392 REPORT ON LARCH FORESTS. 



cular part the best grown trees in the plantation are to be found, 

 and the soil, &c, being the same as that which surrounds it, if 

 the favourable growth is not to be accounted for from the turf 

 having been pared off, it is difficult to conceive how it is to be 

 explained. The same superiority of growth is also observable 

 where the turf was taken off to form the fence ; this latter cir- 

 cumstance, though often observed, is generally attributed to the 

 shelter afforded by the fence, which might be so in the latter 

 case, but not in the former, it being in the central part of the 

 plantation, and distant from the fence. 



One other observation is, that near the north end of the plan- 

 tation the trees are much taller and of faster growth than near 

 the south end. The most likely way of accounting for this is in 

 consideration of the shelter from the south being more essential 

 than shelter from the north, which the main body of the planta- 

 tion here gives. 



No. 7 is a tract of larch in Ashdown Forest, between East 

 Greenstead and Botherfield, in the county of Sussex. One part, 

 comprising about 300 acres, is worthy of special remark. 



The larches here, and generally all over this part of the country, 

 are planted from 2 to 2§- feet apart, and allowed to remain at that 

 distance till about twelve to fourteen years old ; at the latter age 

 about three-fourths of the crop are cut down for hop-poles, leaving 

 the remaining one-fourth to grow up as a crop of timber. The 

 result of this severe thinning is injurious to the remaining crop, 

 even in England, and would probably be fatal in Scotland. 



If a high wind occurs within twelve months from the time of 

 thinning, many of the trees are thereby uprooted, as was the 

 case to some extent with the plantation referred to. One cir- 

 cumstance favours greatly those trees left as the crop, viz., their 

 comparative conical form ; this circumstance happens on account 

 of conical-shaped trees being less suitable than cylindrical ones 

 for the purpose of hop-poles, hence such are left, their girth at 

 base being too great in proportion to their height. After a few 

 years the trees recover, and increase in size just in proportion to 

 the number of branches upon them ; those trees always growing 

 quickest which are most conical in shape, while those of a cylin- 

 drical form are much slower in growth, save in height. 



The difference of growth is not due to the shape of the tree, 

 but to the branches situated near the base of the trunk which 

 supply the roots with nourishment. 



Several circumstances tend to the success and rapid growth of 

 these plantations. The distance from the sea, twenty miles ; alti- 

 tude, 400 to 500 feet ; soil, dry, open hazel loam, resting upon iron 

 ore ; free open exposure ; and no mixture of evergreen trees. The 

 variable state of the soil manifested itself here in the following 

 ways : — In one place a poor white sand prevailed, upon which 



