246 NOTES— ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



1862, but a )'ear or two later they ceased to build there, and the two trees in which 

 they chiefly used to build have since been topped, and are now little more than 

 half their former height ; the birds evidently left because they detected unsound- 

 ness in them." — T. Hav Wilson, " Crawcrook," Endlebury Lane, Chingford. 



The Hornbeams in Epping Forest. — The following interesting letter from 

 a correspondent signing as " Flxpert, Manchester," appeared in The Times of Sep- 

 tember 8th : " Although the hornbeam is not a tree much cultivated in this c ountry 

 it covers no less than two-thirds of the ground occupied in the 6,000 acres of the 

 Forest of Epping. Why it should have been so, raises an important question as 

 to its economical value. During all these centuries that pollarding has been goirg 

 on, it stands an object-lesson to foresters of the present that our forefathers have 

 appreciated it, and found it to be useful — more useful, indeed, than the oak and the 

 beech, which are its most important fellows, and, consequently, if there was an}' 

 conservancy at all, it must have been directed to that particular species of treei 

 What adds to one's wonderment is that it has been looked upon by many as an 

 exotic tree, brought over either from France or Germany early in the sixteenth century. 

 It matters little for our purpose the time of its introduction, although in passing 

 we might say that it looks like a native tree not suited for all conditions of climate 

 and soils, and might be mistaken by inattentive observers in days gone by as 

 allied to the beech. In fact, Gerarde, in his ' Herbal,' mixes it up with not only 

 the beech but the maple and the elm, from the rugose surface of its leaf. That it has 

 been a good and useful tree for domestic purposes goes without saying, as the tens 

 of thousands of pollards to be seen throughout the forest testify, particularly in 

 the Lower Forest, in Epping Thicks, in Theydon Forest, in St. Thomas and Honey 

 Lane quarters, in a great portion of Sewardstone Manor towards the sloping 

 ground to the river Lea, and on the other side of the New Road, in the wide area 

 of Loughton Manor. So pronounced has the work of pollarding gone on of 

 these hornbeams, that scarcely a single ' spear ' tree has been left to show the true 

 character of growth. 



" Now, why has this been so ? Because the parties pollarding have found out 

 that it is the most inflammable of woods, and that it has no equal in the forest for 

 fuel or for duration in the hearth in presence of fire — as Boutcher says : ' It burns 

 like a candle.' But its utility does not rest here ; it is so hard and close in the 

 grain as to resemble horn itself- — hence, doubtless, its Anglicised name — and it is 

 white withal in the wood as holly itself. It is more adapted for the saw than the 

 axe because of its cross-grained nature, and hence a special wood for the turning- 

 lathe, used in ancient times both in this and foreign countries for the yoke of 

 oxen, for the cogs of mill wheels, and nowadays, where get-at-able, for handles of 

 tools, for skittles, and for props where strength and durability tell. 



" The pollarding has ceased since Epping Forest has become the patrimony of 

 the people, and thinning has to be adopted in its stead. The thinnings, so far as 

 they have gone, have effected a ready sale, and no wonder, because the whole of 

 those pollards can be used up for some one or other of the purposes above-named — 

 even the branches can be readilj' disposed of for pea-rods. Although the forest is 

 considered outside of a profitable return view, it is no breach of faith on the part 

 of the conservators to turn these thinnings into profit. More than that, it is 

 highly desirable that the hornbeam as a tree should be encouraged ; every 

 youngster in a proper place should be allowed room to raise its head upwards, 

 and where the thicket becomes dense, as dense it is, unseemly individuals ought 

 to be cut out to make room for the comin<^ seedlings. No one outside of forestry 



