ON THE DECREASE OF THE OAK IN BRITAIN. 187 



has taken place, and which must be apparent to every one — and seeing the pre- 

 judicial effects of this decrease in every point of view, the cause remains to be 

 considered which has apparently induced us to forget all claims of posterity— the 

 cause of that want of foresight in which, in other respects, we are by no means 

 deficient. 



The principal cause is probably this: The object of the land-owner and planter 

 has been to cultivate trees that will produce timber or wood, in his lifetime ; now, 

 unfortunately, the Oak will not do this : 



" Jam quae seminibus jactis se sustulit arbos, 

 Tarda venit, seris factura nepotibus unibram." 



The Larch has therefore been brought in, and the growth of this tree, naturally 

 quick, has been increased by cultivation. In a few years the planter sees with 

 gratification the rapid progress it has made. But the timber, if such it can be 

 called which is produced by this rapid growth, is of a very inferior nature ; for it 

 is a well-known maxim, that the excellence of timber is in the inverse ratio to 

 the rapidity of the growth ; yet the wood, bad as it is, answers the purpose of 

 the grower ; he can plant, cut down, and plant again, during his life. 



But it is not entirely to him who plants for gain, that our loss is to be attri- 

 buted; it is not altogether the decrease in quantity of which we have to complain, 

 but also the inferiority in quality. Those who do plant Oak, do so merely for 

 ornament. 



" Most species of forest trees are so long in coming to maturity, that the grand 

 incentive to planting them is ornament, and not use. Even the man who 

 accumulates for posterity, in reality seldom does so in his own feeling of the 

 matter : for he who leaves the most to others when he quits the world, did not 

 collect it for them, but for himself — for the gratification of his desire of posses- 

 sion. The man who plants wishes to have something to look at, and to have it 

 as speedily as possible, and that, with the other circumstances that have been 

 noticed, conspires to cover the rich districts of the country with growing rubbish, 

 which, when it comes to be cut down, is fit only for fire-wood, and very 

 inferior for that." — Mudie. 



And in consequence of the inferiority of the timber thus planted, it has been 

 argued, that the Oak cannot be cultivated — that it must be sown and grow by 

 the hand of Nature, that the acorn must drop from the parent tree, and spring 

 spontaneously into life ; in short, that any interference on the part of man is 

 injurious : this excuse, for the conduct of those who destroy, but never plant, 

 is vain and futile, for — 



" If people have been able to cultivate animals into greater size and strength 

 and beauty, and also to make them have better flesh and finer wool ; if they have 

 been able to improve by culture the beauty of flowers, and the nourishing quali- 



No. 10, Vol. II. c 



