on 
the other hand, is more a tree of the uplands and the hills 
than of the plains and the valleys, and belongs rather to 
central and southern than to northern Germany. In Germany 
the limes were formerly much more frequently grown in 
clumps and patches among beech forests than is now the 
case, but its poor quality as fuel, and the want of any great 
demand for its timber for technical purposes, led to it being 
cut out as much as possible when it interfered with the 
development of the better fuel-producing beech, or of 
other more remunerative species of forest trees. The limes 
are in reality of far greater importance from an arboricultural 
than a sylvicultural point of view in Britain, and nowhere 
find a more suitable situation than in the formation of 
avenues, of which there are many noble specimens through- 
out the country. 

Tree-form and Root-system.—Both limes have a consider- 


able power of adapting themselves to circumstances in - 


regard to growth of stem and formation of crown. When 
limited in growing space, they develop a long, straight, 
cylindrical and full-wooded, clean bole surmounted by sturdy 
branches bearing a semi-circular and moderate crown of 
foliage ; with freer space for development their bole is short, 
and soon ramifies into numerous strong branches forming a 
broad and thickly-foliaged crown. ‘Their growth in height 
is energetic, but when entering the tree-forest stage after 
completing their growth as poles, they make considerable 
demands on growing-space, and rapidly broaden in crown. 
The large-leaved lime is quicker in growth, and more 
beautiful in foliage, than the small-leaved species, hence more 
favoured for arboricultural purposes in parks, avenues, &c. 
In general form and development the lime resembles the 
beech and the chestnut more than other forest trees. 


) 
———-o. 2. ee eS 


 -. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 301 


With quicker rate of growth, it has about the same attainable 
height as the former, but like the latter surpasses it in girth. 
In root-system it also resembles the chestnut, rather than the 
beech, in having a tap-root as well as strong side-roots which 
penetrate deep down into the soil. The side-roots are more 
prominently developed, however, than the tap-root, and 
spread wide apart in their individual efforts to circumvent 
obstacles opposing their downward progress in quest of sub- 
soil moisture ; the roots ramify greatly, and easily adapt 
themselves to the nature of the soil. With advancing age a 
considerable number of more superficial roots is developed, 
and the base of the stem becomes somewhat buttressed and 
considerably enlarged. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—The lime grows 
on soils of the most varying nature, but deep, fresh, light 
loam suits it best. Rich soil on hill-sides or in coombs pro- 
duces good timber-growth, but in rocky soil it often retains 
its power of coppicing for a long time. Low-lying tracts 
with fresh soil have also good growth to show; in east 
Prussia it springs up like a weed over large areas, and in 
Russia it is extensively worked as coppice for the production 
of bast or dass, for ropes, mats, and the like. Its demands 
on soil are generally about the same as the beech ; but, with 
its somewhat deeper root-system, greater depth of soil is 
requisite for the lime. The small-leaved species can thrive 
better than the other with either a slight excess or deficiency 
of soil-moisture, and makes also the smaller demand on 
atmospheric warmth. For growth as timber trees, however, 
dry soil is suitable to neither species. Warm localities are in 
general better suited for the large-leaved species. Altogether, 
the lime is not one of the most remunerative of forest trees, 
and its cultivation in Britain must continue to take place 
rather for zesthetic reasons than in consequence of calcula- 
tions from a monetary point of view. For ornamental 


302 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


purposes in parks, arboreta, at the fringe of forests, or in the 
neighbourhood of towns, they are especially adapted ; they 
afford, too, an excellent feeding ground for honey-bees 
whilst in flower in June and July. 

Requirements as to Light.—The lime is neither strictly 
classifiable among the light-loving nor yet among the shade- 
bearing trees ; it stands along with the elms, alders, and 
maples on the debatable ground between the two main 
sections, to one or other of which it may be assigned 
according to the nature of the soil on which it grows,— 
depth and moisture being the factors principally determin- 
ing the issue. From the character of its foliage and the 
considerable amount of shadow cast by the crown, which 
renders it somewhat unsuitable for standards over coppice— 
it should prima facie belong to the shade-bearing trees ; but 
the other features of its development—its clear and rapid 
bole-formation when grown in close canopy, and its increased 
demand for growing-space when it passes from the pole- 
forest to the tree-forest stage of growth—characterise it 
rather as naturally belonging to the light-loving class. This 
is Certainiy the case when it is grown as coppice, for the 
shade of standards at once interferes with the reproductive 
power of the stools except where the climate is genial and 
warm, and the sunshine bright and constant. No practical 
difference is observable between the two species in regard to 
the amount of shade they can bear. The large-leaved 
species comes first into leaf in May, though both are 
distinctly backward in this respect; but it also loses its 
foliage much earlier than the small-leaved lime, which is on 
the whole the better deserving of cultivation in Britain. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
Owing to the summer here being less warm than on the 
Continent, the lime only seeds occasionally. On the Con- 
tinent it bears seed almost annually from about its thirtieth 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 303 


to thirty-fifth year ; this ripens about the end of October, 
remains hanging till well into winter, and has a germinative 
capacity of about 60 per cent. The seed of the large-leaved 
species is plainly five-ribbed, and about the size of a pea, 
whilst that of the other is only two-thirds as large, one 
pound containing respectively about 8,000 to 10,000 and 
15,000 to 16,000 seeds (according to Ney). It germinates 
sometimes in the following spring, sometimes not till the 
second spring, especially if kept too dry during winter. 
The lime surpasses all other softwoods in attainable age,! 
and can well maintain the same periods of rotation as hard- 
woods. It is endowed with considerable and long-main- 
tained recuperative and reproductive power, which displays 
itself not only in the healing of wounds in the bark, but 
also in the throwing out of shoots from the stool, stem, and 
branches ; hence it is well adapted both for coppicing and 
pollarding. It does not, as a rule, throw out root-suckers, 
although deep-seated stool-shoots often have the appear- 
ance of true stoles, and it is easily reproduced by layering, 
a method extensively adopted in Holland and Belgium. 
Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—The strongly- 
developed root-system of the lime protects it against windfall, 
the danger of which is also decreased by the late breaking 
into leaf in spring and the early defoliation in autumn. 
Against late frosts, that nip the tender young leaves in May, 
its strong reproductive power is an adequate protection, so 
that it may be regarded as on the whole hardy; this is 
especially true of the small-leaved species. Where strong 
scorching action of the hot afternoon sun can take effect on 


1 Burckhardt (Sden und Pflanzen, 1871, p. 477), states that at 
Harste, near Gottingen, there is a large-leaved lime measuring 274 feet 
circumference at breast-height (in 1871), under which the old open air 
courts used to be held, and which even in 1425 was referred to in the 
records of such proceedings as the o/d Lime. 


304 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the smooth-barked bole, suzdurn not infrequently leads to a 
diseased condition of the timber. Other diseases of the stem 
are due to the fungi Wectria ditissima and JN. cinnabarina. 
From insect pests it has not much to bear. Gastropacha 


lanestris and Porthesia auriflua, as caterpillars, damage the 


foliage and buds, along with those of six or seven less import- 
ant moths, and the soft timber is at times badly bored by 
the caterpillars of Cossus ligniperda and Zeuzera aesculi, and 
the larvee of Xyloterus domesticus. Deer and cattle love to 
browse on the young shoots and foliage, which are rich in 
mucilaginous albuminoid substance, and red-deer are apt to 
strip the bark both in winter and summer. Yet, on the whole, 
the limes suffer but little from external dangers, and are, as 
previously remarked, well endowed with recuperative power. 

Any Sylvicultural Treatment of the Lime can hardly be 
spoken of in Britain, or indeed throughout any part of 
north-western Europe. Its proper place is rather in parks and 
gardens, and for ornamental purposes generally, than in 
woods along with other species whose timber is prized and 
paid more highly. For avenues it is one of the favourite and 
most beautiful trees, and is not liable to die off and leave 
gaps here and there. Perhaps the most celebrated linden 
avenue is that at Herrenhausen, near Hanover, formed 
during the reign of George I. in 1726; it is 2,200 yards 
long, and consists of four rows of large-leaved limes with 
sixty feet between the central lines, and twenty feet between 
the two outer rows, the trees being ranged alternately in the 
lines at twenty feet apart. With its strong reproductive 
power, it adapts itself well for pollarding and trimming into 
fantastic shapes, and its peculiarities in this respect were 
formerly much more utilised in quaint gardening than at 
the present day, except in Holland and Belgium where the 
old fashion still prevails. 

As fuel, its soft wood is of little value, but wherever 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 305 


there is likely to be any market for bast for rope, cordage, or 
mats, it certainly deserves some little attention as coppice 
on railway cuttings, and embankments, and similar unutilised 
ground, along with oak coppice and osier-beds, on places 
where the soil is not quite good enough for these more 
remunerative species to be grown pure. 

As might be expected from its strong recuperative and 
reproductive power, lime can easily be transplanted at 
almost any age from seedlings up to poles of thirty to forty 
years of age, whilst it also stands trimming or lopping better 
than any other species of forest tree. Sowing of the lime 
is much less frequent than planting, not only on account of 
the poor seeding qualities of both species, especially of 
the large-leaved one, in Britain, but also of the slow 
development of the seedlings at first, so that even for 
nursery-beds slips, layers, or rooted stool-shoots are often 
pricked out in preference to seedlings. Where seed is 
obtainable, it can be preserved over winter in the same way 
as ash-seed ; but it is better to collect it from the ground 
in spring just before the time of sowing, as then it is less 
likely to lie over till the following spring before germinating. 
The seed is sown thickly in rills with a light covering of 
soil of about } to 4 of an inch, as the percentage of non- 
germinative seed is high ; this is more particularly the case 
with the large-leaved species, which, on account of its 
greater beauty of form and foliage, and its more rapid 
growth and development, in general deserves the preference. 
When the seedlings appear in spring, they are somewhat 
sensitive to late frosts, and require some little protection until 
the most dangerous period, the middle of May, has passed by. 

When the seedlings or layers are pricked out in the 
nursery beds at one, or more frequently at two years of age, 
they are usually put from sixteen to twenty-four inches 
apart, and as limes require a good deal of trimming and 

x 


306 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


attention, they are generally trimmed and transplanted again 
in the fourth to fifth year, and finally planted out in the 
seventh to ninth year in the case of the large-leaved 
species, and tenth to twelfth year for the smaller-leaved. 
In the production of good two-inch transplants for avenue 
and ornamental purposes, ten to fifteen years are necessary, 
according to the species chosen and the preference accorded 
to layering or growth from seed. 


3. THE HorsE CHESTNUT (AéscuULUS HIPpocas- 
TANUM, L.). 


Distribution.—The horse chestnut is indigenous to the 
mountains of northern Greece, Thessaly, and Epirus, where 
it ascends to 3,300 feet, and eastwards to Persia, Afghanistan, 
and Upper India. It was introduced into Italy (1569) and 
Austria (1576) in the sixteenth century, and into France 
(1615) and England (1629) in the seventeenth century 
according to Hess,! although Loudon states that it was 
introduced only in the eighteenth century into Britain, 

- Treeform and Root-system.—Its growth is quick, but the 
bole remains short though cylindrical, and soon begins to 
ramify and break into branches supporting an expansive, 
somewhat rounded, oval crown bearing heavy dense foliage. 
The stems are almost always tortuous in growth, the 
tortuosity having invariably a plus motion. In the open the 
trees are, during their bare winter condition, easily recognis- 
able from the ends of the branches being curved upwards 
like the arms of a candelabra. ‘The root-system is well 
developed, moderately deep, on the whole heart-shaped, and 
sufficiently strong to offer very considerable resistance to 


1 Hess, Die Eigenschaften und das forstliche Verhalten der wichtigern 
in Deutschland vorkommenden Holzarten, 1883, p. 108. 


ee 


— 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 307 


storms ; at first it develops a strong tap-root, but later on 
ramifies for the most part laterally. 

In Requirements as to Soil and Situation it is somewhat 
exacting, as the soil must be good, and the situation level 
and sheltered, before it can attain the full beauty of its 
development. It prefers a fairly deep, light, moist soil, 
and a north-western aspect, when not growing on level 
ground ; where late frosts are frequent, it seldom sets 
seed, although otherwise not sensitive to cold. As the 
rich fall of foliage yields good humus, the horse chest- 
nut possesses in a very fair degree the quality of conserving 
and improving the productive capacity of the soil. 

Its Reguirements as to Light are on the whole moderate, 
as might be expected from the density of its foliage; in 
this respect it may well be graded between the sweet chest- 
nut and the lime, and classed as a shade-bearing species, 
though not so in any pronounced degree, like the hornbeam 
or beech. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.—As 
the horse chestnut is chiefly cultivated for ornament and 
in the full enjoyment of light, air, and warmth, it attains 
early the power of forming seed, and from about the twentieth 
year it bears almost regularly every year. It possesses a 
fair, but not strong power of coppicing, which is confined 
to the production of shoots from the stool, and does not 
extend to the formation of stoles or suckers. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—From the 
isolated position in which the horse chestnut is usually 
grown, it is somewhat liable to sunburn and frost-cracks in 
the bole, but is otherwise comparatively insensitive to 
drought in summer, or to frosts and cold at the other periods 
of the year. Though here and there thrown by wind during 
violent storms, it is on the whole able to offer a very 
considerable resistance, and is by no means apt to become 

xX 2 


308 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


windfall, whilst snow and iceaccumulations on the branches 
in winter cause little damage by breakage. 

It suffers comparatively little from the attacks of insect 
enemies. JZelolontha vulgaris and M. hippocastani gnaw the 
rootlets as grubs, and feed on the leaves as beetles; the 
larvee of NXyleborus dispar bore into young shoots and 
transplants, causing sickly growth and often death ; species of 
Anobium, both as larve and beetles, work their way into the 
mature wood ; the caterpillars of Acronycta aceris feed on the 
foliage, and those of Zeuzera aescult, after feeding during the 
late summer and the early autumn of their first year in the 
cambium, winter in the wood, and feed in it during the 
second summer. 

The chief fungoid disease to which the horse chestnut is 
liable is Mectria cinnabarina, the bright red pustules of which 
break through the buds and the bark of young shoots ; by 
interfering with the ascent of the sap, in place of allowing it to 
be employed in the normal development of the buds, it kills 
young plants outright, and also twigs throughout the crown 
of the tree. The heart of old trees is somewhat apt to 
suffer from red-rot, which may be, but is not necessarily, 
occasioned by species of Polyporus, whilst stag-headedness 
often occurs as the preliminary to senile atrophy. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Horse Chestnut.—For the form- 
ation of woodlands this species is seldom of any importance, 
although its cultivation is easy ; it is, however, one of the 
chief kinds used in the formation of avenues in towns, 
besides being extensively employed in the laying out of 
parks and ornamental woods. Its soft, even-grained timber 
is not apt to swell or shrink ; but as durability is not one of 
its strong points, it is not much in demand, although it 
takes a good polish, and is otherwise in many ways suitable 
for the requirements of cabinet-makers and similar trades. 
Like alder and beech, its wood is used to a considerable 


| 
| 


a 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 399 


extent in the manufacture of gunpowder. The bark con- 
tains a large supply of tannic acid, which might have some 
importance if its powers of coppicing were only greater. 
The fruit is eagerly eaten both by cattle and deer, so that 
where a strong head of game is maintained, the introduction 
of the horse chestnut along the skirts of the forest, or 
wherever an abundant supply of light, air, and warmth 
would stimulate to the production of large and regular 
supplies of seed, might prove of advantage ; when macer- 
ated, the fruit is also a good form of nourishment for fish, 
being readily eaten by carp in particular. 

The rearing of seedlings and transplants offers no special 
difficulties to contend with. The seed is usually put into the 
prepared seed-beds in autumn, being sown in rills with about 
four inches between every two seeds. Care must be taken to 
have the smooth side upwards and the grey scar undermost, 
otherwise malformation of the root-system and weakly 
seedlings are the results, as was proved by experiments in 
the forest-nursery at Carlsruhe.! When it is preferred to 
preserve the seeds through winter, and to sow in spring, this 
can easily be done by mixing them with fresh, sandy soil. 
The seedlings can do fairly well in the open, but should at 
first receive some slight shade and protection to assist in 
their better development. As they soon throw out a strong 
tap-root, they should usually be planted out as one or two 
year-old seedlings, the tap-root being trimmed at the same 
time ; when older seedlings are put out, the amputation of 
the tap-root affects the growth of the plant considerably. 

When transplants are wanted for the formation of avenues 
or for the adornment of streets in towns and cities, the one or 
two-year-old seedlings are set out close together in nursery 
beds, so as to stimulate growth in height and draw them up 
without many side-shoots ; but the same end can perhaps be 

1 Weise, Leitfaden fiir den Waldbau, 1888, p. 172. 


310 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


better and more easily attained by breaking out the side buds, 
and thus interfering with the development of lateral twigs, in 
consequence of which the growth in height is naturally greater. 


4. ASPEN (POPULUS TREMULA, L.) AND POPLARS 
| (PoPULUS). 


Of the genus Populus, of which eighteen distinct species in 
Europe now occur, including the .4sfen or trembling Poplar 
(P. tremula, L.), the Black Poplar (P. nigra, .), the Silver, 
white or Abele Poplar (P. alba, L.), the Grey or common 
White Poplar (P. canescens, Sm.), and the Lombardy or 
Pyramidal Poplar (P. pyramidalis, Roz.), the aspen is the 


only species which can properly be regarded as of sylvi- 


cultural value ; and even it was long considered rather in 
the light of a weed than an object worthy of sylvi- 
culture. More recently, however, their beauty as ornamental 
trees, the useful qualities of their bark for tanning, and of 
their timber for the manufacture of packing-cases, matches, 
cellulose for paper-pulp, &c., where the use of a soft, light 
wood is desirable, their ready growth along the banks of 
streams, canals, ponds, and similar localities, which they are 
called on to share only with their near relatives the willows, 
or sometimes the elm, and their extreme productiveness, all 
speak for their cultivation where feasible. According to 
Burckhardt,! 


‘**In rapidity of growth the poplars, especially the class of black 
poplars, outrival all other species of trees, and it often happens that 
the aged landowner reaps as large-girthed, valuable timber, what he 
planted out as a‘young man.” 


Their easy and cheap propagation by slips has considerably 
helped on the distribution of the species introduced into 
' Sden und Pflanzen, 1871, p. 450. 


—-~ Ss 


_ —— 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 311 


Britain from the Continent and from North America. 
Some doubt exists as to the grey or common white poplar 
being a native of Britain; the only species which is 
undoubtedly indigenous is the aspen, and with reference 
to it principally the following details apply. 

Distribution.—The aspen is found over the greater part of 
Europe, and is a characteristic tree of the plains, becoming 
more frequent, and attaining its best development, towards 
the north, north-east, and east; it ascends, however, the 
mountains of central Germany to about 3,150 feet, the 
Riesengebirge and Baierwald to over 4,000 feet, and the 
Bavarian Alps to 4,400 ft. It is likewise indigenous through- 
out Asia Minor and the Caucasus, the whole of northern 
Asia, and also in North America. On the low tracts south 
of the Baltic it covers large forest areas with the lime as its 
chief associate, and there often attains a height of 100 to 
110 feet, with a girth of over six feet. Much loftier growth 
and larger dimensions are, however, attainable in England 
by the black and grey poplars. In Scotland the aspen 
extends northwards to the borders of Sutherlandshire, and 
has been found by Selby at an elevation of 1,600 feet, on 
Braemar and in Argyllshire. It occurs extensively in the 
Norwegian and Swedish forests, and is principally used 
there in the manufacture of the celebrated safety matches 
( Zaendstickor). 

Treeform and Root-system.—I\t develops a tall, straight, 
full-wooded stem carrying a_ low-pitched, lightly-foliaged 
crown of moderate dimensions,—except when forced by 
stony soil to spread in breadth at the expense of height,— 
borne by comparatively few branches, which, however, are 
strong, and subdivide with considerable regularity. When 
grown from shoots or suckers, it seldom attains the same 
lofty development as when grown from seed, but, even in 
the pole-stage of growth, shows signs of decreased vitality 


312 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


and makes somewhat unreasonable and unremunerative— a 
demands on growing-space for a larger measure of light and 
air. It cannot therefore asa rule maintain the same periods — 
of rotation as hardwoods, and is generally cut out of forests — 
when the clearings and early thinnings take place. 

Its root-system is not in general deep-seated, but tends 
more to horizontal than to vertical development, though 
endowed with great capacity of accommodating itself to the 
conditions of the soil. On shallow, stony soil the roots 
are mainly superficial, but, where free play is afforded, 
strong side roots are formed, which soon ramify at a very 
moderate depth, and disperse themselves horizontally, 
ending in many branching rootlets; the growing-space 
occupied by the roots is therefore not inconsiderable. On 
the whole it may be classed along with the birch and i 
mountain ash as a shallow-rooting species. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation.—In general the 
poplars need mild situations with a free exposure to light and 
air. Light, friable, fresh or moist, sand or loamy soil is better 
suited to them than a wet or tenacious soil, although the 
black poplar is fond of a limy admixture. Marshy tracts 
are frequently too wet for them, whilst a stony subsoil is 
also detrimental to their development. ‘The aspen is the 
least exacting of them in respect to soil; it grows in most 
places, although it can hardly be said to thrive on dry sandy 
or sour marshy land. It asserts itself on soils of all sorts, and 
often of very shallow nature, but only attains good dimen- 
sions and strong reproductive power on such as are not 
wanting in depth. The moist soils favourable to the growth 
of the hornbeam, the lime and the white alder are best 
suited to it; but it is also found associating itself with the 
common alder on the moister patches, and with the birch and 
mountain ash on the drier. Moist, sandy loams and loamy 
sands, especially if rich in humus or mould, in general 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 313 


show the best growth and development, no great demands 
being made on mineral strength. Along with a sufficiency 
' of soil-moisture, the aspen also requires a considerable degree 
of relative humidity or atmospheric moisture to enable it 
to develop into a good timber-producing tree, so that in 
hilly tracts it is generally to be found near streams and on 
wet patches in forests of beech, spruce, or pine, and oftener 
in sheltered dingles or coombs, and along the base of hills, 
than on exposed and windy situations. For these reasons the 
cooler and damper northern and eastern aspects are on the 
whole better suited for it than the drier southern and south- 
western exposures, although a high degree of atmospheric 
warmth is in no wise antipathetic to it, as is attested by its 
sporadic growth on the hotter situations. 

Requirements as to Light.—Shade-bearing capacity is not 
a quality at all attributable to the poplars. That the aspen, 
with its lofty, open, sparse and lightly-foliaged crown, 
should be exacting in regard to the enjoyment of light is 
natural and self-evident. Among broad-leaved trees it is 
second only to the birch as a light-demanding species, and 
even in comparison with conifers is only outrivalled in this 
respect by the larch ; in demand for light and air it must 
be ranged alongside of the Scots pine, and of its own 
close relatives the willows. All poplars are light-loving trees, 
which can bear no measure of shade or overshadowing, 
and in their turn cast only a light shade over their under- 
growth. When once caught up in growth by trees which it 
has outstripped in the first stages of youthful development, 
the aspen soon sickens and dies. Even the central in- 
dividuals in groups or patches only display an energetic 
growth whilst.the crowns obtain the full enjoyment of light 
and air, and at once become affected by such moderate 
side-shade as is cast by ash, oak, or Scots pine. When 
once the beech approaches it in height, the aspen had 


314 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


best be cut away at once in the next thinning. During | 
the later stages of growth it is equally light-demanding — 


with the birch and larch, and but for its small value as 


timber, it would be well suited to be grown as standards — 


over coppice. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.—The 
aspen soon gets unsound in the bole, which perhaps arises 
from the fact that most of those to be found in the forests 
are probably survivals of stoles or root-suckers that have 
shot up with greater rapidity than the seedlings which they 
have suppressed. In consequence of this, it cannot sustain 


the usual rotation of hardwoods, and has to be cut out — 


early, before it can possibly yield much outturn in timber 
for technical purposes. Such sucker-grown stems are 
usually thinned out before they attain an age of forty 
years. Some of the poplars reach their physical maturity 
at about sixty to eighty years, but can under favourable 
circumstances maintain themselves up to a hundred years, 
before exhibiting the usual signs of over-maturity and 
senile decay. 

The Salicacee are dicecious, and the male individuals 
vastly outnumber those that are of the female gender; the 
Italian or pyramidal poplar produces only male flowers in 
Europe (it is indigenous to Taurus and the Himalayas, 


where Royle found both the male and the female trees), 


and must therefore be propagated by slips or suckers. But 
when male and female-flowering individuals find themselves 
in close proximity, the formation of seed begins early and 
continues freely, almost annually. It ripens and scatters 
early in June, and though unwinged, can be wafted long 
distances owing to the downy filaments around it. It is 
exceedingly small and light, germinates within a week after 
falling, and loses a good deal of its germinative power if 
gathered and kept even for a day or two, so that artificial 


= 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 315 


reproduction of poplars usually takes place, by means of 
slips or rooted stoles. 

Poplars are gifted with very considerable reproductive 
power. Those of them which, like the aspen, do not throw 
out many shoots from the stool, send out all the more stoles 
or suckers from the roots. Wounds on the bark, or where 
branches have been broken off, heal quickly and completely, 
without leaving callus marks or diseased spots in the wood. 
Shallow, loose soil stimulates to rich production of root- 
suckers on the parent stem being felled, as is most notably 
the case with the aspen, and the reproductive power of the 
root-system can remain quiescent for many years till circum- 
stances afford the sunshine and warmth necessary to call 
the dormant energy into activity. Areas over which clear 
fellings of other forest trees have been made, thus suddenly 
become covered with large-leaved aspen brood, though no 
trees of that species were among the mature crop just 
removed from the soil. There hardly ever exists any 
necessity for artificial reproduction of the aspen, for it only 
too often occurs in much greater quantity than is at all 
desirable ; on the contrary, as in the case of birch, measures 
have often to be taken against it as a weed interfering with 
the development of young growth of other more remunera- 
tive species. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—With regard 
to late and early frosts, the aspen is hardy, and therefore 
often asserts itself in damp hollows liable to frost, where 
better species get killed off. Light-foliaged, and generally 
growing in sheltered localities, it is not much exposed to 
danger from windfall, although its shallow root-system is 
but little calculated to offer much resistance to violent 
storms ; where it shoots up quickly as a stole from half- 
rotten roots, it can also have little hold on the soil. When 
grown in the open, however,- the poplars develop a good 


316 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


root-system, amply sufficient to protect them from being 


easily thrown. 

Cattle and deer browse on the succulent and nutritious 
shoots, without doing much practical injury. With the excep- 
tion of red-rot in the stem, due to Polyporus sulphureus, it 
is almost free from fungoid diseases, although the leaves of 
young shoots suffer from the willow-rust caused by A/e/amp- 
sora (which has a change of generation with Cacoma on 
Scots Pine). Many insects feed on its foliage, but no 
great amount of damage is thereby occasioned, the principal 
species being grubs of- Zina populi and L. tremula, the 
caterpillars of Gastropacha neustria, Porthesia chrysorrhea, 
and Vanessa polychloros, the larvae of two species of Rhyn- 
chites, and the full-grown insects, Zytta vesicatoria, Poly- 
phylla fullo, and Rhynchites; Agrilus viridis as larva destroys 


the cambium and sap-wood; the larval- forms of Cossus 


ligniperda, species of Saperda (S. carcharias especially), and 
Zeuzera aesculi are apt to attack the mature wood of the stems 
growing on unsuitable soil and situation, and, in its, pursuit 
of these, woodpeckers often increase the damage done. 
Sylvicultural Treatment of Poplars.—Aspen is naturally 
even less qualified than birch to form pure forests or groups 
of large size, and a preference is given to the latter wherever 
there is a conflict between the two species, as the timber of 
the former is poorer in quality and less marketable, the 
trees complete their normal development at an earlier date, 
and are even less able than birch to do anything for the 
protection of the soil. Wherever it occurs, therefore, it is 
usually only as an adventitious subordinate species, almost 
certain to be removed in the course of thinnings, long 
before the ruling species has attained its maturity. ‘Though 
neither partial to dry sandy soil nor to marshy ground, it 
has a distinct preference for situations with moist atmosphere ; 
and as it is comparatively insensitive to frost, it is apt to 


— ee 


— =<. | 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 317 


assert itself spontaneously in damp, frosty localities in beech 
and similar forests, usually in association with birch and 
sallow. But although its demand for light is at first not so 
great as that of the birch, it soon falls back in growth, unless 
its crown is dominant above those of its neighbours. The 
treatment accorded to the aspen in mixed woods is on the 
whole similar to that already described in regard to the 
birch, with this difference, that, in clearings or thinnings, 
wherever either a birch or an aspen must be removed for 
the tending of the other more valuable species, it is better 
“to cut out the aspen and to let the birch remain, as the more 
remunerative individual. In timber crops of forty years of 
age aspens are hardly ever to be seen, having already been 
removed during the thinnings ; but where left to that age, the 
stems are seldom sound. There is usually no necessity 
for the sowing or the planting of aspen, as it generally 
appears spontaneously, and often in quantities that make it 
a perfect weed interfering with the growth and development 
of the crop being reared on the ground. Where its artificial 
production is desired, this can easily and best be attained 
by the transplanting of self-sown seedlings or of rooted 
stoles, but not by slips like the other poplars ;! the use of 
seedlings has, however, decided advantages over that of 
stoles, as being less liable to red-rot at an early period. 

The other poplars are as little suited as the aspen for 
sylvicultural production on a large scale. But along streams 
and brooks, or for the adornment of roads and pathways, 
and wherever they can be grown on open places with light, 
fresh soil, their rapid growth and large returns of useful 

timber for minor purposes where it is not exposed to damp, 

plead strongly for their cultivation. In the manufacture of 

cellulose for the paper industry all the softwoods are more 

highly valued than spruce or silver fir, but none more so 
1 Ney, Der Waldbau, 1885, p. 426. 


318 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


than poplars and aspen. For pure forests they are far too — 


light-loving and broken in canopy, whilst, as subordinates in 
mixed woods, they are of too rapid growth, and too apt to 
interfere seriously with the ultimate development of the 
ruling species. As standards in copse they find the conditions 
naturally suited to their normal requirements, and can yield 
in comparatively short periods of rotation (usually thirty to 
forty but not exceeding sixty to eighty years) good monetary 
returns where the market for the soft timber is assured, 
though in general the nobler light-loving species in most 
common demand are more likely to meet the average require- 
ments of the timber trade. As coppice they also do well in 
small woods on old water-channels, drained hollows, or the 
like, where the soil is not quite suited for willow-cultivation ; but 
on the whole they are less suited to this method of treatment 
than for the production of large timber trees. The silver 
and grey poplars are best transplanted as seedlings, but black 
and Lombardy poplars are generally put into nursery-beds as 


eighteen to twenty-four inch slips of two to four-year-old — 


growth without lopping off the top, for otherwise the growth 
in height is affected later on; poles of fourteen to fifteen 
feet and two and a half to three inches in diameter do well 
when put in deeply. Spring is the best time for putting out 
poplars, and, until required, slips or cuttings can be kept 
fresh by being placed with the lower end in water or in any 
trench covered with earth. When nursery transplants are 
desired, the slips or cuttings are put out in beds about two 
feet apart, so that in three to four years they attain a height 
of six to seven feet. When planting out such material, it is 
well to cut back the youngest leading-shoot so that only 
three to six buds remain, and to avoid trimming the side 
branches until later on. When the fungal disease Cacoma 
pinitorquum is rife in woods of Scots Pine, aspen should be cut 
out to prevent change of generation with M/e/ampsora. 


DO es 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 319 . 


5. WILLows (SALIX). 


' The genus Sadix, which together with Popu/us makes up 
the order Sa/icaceae, contains, according to Andersson, about 
160 species in addition to a host of hybrid varieties or cross- 
breeds ever increasing in number. Of these about fifty to 
sixty occur in central Europe, but the number is already re- 
duced to about thirty in Britain, although on this point opinion 
is far from being unanimous. When leafless in winter, it is 
often difficult to decide to which genus a tree belongs, until 
twigs have been obtained and examined, when the following 
general macroscopic distinctions will be noticeable :— 


Salix—Terminal bud usually wanting ; buds enclosed in one large 
scale compressed at both sides, and situated immediately 
over the three punctured leaf-scar ; floral bracts entire. 

Populus—Develops true terminal buds; buds enclosed in several 
spirally arranged scales or bracts, often gummy or resinous ; 
flowers in the axils of divided bracts, 


The willows that are of greatest sylvicultural value may 
be arranged as follows :— 


Tree Willows :— 

1. S. caprea, L., saugh, sallow, goat willow, or great round- 
leaved willow, 

S. Russelliana, the 
Russell or Bedford 
willow, is said to 
be a cross between 
these two species. 

Osters, twig, shrub, or basket willows, or withtes :-- 

1. S. viminalis, L., the osier. 
2. S. triandra, L. (including S. amygdalina, L.), the laurel osier. 
3. S. purpurea, L., the purple oster. 

S. rubra Huds. (= S. helix, L.), the red osier, is said to be a cross 

between S. viminalis and purpurea. 


2. S. fragilis, L., crack or red wood willows. 
3. S. alba, L., white or Huntingdon willow. 


Distribution.—The tree-willows enumerated appear to be 
all indigenous to Britain, and have a wide distribution 


320 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


throughout Europe and Asia. It seems, however, most — 
probable that the osiers have all been introduced into — 


this country from the eastern side of Europe for their special 
utility in basket-making, &c., due to the straight, unbranching 
_ growth of their stool-shoots, which materially increases their 
flexibility and toughness, and enhances their value to such 
an extent that osier-beds on good soil often prove one of the 
most remunerative forms of cultivation. Much land, now 
unproductive, is available in England for willow-coppice 
cultivation in the unutilised soil forming the bermes on both 
sides of the permanent way on railways. How well willow- 
coppice will grow on such land may, for example, be seen 
at different points on the Great Eastern Railway, a few miles 
to the west of Colchester or to the east of Brentwood. The 
objections to grazing or timber production on such land are 
of course at once apparent, but not the reasons for con- 
tinuing this waste of fairly good coppice-producing areas. 

In comparison with their wide horizontal distribution, the 


vertical range of willows is limited. The osier tribe is confined 


to the valleys and lower uplands, and of the tree willows it 
is only the saugh that can accompany the beech to higher 
elevations and occupy, if allowed to, sunny spots that are 
too damp for the latter. In the formation or reproduction 
of forests the tree-willows may often become a perfect 
nuisance. When their growth is stimulated by sunshine and 
warmth, their roots penetrate the soil in all directions, the 
cost of sowing or planting is heightened in getting rid of 


them, and finally the young crop is injured by the shade of 


the quicker-growing willow shoots and suckers, which do a 
good deal of damage by overshadowing, without bringing 
in much by way of return or compensation. 

Tree-form and Root-system.—The tree-willows are not 
characterised by such lofty growth as the poplars, for they 
seldom attain a height beyond eighty to a hundred feet, the 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 321 


white willow indeed not often so much, as it has a greater 
tendency to dissipate its energy in branch development and 
forked growth than the crack willow and the saugh, which 
make the most successful efforts towards the formation of a 
clean, straight bole. They are therefore classifiable only as 
trees of the second magnitude. Taken as a class, the tree- 
willows have a strong tendency to branch development and 
ramification into twigs, although it is precisely the opposite 
quality in the coppice-shoots which determines their value. 
The branches are wide-spreading though not strong, and 
bear an expansive but lightly-foliaged crown. 

In root-system they closely resemble the poplars, being 
naturally somewhat shallow-rooted ; but in exposed situations 
they establish a sufficiently strong hold on the soil to run 
little risk of being thrown by the wind. 

Requirements as to Soil and Situation—The favourite 
localities for the willow tribe are low shelving banks of 
streams and rivers, riverine tracts subject to occasional inun- 
dation with water holding rich mud and silt in solution, 
sandy and loamy deposits left after floods have subsided, 
and fresh-or damp meadow land whose soil-moisture is not 
stagnant. For the osiers, low-lying tracts and marshy land, 
and sandy stretches with good subsoil, such as occur so fre- 
quently in Belgium and Holland, are the natural situations ; 
but in Bavaria their artificial cultivation has proved emin- 
ently successful on undulating land at considerable elevation, 
and with no wealth of subsoil-moisture. In Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin, too, osier-holts and withy-beds have long been 
formed successfully and remuneratively on bermes formed 
by the slopes and flat stretches of railway land unoccupied 
by the actual permanent way,—a hitherto undeveloped 
source of income that might surely be tapped in Britain also, 
in place of having thousands of acres of good soil absolutely 
unproductive and idle as at present. The tree-willows are 

Y 


322 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


also to a very considerable degree the denizens of the lower- 
lying and moister lands. 

Although naturally classifiable as belonging to the less ex- 
acting species of forest growth in regard to fertility of soil, 
a due measure of mineral strength and a rich admixture of 
humus are requisite before highly remunerative returns can 
be expected from withy-beds and osier cultivation. This may 
be seen in the beneficial effect of silt-deposits during inun- 
dations, and-of manuring, ploughing, or trenching, as on 
agricultural tracts, in upland plantations, where a good quality 
of soil and subsoil appears to satisfy the general requirements 
for a greater amount of moisture, bringing nutriment in 
solution, at lower elevations. 


It has always been the custom to regard the willow- — 


tribe as naturally and principally confined to the moister, 
lower lands ; but the financial success of the osier-farm ona 
well-drained upland site at Freising near Munich proves that 
on good soil less moisture is requisite, as of course is quite 


in accordance with the laws of nature regulating tree- 


growth. 

Although not developing a deep root system, depth of soil 
is one of the requisites for successful willow cultivation, 
whilst porosity and penetrability,—affording easy passage to 
the atmosphere as well as to the rootlets,—are factors that 
also make their influence beneficially felt in increased pro- 
duction. Where the soil-moisture is brackish or salt, 
willow cultivation is less satisfactory. Willow-culture is also 
often of great benefit in reclaiming land; the stools and 
shoots collect the silt brought down during inundations, and 


assist greatly in gradually raising the soil above the ‘flood- 
level (see page 228). 


Requirements as to Light—Capacity for thriving under — 


side shade or overhead shadow is perhaps even less attribut- 
able to the willows than the poplars. Both tree-willows and 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 323 


osiers make strong demands on light, although on the better 
classes of soil the number of shoots per acre in coppices is 
often very large during the first year or two, even when the 
stools are closely planted. The amount of shade cast by 
the tree-willows is comparatively slight, so that, where the 
timber finds any good market, they are well suited for reten- 
tion as standards over coppice until they reach the most 
advantageous girth for felling. 

Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity.— 
Natural reproduction of willows takes place partly by sponta- 
neous layering, partly by seed-shedding. ‘True root-suckers, 
like those thrown up by the aspen, are not developed to any 
great extent, though shoots made by the roots, wherever ex- 
posed, and specially where they may have received any in- 
jury, may often at first sight be mistaken for true stoles. 
This spontaneous layering is particularly useful in the binding | 
of dunes and sand-drifts when once the creeping willow 
(S. repens) has obtained a foothold. For natural reproduc- 
tion by the’seed, which ripens in the end of May, a combina- 
tion of favourable circumstances is necessary,— low elevation, 
wind-still situation, and freedom from growth of grass or 
weeds ; after the spring floods have drained off, the seedlings 
appear early in June. Even where ebb and flood meet, the 
crop of seedlings can less safely be reckoned on, whilst the 
danger of their being choked by rank growth is much in- 
creased. ‘The seed loses its germinative power very quickly. 
Reproduction by seed is the exception, not the rule, and is 
chiefly resorted to only when pollarding is kept in view, as 
seedlings yield the most durable stems ; of all the genus, the 
white willow pollards best. All willows are dicecious,—the 
weeping willow (.S. dabylonica), however, only produces female 
flowers,—and exhibit a great tendency to the production 
of cross-breeds. They are endowed with great recuperative 
power of reproducing lost portions, and shoot freely from 

¥:3 


324 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the stool when the stem is cut away. On favourable situa- 
tions this power is often long maintained, although year after 
year the whole crop of shoots be harvested. Most of them can 
also develop suckers, but to a much less extent than poplars, 
and easily catch root as slips or layers, although the saugh, and 
the purple and red osiers are often somewhat backward in 
this latter respect. Withy-beds are generally formed by 
planting out the osiers as slips or cuttings. 

Liability to Suffer from External Dangers.—Rank growth 
of grass and weeds, and inundations and late frosts at the 
time when the young shoots begin to develop in spring, are 
the chief dangers to which willow-culture is exposed. The 
parasitic dodder (Cwuscufa) and various creepers are also 
inimical to the well-being of the shoots. Otherwise 
willows are hardy against frost and ice, and suffer little from 
the accumulation of snow or ice on: the branches, with the 
exception of the crack willow, which derives the name from 
its tendency to break off at the joints of the twigs and 
branches, especially in the spring. Cattle and sheep find in 
the young leaves and shootsa succulent fodder, and often do 
considerable damage in young coppice and osier-beds, which 
require the protection of hurdles or fencing in the vicinity of 
pasture-land from which beasts are likely to stray. The water- 
rat (Arvicola amphibius) often occasions considerable damage 
by gnawing. Hail is detrimental to the thriving of all the 
osier species, owing to its tearing the foliage and bruising the 
cambium of the shoots. 

Many insects find their favourite feeding ground on the 
willow, but, with few exceptions, the damage they do is not 
very serious. Phratora vitellinae, and species of Lina and 
Rhynchites, both as larve and fully developed insects, can 
commit great havoc on the foliage, whilst the caterpillars 
of Gastropacha neustria, G. lanestris, Orgyia antigua and 

Vanessa polychloros, and Melolontha beetles are also far from 


_ 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 325 


innocuous. Two species of Rhynchites likewise gnaw the 
young shoots, and buds are. destroyed by the caterpillars of 
species of Porthesia. The omnivorous Melolontha grubs often 
commit great damage among the tender roots, following along 
the lines in which the osiers are planted. In the tree-willows 
the caterpillars of Cossus digniperda and the larvee of Ptilinus 
pectinicornis are the worst for boring the holes into the soft 
mature wood, although species of Cecidomyia, Cryptorhynchus, 
Sesta, and Saperda all do more or less damage. Certain 
species of Adimonia, Cecidomyia, Leucoma and Nematus have 
received their specific names from the fact of being principally 
found on willows. Of the osiers, S. v7minalts is on the whole 
the species most liable to injury from insect enemies. 

If allowed to stand too long, tree-willows are attacked by 
Polyporus sulphureus, the fungus causing a species of red- 
rot. Rust on osier-leaves, most frequent on those of one- 
year-old shoots, is a disease due to species of AZelampsora ; in 
the case of 4/. Hartigii the intermediate form ( Uredo sa/icis, 
D.C.) is developed on the leaves of the previous year, and 
fructifies in spring after lying on moist soil through the 
winter, whilst in the case of JZ. sa/icts the intermediate form, 
Caeoma, finds a host on, and is nourished by, the foliage of 
other genera, such as cornel, raspberry, bramble, &c. 

Sylvicultural Treatment of Willows.—Of the tree-willows, 
the saugh or sallow occasionally finds its way in among 
mixed woods along with birch and aspen on the moister 
parts, but the great sylvicultural importance of the whole 
species rests mainly on the returns they yield as coppice, or 
from pollarding. Where the saugh occurs spontaneously in 
mixed forests, it is seldom allowed to remain long, as it is 
apt to spread and to extend its branches so as to take up 
more room than, with the monetary returns it has to offer, 
it is justified in claiming ; it is therefore usually one of the 
first nurses or softwoods to be removed along with the 


326 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


aspen during the processes of weeding and clearing, or at 
latest during the early thinnings. The saugh is content with 
a much drier soil than any of the other kinds, and is even 
to be found on all classes of soil suitable for the beech. But, 
like the aspen, it can hardly be retained, even if desirable 
from a sylvicultural point of view, for longer than thirty to 
forty years in mixed forests, owing to its liability to suffer 
from red-rot. . 
The other tree species, the crack, white and Bedford 
willows, are not generally cultivated in osier-beds, owing to the 
lesser flexibility and toughness of the withes they yield ; but 
they find their chief uses as ornamental trees for parks and 
damp spots on the fringe of forests, or as pollards on 
meadows and by the edge of streams. Pollarding is 
adopted wherever the sylvicultural utilisation of the soil is 
secondary to its use as pasture-land, or where inundations 
are frequent, or the land is usually under water for some — 
time during the period of active vegetation. The lopping 
usually takes place at from six to ten feet above the ground, _ 
being regulated by the extent to which the ground may be 
overshadowed, which also of course determines the distances — 
at which the trees shall be originally planted. Where 
pasturage is desired, they should not stand closer than six- 
teen to twenty feet, but where pollarding takes place mainly 
on account of the liability of the situation to be inundated 
in late spring and summer, the distances chosen are 
generally from ten to thirteen feet apart. For the first few 
years after the plants have been put out, the stems get 
covered with twigs from the adventitious buds, but these 
shoots must be regularly removed, so as to stimulate and 
strengthen the reproductive power of the poll. The 
harvesting of the poll-shoots takes place during the third 
or fourth year, and after that the finer withes may be re- 
moved annually, whilst the total clearance is carried out every 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 327 


three to six years. For a rotation of four years the 
pollards should stand about seven and a-half feet apart, as 
experience has shown that such distance yields the greatest 
outturn of shoots per acre. Harvesting of poll-shoots 
should be undertaken during the latter part of winter or 
very early in spring, the cut being made as smooth and 
close to the poll as possible. 

Of the smaller varieties cultivated in osier-beds, the true 
osier (.S. viminalis) is the most important, being characterized 
by the toughness and flexibility of its thin withes, which 
grow in thick clusters ; the laurel osier (.S. ¢7iandra) yields 
a plentiful crop of long, flexible twigs ; the purple osier 
(S. purpurea), so called from the colour of its anthers , 
during the time of flowering, produces very thin -but/ 
exceedingly tough withes, principally used for basket- 
making. So far as the various species can be determined 
by their leaves alone, the following short descriptions’ may 
be of use :— | 


S. viminalis—Leaves very long, with white, close-lying hairs having 
a silky gloss. Stipules small, temporary or fugacious, shorter 
than the petiole, or altogether wanting. 

S. triandra—Leaves quite,smooth, finely serrate. 

S. purpurea—Leaves often opposite, smooth, blyish-green, lanceo- 
late, finely serrate towards the apex and becoming somewhat 
broader ; without stipules. 


Periodical inundations stimulate the growth of osiers; 
floods in winter do no harm even if lasting for weeks, but 
any lengthened submersion during’ summer is injurious to 
the crop. Mounds must be thrown up on soils that are too 
low-lying and wet, whilst stagnant water must be brought 
into circulation by digging’ trenches or ditches. Most 
osier-beds show a mixture of species, the ruling kind 
depending to a great extent on the nature of the soil and 
situation, and, as the willows have a very great tendency to 


328 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


cross, the number of species is constantly on the increase; 
thus fentandra and fragilis yield S. cuspidata, purpurea 
and viminalis yield S. rubra, &c. In the formation of new — 
willow plantations the species should be segregated as much 
as possible in the various beds, according as the concrete 
factors of soil and situation promise the best returns, for the 
different osiers have distinct preferences in this matter, as 
well as in other sylvicultural respects. From this point of 
view Esslinger ! has classified them into the following main 


groups :— 


1. Laurel-oster group (S. triandra, amygdalina, hippophaefolia, &c.), 
demanding a light, fresh or moist soil, and yielding withes of 
first-rate quality for technical purposes. These species suffer 
comparatively little from insect enemies. 

2. Oster group (S. viminalis, &c.), demanding a light, moist soil, 
and best capable of standing wetness of soil ; yield a very good 
outturn of useful material for basket-making and wicker-work, 
but much liable to attacks from insects. These are the principal 
species for cultivation on sandy soils. 

3. Purple osiers (S. purpurea, rubra, &c.), content with a dry soil, 
and yielding numerous, but thin, withes, suited for all technical 
purposes ; not much attacked by insects or rats. 

4. Caspic or prunose osters (S. acutifolia = prunosa = caspica, 
daphnoides, &c.), whose young shoots are covered with a bluish 
soft bloom, thriving on dry soil, and yielding clean but not 
numerous shoots of ten feet in length, only suitable for coarser - 
technical purposes. These species probably deserve most atten- 
tion for railway cuttings and similar localities. 


Osier-beds are usually formed either naturally or artifi- 
cially in the low-lying localities adjacent to lakes, rivers, and 
large streams, as the first condition for the success of most 
of the species is either a plentiful supply of soil-moisture in 
motion, or else considerable fertility of soil. The holts 
of spontaneous formation are as a rule just above the level 
of the water, so that, whenever floods take place, the silt is 


Transactions of the Palatine Forstverein in Kandel, 1882, p. 54. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 329 


likely to be deposited on them for the improvement of the 
soil. In the artificial formation of osier-beds the forester is less 
dependent on the greater moisture of the soil than on its 
general fertility ; and many localities, in which osier cultiva- 
tion is at the present time profitably carried out, are far re- 
moved from the possibility of inundation and of natural 
enrichment through silt and humose deposit. 

Osier-beds may be worked with different periods of 
rotation, some being cut over annually for the production of 
fine withes, or every two or three years for coarser material 
for wicker-work, or with a fall varying from three to six 
years if required for hedging, fascine-work, and the like. 
Where the market demands render such treatment advisable, 
a mixture of two rotations can be introduced, the majority 
of the shoots being removed annually, and the clear 
coppicing in hags taking place only once every three to 
six years. Pure coppicing can be carried on wherever 
inundations are not liable to occur at the time of the flush 
of young shoots in spring, and a somewhat close stand of 
the stools decidedly favours the production of long, 
straight shoots, which sometimes reach a length of six to 
nine feet during the year, and are characterised by greater 
flexibility, and more equal thickness throughout, than the 
more branching, thickly-foliaged and tapering shoots of less 
dense plantations. Soil, period of rotation, and age of 
the willow-stools of course all exert their influence in regard 
to the best normal density, but in general it may be reckoned 
at 1,800 to 2,000 per acre whilst in full working order, 
although in the formation of new osier-beds the number 
should be considerably greater, as many stools die off, and 
in any case the production of shoots is not so great from 
young as from seasoned stools. Where stronger assortments 
of withes are desired, it is best to thin out all but the 
best six to twelve shoots, and leave only these to develop, 


330 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


the fresh annual shoots being removed as thinnings each 
year. 

The returns from willow-culture are often high, but vary 
of course considerably with soil, situation, species, and 
period of rotation. According to Danckelmann,! the annual 
out-turn in one-year-old withes from a fully stocked area is 
188 cb.ft. (solid wood), or, on the average, 38°4 cwt. of peeled 
and dried withes, mostly however of coarse texture, in the 
case of S. viminalis ; 145 cb.ft., or, on the average, 28°8 cwt. 
of peeled and dried withes of the best, toughest, and finest _ 
material in the case of S. purpurea ; between these both in 
quantity and quality in the case of S. helix ; go to 100 cb.ft., 
or about 28 cwt., of peeled and dried withes in the case of 
S. acutifolia, but somewhat discoloured, and therefore only 
used for the coarser descriptions of wicker-work. In regard 
to monetary returns there are great variations, though with 
a good market near at hand the cultivation of osier-beds is 
one of the most remunerative forms of  sylviculture. 
According to Burckhardt,? an annual average return of © 
43 12s. to £5 per acre, after deduction of the costs 
of harvesting, is nothing unusual either with a one ora four 
years’ rotation, wherever there is normal density of crop and — 
a favourable market near at hand. Newly-formed osier- 
beds cannot, of course, be expected to achieve such results 
all at once. 

Formation of Osier-beds.—F¥or the formation of new osier- 
beds a thorough preparation of the soil is the first requisite. 
This can best be accomplished either by the use of the plough, 
or by trenching to a depth of sixteen to twenty inches, with 
simultaneous manuring if the soil is not naturally fertile ; 
for the experience of the best willow cultivators shows the 
importance of this latter measure. Where feasible, the 


1 Gayer, Der Waldbau, 1889, p. 213. 
2 Sden und Phlanzen, 1880, p. 463. 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 331 


soil-preparation can be well managed by previous agricultural 
utilisation of the land for a year. ‘The planting-up of the 
prepared soil takes place preferably at once in April with 
slips or cuttings ; but it can also be undertaken in June or 
July where the shoots are likely to mature and form hard 
wood before the period of vegetation closes. Where local 
circumstances in regard to labour make it more convenient, 
the putting out of slips of matured growth can also take 
place in late autumn, or in winter whenever the ground is 
soft enough. For slips the strongest yearling shoots should 
be selected from round stools, cut off close to the stool, 
divided into slips of about one foot long by a clean, straight, 
and not a slanting cut, and put almosi entirely into the 
ground with the least possible delay. In many parts of 
northern Germany, however, a preference is given to eighteen- 
inch slips cut from good two to four-year-old shoots, which 
are put so far into the soil that only two-and-a-half to three 
inches of the upper end remain above the ground. The 
most favourable time for the operation of making the slips 
is the latter half of February and the first half of March ; 
but if the setting out cannot take place till April, the shoots 
should be kept whole in bundles under cover in cool airy 
places, and only cut into slips of the required length immedi- 
ately before being required for putting out. Where slips have 
to be got from a distance, they should be at hand in good 
time, as they can easily be preserved in trenches or other fresh 
soil until required. Planting usually takes place in rows, and 
at distances which depend mainly upon the period of rotation. 
For the finer species of willows, with annual. rotation, the 
slips should be put out in rows about twenty inches apart, 
and at a distance of six to eight inches in the lines (about 
40,000 to 45,000 per acre) ; but for the coarser species, to be 
worked with a rotation of two years, rows thirty inches 
apart, with the slips at twelve to fifteen inches apart in the 


332 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


lines, give ample density, (about 14,500 to 17,500 per acre), _ 
Where several species are to be cultivated, they should be — 
kept apart in different beds, as the less vigorous are other- — 
wise interfered with in development by the species of more 
energetic growth. 

The planting out consists in shoving in the slips, thick 
end first, in a slanting direction into the soft soil, so that, if 
yearling slips be used, the tops are hardly visible, but, if 
stouter slips have been employed, only two-and-a-half to three — 
inches remain above ground, slight pressure being applied 
with the hand above to bring the earth in close contact with 
the slip. Where the use of a pricking-iron or any similar 
instrument is advisable in order to prepare a hole for the 
reception of the slip, the soil is either somewhat too binding 
to be really suitable for willow-culture, or else the slip must 
be very large in size. 

After the putting out of the slips has been completed, the 
chief effort in the way of tending should, especially during 
the first year, be to keep the beds clear of grass and weeds, © 
which must be removed with the hoe as often as necessary. 
The filling up of blanks also requires attention, and it is well 
if a reserve of slips has been put out in some nursery-beds 
at the time of the formation of the osier-bed, in order that, 
if necessary, they can be transplanted so as to be of the same 
age exactly as the rest of the crop ; such transplants should 
invariably be put out with earth around the roots, and not 
naked. Blanks can also be filled by layering of shoots from 
the surrounding plants, but in general the transplanting of 
struck cuttings of the same age as the bulk of the crop is 
most to be recommended. On sandy soil where no special 
preparation has been made, the slips are often stuck into the 
ground in wisps or nests, a pyramidally-shaped clod being 
raised by means of four insertions of the spade, and pressed 
home again after the insertion of slips at the corners and 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 333 


round the edges. This method is also frequently used in the 
filling up of blanks ; it yields good results with slips about 
two feet long, which are easily protected against rank growth 
of grass. According to Burckhardt the cost of the formation 
and tending of osier-beds, up to the end of the first year, is 
in Northern Germany £4 to £5 per acre, when slips are put 
out on light sandy soil requiring no costly preparation, and 
£6 16s.to £9 4s., when beds have been raised between 
ditches, and slips are put out in the ordinary manner in 
rows. 

Reproduction of Osier-beds.—Natural regeneration of 
willows takes place partly by means of spontaneous 
layering, partly through seed; true stoles like those of 
the aspen are not formed, although shoots spring from 
dormant buds on roots exposed tothe air. For spontaneous 
growth from seed, favourable circumstances are necessary, 
as, after the seed is shed in early June, it has a compara- 
tively small chance of germinating and asserting itself owing 
to the growth of grass. And in general but littl use is 
made of willow seedlings, except when they are handy and 
easily obtainable for the filling up of blanks, for which 
purpose their bushy growth and straight twigs make them 
very well adapted. The artificial production of seedlings on 
osier-beds is generally unremunerative and unadvisable, for 
the same object can be satisfactorily and much more speedily 
attained by the use of slips. In nurseries, therefore, 
seedlings are only reared when wished for ornamental 
purposes or for pollards, as then they yield the more durable 
stems. 

The usual method of reproduction of the osier-beds is by 
the natural growth of stool-shoots after the existing crop of 
withes has been removed by coppicing. The harvesting 
should take place by means of a sharp, clean, almost 
horizontal cut as close as possible to the stool, and although 


334 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


it may be arranged for at any time during the non-active 
period of vegetation, and should, according to Burckhardt, — 


take place 1 in late autumn, it is most frequently carried out in 


early spring before the flow of sap commences, the softening _ 
of the bark for easier peeling being afterwards accomplished _ 
by soaking in water. If the coppicing takes place whilst the _ 
sap is in flow, however, the stools are apt to suffer, and soon — 


become weakened in productive capacity, more especaiaay 4 


when cut over regularly every year. Old willow-stools, that — 


have been properly treated, have somewhat the bristly 


appearance of a hedgehog. 

In place of disposing of the finer varieties of basket ‘9 
withes with the bark attached, it is usually advisable to peel 4 
them before offering them for sale, as the stripping of the ss 


bark can take place with the lightest descriptions of labour, 


and is otherwise remunerative ; it also frees one from the 
necessity of forcing a sale at what may be considered an — 


insufficient price. Withes cut in late autumn can be packed _ 


in bundles, brought under roof, and covered with straw, &c. 
in order to keep off currents of air likely to dry them. When — 
the active period of vegetation comes round in spring, the 


bundles are placed with the cut ends in water, which ascends | 


in the shoots like sap, and enables all the bark to be 


peeled off quite easily with the hand, after the withes have 


been pulled twice or thrice through a clip shaped like an old- 
fashioned wooden clothes-pin. When sorted, they are put 
out in the sunshine to dry, care being taken to prevent them | 
getting wet with rain, as this discolours them, and decreases 
their market value. For shoots cut in late winter, it is 
sufficient to place the bundles, thick end down, in a cool 
shady place free from draughts, and throw up a slight 
mound of earth round them. 

In most districts the harvesting extends to the nals of 
the shoots, as experience has shown that the quality of the 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 335 


withes is then better than when some are taken, and others 
left to develop into stronger material. Thus even in newly 
formed osier-beds all the shoots are harvested at the end of 
the first year, although of course the out-turn is much less 
than later on, when the stools have thoroughly established 
themselves, and are in full vigorous production ; S. acutifolia, 
however, is utilised for the first time at the end of the second 
year. In other localities, no great weight is laid on the first 
year’s growth, but the three or four yearling shoots are cut 
back during winter to about eight to twelve inches, the first 
crop being harvested at the end of the second year. 

On somewhat marshy soils which, after having been 
ploughed and planted up with slips at about sixteen inches 
apart, are annually coppiced for basket-withes, the stools are 
apt to become weak and unproductive as early as the twelfth 
to sixteenth year ; they may then be grubbed up, and the land 
used agriculturally for several years without manuring being 
requisite. Land that has been exhausted by continuous crops 
of cereals can be essentially recruited by one such rotation 
of willow-culture, and pasture-land similarly treated is said to 
be characterised by exceptionally nutritive crops of grass. 

On other varieties of soil, the annual utilisation of the crop 
of shoots affects the qualities of the stools so much, that a 
reformation of the osier-beds is generally necessary after 
twenty years’ coppicing. 


C. Smaller Trees, Shrubs, and Brushwood in Coppice. 


Along with the shoots and suckers of the forest trees a 
great many minor trees (with the exception of the yew) and 
shrubs find a suitable home in coppice grown under 
standards, and often give fair remuneration in return, partly 
in the wood and withes they yield, partly in protecting and 


336 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


improving the soil, and in affording cover and food for game. 
Where, however, they are apt to interfere with the thriving or 


normal development of the more important species of forest _ 


growth, they should invariably be removed. They are not 
of sufficient sylvicultural importance to be treated of 7m ex- 
tenso, but the principal among them may be fitly enumerated, 
the botanical equivalents being the names given by Linneus. 


Field maple (dcer campestre). 

Barberry (Berberis vulgaris). 

Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens). 

Nettle tree (Celtis australis). 

Dogwood or cornel (Cornus san- 
guinea and C. mascula). 

Hazel (Corylus avellana). 


Hawthorn, whitethorn, or haw- 


tree (Cratacgus oxyacantha). 


Wild cherry or gean (/runus 
avium). 

Blackthorn or 
spinosa). 

Crab apple (Pyrus malus). 

Buckthorn (Rhamnus catharlica), 

Black alder or alder buckthorn 
(Rhamnus frangula), 

Elder or Buntry-bush (Samducus 


sloe (Prunus 


Laburnum (Cyézsus Laburnunt), nigra and S. racemosa). 


Spindle-tree (Zwonymus euro- | Bladder-nut (Staphylea pinnata). 
paeus). Yew (Zaxus baccata). 

Sea buckthorn (Hzppophae rham- | Snowball-tree or mealy Viburnum 
notdes). (Viburnum Lantana). 


Holly (lex aquifolium). 
Juniper (/aszperus communis). 


Gelder-rose (Viburnum opulus). 


The majority of these are recognised as hardwoods, Kish 
hazel, juniper, black alder and elder are softwoods. In 
point of interest or of technical value, yew, juniper, hazel, 
alder, buckthorn, and hawthorn rank highest. 

Yew is the only one of the above which occurs in high forest. 
A deep-rooted evergreen conifer, indigenous throughout the 
whole of central and northern Europe and Asia, but occurring 
most frequently in southern France, Italy, and Algiers, it has 
long ceased to have any great technical value ; but where it 
occurs spontaneously in woodlands, it is tended carefully as a 
tree of interest. In general it is to be found on the uplands and 
the lower hills, and has an unmistakable preference for soils 
rich in lime. On whatever kind of soil it may be found, it is 
characterised by slow growth, and by a length of life exceeding 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 337 


that of any other forest tree. There are several yews through- 
out central Europe that are 2,000 to 3,000 years old, though 
not over thirty to fifty feet in height ; and Burckhardt men- 
tions! one growing on diluvial sand at Wiethmarschen in 
Bentheim, Prussia, which as early as 1152 was already 
celebrated on account of its great age, although even now 
(1893) it is no more than three feet in diameter at breast- 
height. In Britain, the cultivation of the yew is confined 
chiefly to cemeteries, for which its dark foliage and altogether 
somewhat sombre and impressive appearance eminently 
qualify it. Even among the Greeks and the Romans it was 
known as the arbor mortis bringing death to those who slept 
under its shade ; and as a matter of fact, though goats and 
cattle can eat the foliage without any great apparent incon- 
venience, the after effects in the case of horses are usually 
quickly fatal. The beautiful red berries are generally con- 
sidered poisonous, but this is denied by Rossmissler. From 
insect enemies it has little to suffer, although the grub of a 
Cecidomyia is found in the bud, and Anobium tesselatum bores 
into the dry wood, both as grub and beetle. It is endowed 
with extraordinary reproductive power, which is retained far 
beyond the limits of similar capacity in other trees—a capacity 
which was formerly taken advantage of in old-fashioned 
gardening, in the formation of hedges and quaintly-trimmed 
bushes. Since the days of bows and arrows, the yew has 
lost its footing in the woodlands, and is now solely a tree for 
ornamental purposes in parks and arboreta, though still 
deserving of its place here and there at any interesting point 
on the fringe of the forest, or where any knoll offers a wide 
look over the surrounding country. It can be propagated 
by slips and layers, but production from seed is on the whole 
more satisfactory, although by no means always easy. The 
seed usually lies over for two, and sometimes for four years 
' Saen und Pflanzen, 1893, p. 470. 
z 


338 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


before germinating, and if it has been gathered in places 
where male-flowering trees are wanting, it does not come up 
at all. It is best to pack the seed at once in earth and sow 
it in rills with about a one inch covering of good mould in 
the second autumn or spring, and then prick out the seed- 
lings in the first or second year into the nursery-bed, both 
operations taking place under shade and shelter. Trans- 
plants from nursery-beds can be easily put out up to three 
feet in height, planting taking place with balls of earth on 
account of the tap-root. 

Juniper is a shrub also indigenous throughout Europe and 
northern Asia, which attains a height of twenty feet, is 
dicecious like the yew, and has false berries ripening only in 
the autumn of the second year after flowering, when they 
are round, blackish, and with a prunose bloom on them, 
It naturally, like the yew, belongs to the species capable of 
bearing a considerable degree of shade ; but it is sensitive to 
changes in respect to the enjoyment of light, and when once © 
accustomed to light and air, grows well without shade or 
shelter. Its natural home is on plains with sandy soil, 
having a tendency to growth of heather, where it often 
grows spontaneously as underwood below pine; but its 
appearance is an ominous sign of deterioration of soil 
having already begun. Where, however, a self-sown crop of 
juniper is to be met with, it indicates the better classes of 
soil, and generally points to depth, freshness, and a certain 
amount of loam either in the soil or the subsoil. It belongs 
to the deep-rooting species of shrubs. In Britain its culti- 
vation can never be so remunerative as in Holland, where 
the berries are required in large quantities for the hundreds 
of gin-distilleries around Schiedam, and in general its ap- 
pearance with us is interesting chiefly as indicating soils that 
are naturally suited for yielding good returns under forest. In 
parks and gardens it can, like the yew, be trimmed to form™ 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 339 


hedges or quaint bushes ; but for growth in its natural con- 
dition, the male-flowering individuals are characterised by 
more rapid and graceful development than the female. The © 
seed germinates in the second or third spring after ripening, 
and is sown, either broadcast or in rills, on nursery-beds 
under light shelter. Nursery-gardeners frequently reproduce 
it by means of slips and layers, which are generally put out 
as two-year-old transplants, as the roots are usually largely 
developed by the third year. 

In parks and gardens the Virginian juniper or red cedar 
( Juniperus virginiana, L.) is a plant of common occurrence. 
The wood of this tree is largely imported from America for 
the manufacture of leadpencils. It grows on fresh, humose 
sand, or on good limy soils, but is hardly of sylvicultural 
importance, as it seldom attains more than forty feet in 
height. Though on the whole a shade-bearing species, it 
is not sufficiently so to be utilised as underwood under our 
light-loving indigenous forest trees. 

fTazel is a large shrub possessed of excellent reproductive 
capacity in throwing out long, straight shoots from the stool, 
and therefore often finding a home in coppice woods and 
under standards in copse, where it sometimes yields a very 
welcome and profitable addition to the outturn. It is to be 
found on soils of all classes, but has a distinct preference 
for those of a limy, loamy, marshy, or moist, humose, sandy 
character. Whilst yielding a good return from nuts and 
shoots in its proper place, it can often become a noxious 
weed, interfering greatly with the development and vigorous 
growth of more desirable species of coppice-crops on land 
under sylvicultural treatment. There are, however, in 
Britain thousands of acres of vacant ground along the lines of 
railway where, on soils less suitable for oak or osiers, the 
cultivation of hazel-coppice with a rotation of twelve to six 
teen years would yield good remunerative returns in small 

Z2 


340 BRITISH FOREST TREES 


material useful for many technical purposes, not to mention 
the annual crop of nuts; a rotation of three to four years 
yields excellent withes for barrels, and good monetary returns. 
Its coppice-stools maintain their reproductive power for a 
long time, as the shoots take root for themselves, whilst 
blanks can be filled, or greater density of the crop attained, 
by the layering of living shoots, or the transplanting of 
rooted shoots; both of these methods effect the desired 
object more speedily and satisfactorily than by rearing 
seedlings from the nuts. The best time for harvesting the 
latter is in October, when they have acquired their full 
flavour, and have been mellowed by a touch of frost. 

Hazel possesses very fair soil-improving qualities, and 
often does good service in this respect as a subordinate in oak 
coppices, where, however, care must be taken to prevent it 
from interrupting the growth of the principal species. On 
stony upland soils where there is a deposit of good mould 
between the rocks and stones, hazel-coppice often yields the 
best returns that can be reasonably expected from the 
ground. 

Alder Buckthorn is also a shrub indicating, like juniper, the 
commencement of the deterioration of the soil, but it is 
generally to be found only in woods formed of the broad- 
leaved species of trees. It was formerly rather prized for the’ 
preparation of charcoal for gunpowder, but of recent years 
alder and beechwood have been more generally used for this 
purpose, the former being solely used for the manufacture 
of smokeless powder. Where it occurs in any quantity it 
yields bean and pea-sticks where spruce and silver fir poles 
are not available, also good sticks for umbrellas, walking- 
sticks, and similar petty technical purposes. Like many 
other shrubs, it is suffered to remain as underwood below 
standards of light-loving species, in order to afford some 
slight protection to the soil against insolation in places where 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 341 


it is not convenient to underplant with shade-bearing forest 
trees. When it is coppiced with a rotation of three to six 
years, it shoots freely from the stool. 

Hawthorn, which furnishes the commonest, best, and most 
beautiful of hedges, thrives on all classes of soil, but attains 
its best growth on such as are of limy or marly composition. 
Hedges can be formed by planting out self sown seedlings, 
though in general much better results are obtained by the use 
of transplants. The A/aws are sown in rills eight inches apart, 
and with half to three-quarters of an inch of soil cover- 
ing, on limy soil in autumn ; the seeds germinate sometimes 
in the following spring, sometimes not until the second 
spring after they ripen. Where the soil is deficient in lime, 
marl should be added if it can conveniently be got in the 
neighbourhood, as it materially improves the seedlings in their 
development. The seed-beds should be covered with dry 
pine needles or broad-leaved foliage, over which straw and a 
few poles should be laid to prevent this being blown away 
during the winter; in spring this covering should be re- 
moved almost entirely if germination appears to be taking 
place, but if not it should be replaced till the following 
spring. Another method is to mix the seed with earth in 
boxes buried in ditches, &c., and to sow it out in rills, with a 
soil-covering of half an inch, during the second autumn or | 
spring following the ripening. When the seedlings are two- 
year-old, the tap-root is trimmed and the plants pricked out 
in rows of eight inches by four inches on the nursery-beds, 
where they are allowed to stand for two years before being 
transplanted for the formation of hedgerows. 

Sea-buckthorn is of interest as being one of the first species 
of shrubs of woodland growth to occur spontaneously on 
sand-banks thrown up by rivers. 

Holly is often a troublesome weed on good soils when re- 
production of other species is taking place, but it disappears 


Bie a Tet 


BRITISH FOREST TREES 


from copse and coppice whenever the period ef rotat 
exceeds ten years. In general terms, the same applies to 
majority of the hardwood shrubs, such as Barberry, Z 
wood, Cornel, Dogwood, Laburnum, Spindle-tree, Bladder- 
nut, Buckthorn, Snowball-tree, and Gueldres Rose, whic 1 
are all welcome as a soil-covering under lofty standards 
unable to protect the soil for themselves by close canopy, 
but can under certain circumstances become very trouble- 
some during the period of reproduction of high-timber 
forests. = 


os) on ee . 


INDEX 


A 


ACCOMMODATION, power of, 31, 71 
Age attainable, differences as to, 


52 
Alder buckthorn, 340 
Alder, common, 13, 223 
coppice, 229 
distribution of, 223 
external dangers to, 227 
fungoid diseases of, 227 
insect enemies of, 227 
maturity and reproductive capa- 
city of, 226 
mixed forests of, 230 
requirements as to light, 226 
soil and situation, 224 
sylvicultural treatment of, 227 
tree-form and root-system of, 
223 
woods, formation of, 231 
Artificial formation and reproduction 
of alder coppice, 232 
beech woods, 1 
larch woods, 152 
oak woods, 205 
Scots pine woods, 77 
silver fir woods, 109 
spruce woods, 135 
Ash, 14, 243 


coppice, 249 
distribution of, 243 


external dangers to, 246 
fungoid diseases of, 247 

insect enemies of, 246 
maturity and reproductive capa- 


city of, 245 


Ash, mixture of beech and, 169, 174, 


247 
oak and, 201, 248, 269 
requirements as to light, 245 
soil and situation, 244 
sylvicultural treatment of, 247 
tree-form and root-system of, 


244 
Aspen, 14, 310 


mixture of beech and, 180 
Assimilation, 22, 25, 49, 51 
Atmospheric humidity, requirements 

as to, 27 
Austrian pine, 13, 66, 104, 235 


B 
BEECH, 13, 155 
as ruling species, 169 
coppice, 165 
distribution of, 155 
external dangers to, 161 
fungoid diseases of, 161 
insect enemies of, 161 
maturity and reproductive capa- 
city of, 159 
mixture of ash, elm, maple, and 
sycamore with, 174 
hornbeam and, 179, 278 
larch and, 152, Pa 178 
lime and, 1 
oak k and, 165, 1 190, 194, 


Scots pine naa 169, 178 

silver fir and, 126,169, 175 

softwoods and, 169, 180 

spruce and, 99, 101, 169, 
175 


344 


Beech, period of rotation of, 164 
pure forests of, 164, 166 
requirements as to light, 159 

soil and situation, 157 
sylvicultural treatment of, 162 
tree-form and root-system of, 

156 
woods, artificial formation and 
reproduction of, 184 
natural reproduction of, 
165, 166, 181 

thinning of, 166 

Birch, 13, 211 
distribution of, 211 
external dangers to, 215 
maturity and reproductive capa- 

city of, 214 
mixtures of beech and, 180, 
219° 

Scots pine and, 71, 218 

silver fir and, 127, 220 

spruce and, 105, 220 
requirements as to light, 213 

soil and situation, 213 
sylvicultural treatment of, 215 
tree-form and root-system of, 

213 
woods, formation and repro- 
duction of, 221 

Black pine, 13, 66, 104, 235 

Bole, development of, 23, 254 

Broad-leaved, deciduous trees, 13, 

29, 34, 155, 243 

Brushwood in coppice, 335 


Cc 


CANKER of beech, 161 
larch, 72, 140, 145 
silver fir, 118 

Cembran pine, 13, 238 

Chestnut, sweet or Spanish, 14, 283 
coppice, 285, 287, 289 
distribution of, 283 
external dangers to, 288 
maturity and reproductive cape: 

city, 286 
requirements as to light, 286 
soil and situation, 284 

sylvicultural treatment of, 289 


INDEX 


Chestnut, tree-form and root-system 
of, 283 
Chief species of forest trees, 55 
Clearance of forest, consequences of 
excessive, 8 
Climate, requirements of trees as to, 
24 
Climatic requirements of alder, 225 
ash, 244 
aspen, 313 
beech, 157 
birch, 213 
black pine, 236 
chestnut, 285 
Douglas fir, 243 
elm, 264 
hornbeam, 274 
horse-chestnut, 307 
larch, 141 
lime, 301 
maple, 253 
mountain ash, 291 
oak, 188 
poplars, 313 
Scots pine, 59 
silver fir, 115 
spruce, 86 
sycamore, 253 
Weymouth pine, 241 
white alder, 294 
willows, 321 
Conifers, 13, 25, 26, 29, 34, 52; 55, 
57,175, 235 
Coppice of alder, 229, 234 
ash, 249 
beech, 165 
chestnut, 285, 287, 289 
hornbeam, 277, 280 
oak, 195, 201, 205 
Corsican pine, 13, 66, 104, 235 


D 


DEER, damage done by, 62, 90, 
119, 145, 162 

Density of woods, 21 

Depth of soil necessary for different 
species of trees, 29 

Distribution of forests in chief 

countries of Europe, 10 
the United Kingdom, 11 


q 


INDEX 345 


Distribution of alder, 223 

ash, 244 
aspen, 311 
beech, 155 
birch, 211 
black pine, 235 
chestnut, 283 
Douglas fir, 242 
elm, 262 
hornbeam, 272 
horse-chestnut, 306 
larch, 139 
lime, 299 
maple, 252 
mountain ash, 291 
oak, 186 
poplars, 310 
Scots pine, 55 
silver fir, 114 
spruce, 83 

_ sycamore, 252 
Weymouth pine, 240 
white alder, 293 
willows, 319 

Douglas fir, 13, 147, 169, 242 


E 


Economic value of forests, 9 
Elm, 14, 261 
distribution of, 262 
external dangers to, 266 
maturity aad reproductive capa- 
city of, 265 
mixture of beech and, 169, 174, 
, 268 
hornbeam and, 269 
oak and, 201, 268 
requirements as to light, 264 
soil and situation, 263 
sylvicultural treatment of, 267 
tree-form and root-system of, 
263 
External dangers to alder, 227 
ash, 246 
aspen, 315 
paths 161 
birch, 215 
black pine, 237 
chestnut, 288 


External dangers to elm, 266 
hornbeam, 276 
horse-chestnut, 307 
larch, 144 
lime, 303 
maple, 256 
oak, 191 
poplars, 315 
Scots pine, 61 
silver fir, 118 
spruce, 88 
sycamore, 256 
Weymouth pine, 241 
white alder, 296 
willows, 324 


F 


ForEST, derivation and meaning of 
the word, 4 

Forest growth in relation to soil, 14 
Forests, enactments relative to, 4, 6 
Forests of ancient Britain, 5, 7, 8 
Forest trees of Britain, 13 
Formation of alder woods, 231 

ash woods, 249 

beech woods, 165 

birch woods, 221 

elm woods, 271 

larch woods, 148 

maple and sycamore woods, 261 

oak woods, 204 

Scots pine woods, 73 

silver fir woods, 127, 130 

spruce woods, 105 
Fowler’s service tree, 14, 291 
Frost, liability of forest trees to 

suffer from, 27 

Fungoid diseases of alder, 227 

ash, 247 

aspen, 316 

ORE 161, 168 ‘ 

birch, 215 

black pine, 237 

elm, 267 

hornbeam, 277 

horse-chestnut, 308 

larch, 140, 145 

lime, 304 

maple, 257 


346 INDEX 


Fungoid diseases of oak, 192 Indigenous trees of Britain, 2 


poplars, 316 


Scots pine, 61, 65, 69, 82 ash, 246 

silver fir, 118, 119g, 121, 139 aspen, 316 
spruce, 89, IOI beech, 161 
sycamore, 257 birch, 215 
white alder, 296 black pine, 237 
willows, 325 elm, 267 


G 


GROWING space, 22, 33, 51 
Growth of forest trees, special in- 
dividual considerations regarding, 


55 

Growth of timber crops in general, 
20 

Growth in cubic contents, 42 


girth, 24, 40 
height, 23, 35 


H 


HARDWOODS, 14, 155, 243 
Hawthorn, 341 
Hazel, 339 
Holly, 341 
Hornbeam, 14, 272 
coppicing of, 277, 280 
distribution of, 272 
external dangers to, 276 
fungoid diseases of, 277 
insect enemies of, 277 
maturity and reproductive capa- 
city of, 276 
mixture of beech and, 179, 278 
elm and, 269 
oak and, 278 
requirements as to light, 275 
soil and situation, 274 
sylvicultural treatment of, 277 
tree-form and root-system of, 


273 
Horse-chestnut, 14, 306 


Humus, 15, 16, 31, 75, 146, 159,” 


163, 167, 216 


I 


INCREMENT, 42 
Increment, effects of soil and situa- 
tion on, 44 


Insect enemies of alder, a37 


JEFFREY'S pine, 13, 242 
Juniper, 338 


LARCH, 14, 139 


hornbeam, 277 
horse-chestnut, 308 
larch, 140, 145 

lime, 304 

maple, 256 

oak, 192 

poplars, 316 

Scots pine, 61, 66, 70 
silver fir, 118 

spruce, 89, 92, 93, IOI, 160 
sycamore, 256 

white alder, 297 

willows, 324 


J 


L 


distribution of, 139 
external dangers to, 144 
fungoid diseases of, 145 
insect enemies of, 145 
maturity and reproductive capa- 
city of, 143 
mixed forests of, 151 
mixture px! beech and, 152, 169, 
17 
Scots pine and, 72, 152 
silver fir and, 152 
spruce and, 99, 152 
pure forests of, 148 _ 
requirements as to light, 143 
soil and situation, 141 
sylvicultural treatment of, 145 
tree-form and root-system of, 
140 
woods, artificial formation and 
reproduction of, 152 


INDEX 347 


Larch woods, natural reproduction Maple, insect enemies of, 256 


of, 152 maturity and reproductive ca- 
thinning of, 150 pacity of, 255 
Light, action of large amount of, 25, — of beech and, 174, 
49 25 
varying demands of forest-trees mixture of oak and, 201, 258 
as to, 26 requirements as to light, 255 
requirements of alder as to, 26, soil and situation, 253 
226 sylvicultural treatment of, 257 
ash, 26, 245 tree-form and root-system of, 
aspen, 26, 313 252 
beech, 26, 159 Maritime pine, 13, 66, 237 
birch, 26, 213 Minor produce, 23 
black pine, 26, 236 Minor species of forest trees, 13, 
chestnut, 26, 286 234 
Douglas fir, 243 Mixed forests, the alder in, 230 
elm, 26, 264 ash in, 169, 174, 201, 247, 
hornbeam, 26, 275 248, 269 
horse-chestnut, 26, 307 aspen in, 180, 316 
larch, 26, 143, 147 beech in, 169, 194 
lime, 26, 302 birch in, 216, 218 
maple, 26, 255 black pine in, 104, 169 
oak, 26, 189 Douglas fir in, 169, 243 
poplars, 26, 313 elm in, 169, 174, 269 
Scots pine, 26, 59 hornbeam in, 179, 269, 278 
silver fir, 26, 116 horse-chestnut in, 309 
spruce, 26, 86, 102 larch in, 145, 149 
sycamore, 26, 255 lime in, 300, 304 
Weymouth pine, 26, 241 maple in, 169, 174, 257 
white alder, 26, 295 oak in, 169, 190, 194, 200, 
willows, 26, 322 202, 207 
Lime, 14, 299 poplars in, 316 
distribution of, 299 Scots pine in, 69 
external dangers to, 303 silver fir in, 124 
fungoid diseases of, 304 spruce in, 99 
insect enemies of, 304 sycamore in, 174, 257 
maturity and repr-ductive capa- Weymouth pine in, 104, 240 
city of, 302 white alder in, 297 
mixture of beech and, 180 willows in, 169, 325 
requirements as to light, 302 Mould, 15, 16, 31, 75, 146, 159, 
soil and situation, 301 163, 167, 216 


tree-form and root-system, 300 Mountain ash, 14, 291 
Mountain elm, 14, 262 
Mountain pine, 13, 239 


M 
MAIN produce, 23 
Maple, 14, 252 N 
Maple, coppicing of, 255 
distribution of, 252 NATURAL reproduction of beech 
external dangers to, 256 woods, 165, 166, 181 


fungoid diseases of, 257 larch w 152 


348 INDEX 


Natural reproduction of oak woods, 
206 


Scots pine woods, 74 
silver fir woods, 127, 130 
spruce woods, 106, 108 
Non-indigenous trees of Britain, 2 
Nordmann’s fir, 13, 239 
Norway maple, 14, 252 
Norway spruce, 13, 83 
Nutriment, requisite quantity of, 
30 


O 
OAK, 13, 186 
Oak as ruling species, 201 
coppice, 195, 205 
copse, 196 
distribution of, 186 
external dangers to, 191 
fungoid diseases of, 192 
insect enemies of, 191 
maturity and reproductive ca- 
pacity of, 190 
mixture of ash, elm, maple, and 
sycamore with, 201 
beech and, 169, 190, 194, 
200, 202, 207 
conifers and, 105, 126, 
203, 204 
hornbeam, 278 
period of rotation of, 190, 196, 
200 
pure forests of, 199 
requirements as to light, 189 
soil and situation, 188 
sylvicultural treatment of, 193 
ee and root-system of, 
107 
woods, artificial formation and 
reproduction of, 204 
natural reproduction of, 206 
thinning of, 198 
Osiers, 327 
Osier-beds, formation of, 328, 330 
Outturn, 23, 44 


P 
PERSISTENCE of foliage on conifers, 


Pe) 
Pitch pine, 13, 242 


Planting of alder, 233 

ash, 251 

_ beech, 164, 166, 185 

chestnut, 290 

elm, 271 

hornbeam, 281 

larch, 153 

lime, 305 

maple and sycamore, 262 

oak, 209 

poplars, 314 

Scots pine, 79 

silver fir, 137 

spruce, 111 

white alder, 298 

willows, 326 
Pollarding, 52, 304, 326 
Poplars, 14, 310 

distribution of, 311 

external dangers of, 315 

fungoid diseases of, 316 

insect enemies of, 316 

maturity and reproductive ca- 

pacity of, 314 
requirements as to light, 313 
soil and situation, 312 

tree-form and root-system, 311 
Primeval forests of Europe, 19 
Principal species of forest trees, 13 
Productive capacity of soil, retention 

of, 16 

Pure forests of alder, 228 

ash, 247 

beech, 164, 166 

birch, 215 

elm, 268 

larch, 148 

maple and sycamore, 257 

oak, 199 

Scots pine, 67 

silver fir, 122 

spruce, 94 


R 


REPRODUCTION from seed, 48 
shoots and suckers, 51 
period of, 54 

Reproduction of alder woods, 234 
beech woods, 181, 184 
birch woods, 221 


J 
n 


INDEX 
Reproduction of larch woods, 148 


oak woods, 204 
Scots "sg woods, 73 
silver fir woods, 127 
spruce woods, 105 


Reproductive power, differences of 


trees as to, 46 


Root-system, various formations of, 


mie: spy of alder, 223 


aspen, 312 
beech, 156 
birch, 212 
black pine, 235 
chestnut, 283 
elm, 263 
hornbeam, 273 
horse-chestnut, 306 
larch, 140 
lime, 300 
maple, 252 
oa 187 
poplars, 312 
Scots pine, 56 
silver fir, 115 
spruce, 

ore, 252 
Wowmaetts pine, 240 
white alder, 293 
willows, 320 


Rotation, period of, 54 
Rotation of alder, 229 


’ 
aspen, 314 
beech, 164 
birch, 218 
elm, 268 
hornbeam, 278 
larch, 143, 148 
maple, 258 
oak, 190, 196, 200 
osier beds, 329 


aay 314 
Scots pine, 69, 67 


silver fir, 117, 124 
spruce, 95 
sycamore, 258 
white alder, 295 
willows, 325, 329 


Rowan, 14, 291 


349 
Ruling species, 20 
Ruling species in mixed woods, 
beech as the, 169 


oak as the, 201 
Scots pine as the, 69 
silver pe as the, iy 
spruce as the, 99 


S 
SCOTS ELM, 14, 261 
Scots pine, 13, 55 
Scots pine as ruling species, 69 
Scots pine, distribution of, 55 
external dangers to, 61 
rn diseases of, 61, 65, 69, 
2 
insect enemies of, 61 
maturity and reproductive ca- 
pacity of, 59 
mixture of beech and, 169, 178 
birch and, 71, 218 
larch and, 72, 152 
oak and, 204 
other pines and, 73 
silver fir and, 71, 125 
ane and, 69, 99, 103 
period of rotation of, 60, 67 
pure forests of, 68 
requirements as to light, 59 
soil and situation, 57 
sylvicultural treatment of, 63 
tree-form and root-system of, 56 
woods, artificial formation and 
reproduction of, 73 
natural reproduction of, 74 
thinning of, 64, 66 
Sea buckthorn, 341 
Seed, production of, 47 
erminative capacity of different 
: kinds of, = ~ 
Seed, production and germination 
of alder, 226 
ash, 246 
aspen, 314 
beech, 160 
birch, 214 
black pine, 236 
chestnut} 287 
Douglas fir, 243 
elm, 265 


350 INDEX 


Seed, production and germination 
of hornbeam, 276 
horse-chestnut, 307 
larch, 144 
lime, 303 
maple, 255 
. oak, 190 
poplars, 314 
Scots pine, 60 
silver fir, 117 
spruce, 88 
sycamore, 255 
Weymouth pine, 241 
white alder, 296 
willows, 323 
Service tree, 292 
Shape, differences of forest trees as 
to, 32 
Shrubs in coppice and underwood, 
52, 335 
Silver fir, 13, 114 
Silver fir as the ruling species in 
mixed woods, 124 
distribution of, 114 
external dangers to, 118 
fungoid diseases of, 118, 119 
insect enemies of, 118 
maturity and reproductive capa- 
city of, 117 
mixture of beech and, 126, 169, 
175 
birch and, 127, 220 
larch and, 152 
oak and, 126 
Scots pine and, 71, 125 
spruce and, 99, 124 
period of rotation of, 117 
pure forests of, 122 
requirements as to light, 116 
soil and situation, 115 
sylvicultural treatment of, 120 
tree-form and root-system, 115 
woods, artificial formation and 
reproduction of, 127, 135 
natural reproduction of, 
127, 130 
thinning of, 124 
Situation, effects of lofty and windy, 


34 
Smaller trees in coppice and under- 
wood, 335 . 


Softwoods, 14, 211, 293 
mixture of beech and, 169, 180 
spruce and, 105 
thinning out of, 314, 317 
Soil, demands made byforest growth 
on, 30, 31 
effects of sun and wind on, 15, 
17, 67 
quality of, 15, 34 
productive capacity of, 21, 29 
requirements of forest trees as 
to, 28 
Soil and situation, influence on 
forest growth of, 26, 44, 49, 


51 
best adapted for alder, 224 
ash, 244 
aspen, 312 
beech, 157 
birch, 213 
black pine, 236 
chestnut, 284 
Douglas fir, 243 
elm, 263 
hornbeam, 274 
horse-chestnut, 307 
larch, 141 
lime, 301 
maple, 253 
mountain ash, 291 
oak, 188 
poplars, 312 
Scots pine, 57 
silver fir, 115 
spruce, 85 
sycamore, 253 
Weymouth pine, 241 
white alder, 294 
willows, 321 
Soil-moisture, requirements of dif- 
ferent trees as to, 29 
Sowing, quantities of seed requisite 
for, 50 
Sowing of alder, 232 
ash, 250 
beech, 184 
chestnut, 290 
elm, 271 
hornbeam, 281 
horse-chestnut, 309. 
larch, 153 


INDEX 351 


Sowing of lime, 305 
maple, 261 


Scots pine, 78 

silver fir, 135 

spruce, ITI 

sycamore, 261 

white alder, 298 
Spanish or sweet chestnut, 14, 283 
Spruce, 13, 83 

as the ruling species in mixed 


woods, 99 
distribution of, 83 
external dangers to, 88 
fungoid diseases of, 89 
insect enemies of, 89 
maturity and reproductive capa- 
city of, 87 
mixture of beech and, 99, 101, 
169, 175 
larch and, 99, 102, 152 
oak and, 105, 203 
Scots pine and, 69, 99, 
103 
other pines and, 104 
silver fir and, 99, 124 
eye and, 105, 317, 


31 
period of rotation of, 95 
pure forests of, 94 
requirements as to light, 86 
soil and situation, 8 
sylvicultural treatment of, 91 
tree-form and root-system, 84 
woods, artificial formation and 
reproduction of, 107, 109 
natural reproduction of, 
106, 108 
thinning of, 96 
Standards of ash, 248 
beech, 165, 167, 181 
birch, 217 
chestnut, 286 
hornbeam, 280 
larch, 147, 148, 151 
maple and sycamore, 260 
oak, 194, 196, 202, 205 
poplars, 318 
Scots pine, 76 
silver fir, 123, 129, 131 
spruce, 98 


Stag-headedness, 187, 200, 203, 248 
Stoles or suckers, 23 
Stool-shoots, 23 
Sylvicultural treatment of alder, 227 
ash, 247 
aspen, 316 
beech, 162 
birch, 215 
chestnut, 289 
elm, 267 
hornbeam, 277 
horse-chestnut, 308 
larch, 145 
maple, 257 
oak, 193 
osier-beds, 329 
poplars, 316 
Scots pine, 63 
silver fir, 119 
spruce, 9I 
sycamore, 257 
white alder, 297 
willows, 325 


. 


THINNING, 22, 24 
Thinning of beech woods, 166 
larch woods, 150 
oak woods, I 
Scots ge woods, 64, 66 
silver fir woods, 124 
spruce woods, 96 
Thinning out of softwoods, 314, 
317 
Timber production in Britain, con- 
siderations affecting, 12, 164 
Timber, quality of, 54, 95, 123, 144, 
I 


Timber trees of Britain, 13 
Timber trees, comparative consider 
ations regarding, 24 
segregation of various species 
of, 17 
Total increment in timber crops, 42 
Transpiration through foliage, 28 
Tree-form of alder, 223 
ash, 244 
aspen, 311 
beech, 156 
birch, 212 


352 


Tree-form of chestnut, 283 
elm, 262 
hornbeam, 273 
horse-chestnut, 306 
larch, 140 
lime, 300 
maple, 252 
oak, 187 
poplars, 311 
Scots pine, 56 
silver fir, 115 
spruce, 84 
sycamore, 252 
white alder, 293 

_ willows, 320 

Tree willows, 325 


- 


U 


UNDERGROWTH, underwood, 17, 21 
Underplanting of ash, 247 

birch, 217 

elm, 269 

larch, 147, 151 

oak, 190, 194, 200 

Scots pine, 70, 74 
Underplanting with beech, 190, 200 

chestnut, 289 ; 

hornbeam, 279 

Nordmann’s fir, 239 

silver fir, 121 

white alder, 297 


W 


WARMTH, requirements of different 
forest trees as to, 25 
Weymouth pine, 13, 66, 240 
mixture of spruce and, 104 


INDEX 


White alder, 14, 293 
distribution of, 293 
external dangers to, 296 
fungoid diseases of, 296 
insect enemies of, 297 
maturity and reproductive capa- 
city of, 295 
requirements as to light, 295 
soil and situation, 294 
sylvicultural treatment of, 297 
tree-form and root-system of, 


293 
Willows, 14, 319 
distribution of, 319 
external dangers of, 324 
fungoid diseases of, 325 
insect enemies of, 324 
maturity and _ reproductive 
capacity of, 323 
mixture of beech and, 180 
requirements as to light, 322 
soil and situation, 321 
sylvicultural treatment of, 325 
tree-form and root-system of, 
320 
Wych elm, 14, 262 


ly Y 
YELLOW pine, 13, 242 
Yew, 336 
Yield of thinnings in beech, Scots 
pine, and spruce woods, 23 
Yield of coppices of alder, 225, 229 _ 
chestnut, 289 
oak, 201 
osiers, 330 
Yield of high forest of beech, 44 
Scots pine, 44 
silver fir, 44 
spruce, 44 


THE END. 


RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY. 


i—_ er 
i og a! 


Nisbet, John 
British forest trees 


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