NOTES — ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 247 



knowledofe can appreciate the ' gloom ' of these wide-spreading branches, and but 

 lor judicious thinning, adopted by the conservators and recommended by the 

 experts in their recent report, no young trees could live even if they were to 

 sprout up from mother earth. In the desire for the conservation and extension 

 of the oak and the beech, it is clearly good policy not to stifle out the 

 hornbeam. 



" But the lesson does not end here. Why is such a tree, eminently valuable 

 for domestic and other purposes, not cultivated more generally ? The agricultural 

 cry in Essex is very sad, and several other counties are giving barely remunerati\e 

 returns. Why should not this tree be more planted on the lands of Essex, Kent, 

 Norfolk, and other places where it is found to do well ? The greatest drawback 

 that foresters and forestry has to contend with is that there is scant return in the 

 lifetime of a man, and the want of capital. Here is a species of tree that will 

 give something like an adequate return, if under good cultivation, after twenty 

 years' growth. True, it must be planted on flat lands, or the London clay, or 

 some cool subsoil, not on the chalk, to flourish at its best ; but there are thousands 

 of acres of that kind that are not paying a living wage to anybody. A portion of 

 those acres might be so utilised. The timber question is a national one, and 

 must be dealt with from a national point of view. The powers that be may 

 delay, but it is only a question of time. Our waste and unproductive lands 

 both highland and lowland, must be turned to some practical account. There 

 are plenty of competent foresters to carry out the work. There is a good bit of 

 moonshine in ascribing our deficiency to the want of science and art schools of 

 forestr3\ Find the money, and those of us who have toiled to be proficient will 

 easily find the men."' 



To this, another correspondent, " G.H.," adds : " Your correspondent, 

 ' Expert,' has not noticed one purpose which this tree may serve with advantage. 

 It makes a most admirable hedge. In the place from which I write (Kenmure 

 Castle, New Galloway), there is a hornbeam hedge fencing one side of a large 

 garden. It is 32 feet high, and can only be trimmed by the aid of special 

 scaffolding which is provided for it. This fence is attractive in appearance, antl 

 thoroughly effective. There is a smaller one a short distance away." 



Notes from Curtis's " Flora Londinensis." — In this fine w^ork, published 

 in two volumes, folio, 1777-1787, are two notes of interest to Essex botanists. The 

 first relates to Samhucits ebiilis^ the Dwarf Elder or Banewort, which is now rare in 

 most parts of the county. Curtis says : " In most Physic Gardens this plant is 

 cultivated, but is rarely met with wild about London. 1 have observed it two 

 places only, the one in a hedge which surrounds a part of Mr. Beaufoy's garden, 

 Cupers Bridge, Lambeth Marsh ; the other in a lane leading down to Opton, 

 Essex, by the garden wall of the late Dr. Fothergill." He gives the following 

 quaint account of the "Stinking Morell," Tennyson's "fungus in the holt," 

 Phallus impndicus, which, so commonly reveals itself by its evil odour in parts of 

 Epping Forest, particularly in Lodge Bushes. "In the months of August, 

 September, and October, this singular phenomenon of the Fungus tribe makes its 

 appearance in woods, hedgerows, and hedges, in some places abundantly, in 

 others rarely ; near London it has been found in Combwood and Norwood, but 

 more plentifully in a small fir wood near the ' Spaniard,' Hampstead Heath, 

 before remarked for producing the Hydnum aiiriscalpiiim ; in this wood, on the 

 24th September, 1780, I discovered nearly a dozen growing within a small space 

 of each other, some were full-grown, others in their ^gg state, risen about half- 



