72 Tree Planting in the Black Country/. 



straight timber. It is not pretended that these trees are on pit 

 mounds, but the wood is simply surrounded by collieries and 

 the whole of the district is undermined. At the Timbertree 

 Moitnd the trees are chiefly birch and Austrian pine. These 

 specimens were planted in 1890 by Mr. George Allan, and all 

 are in a very flourishing condition. 



The difficulties of forest making in the Black Country are 

 not entirely due to the artificial conditions created by the 

 industries of the district. This particular part of the Midlands 

 of England is situated at a high level and is peculiarly exposed 

 to the winds of heaven. When once well established the 

 woods flourish, but it is not always an easy matter to start 

 a plantation. Of course some districts are more favoured than 

 others, owing to the fact that they happen to be sheltered in 

 some way. Naturally, when planting trees on a large scale, it 

 is not possible to do anything in the way of staking, or to 

 arrange any special protection, in fact, the only way to meet 

 the difficulty is to plant largely so that, even if a goodly 

 portion of the trees perish, there will be a substantial number 

 remaining. Up to a certain point the more thickly the trees are 

 planted, the greater will be the protection which they will give 

 to one another. i\.t any point it is of com'se always possible to 

 thin out. There seems to be a popular idea that for this forest 

 making it is necessary to secure nursery grown specimens, but 

 this is a mistaken impression. Seedling trees which have been 

 raised under the hardiest possible conditions are far and away 

 the best for the purpose. Curiously enough, too, it is not 

 always the trees which have been planted the most carefully 

 that succeed the best. Mr. Martineau, the energetic Secretary 

 of the Association, says that it has been proved that the best 

 way to plant trees is to follow the example of Robinson Crusoe 

 who "stuck pieces of trees in the ground and they grew." A 

 case in point is to be found in connection with some trees 

 which are growing in a pleasure park at Walsall. When the 

 opening day for the park drew near the grounds were in such 

 an unfinished condition that it was decided to dump a number 

 of poplar cuttings into various positions to give an effect. These 

 were put in very roughly, but strangely enough they have 

 really grown better than those which were treated with more 

 care. Of course the illustration is not used to encourage care- 

 lessness, but simply to emphasise the point that forest making 

 is not siK'h a delicate operation as is often supposed. Poplars 

 are extremely easy subjects to establish, and it is doubtful 

 whether such rough and ready methods would have answered 

 in the case of other trees, unless they happened to be some 

 kinds ot willow. The plantations which have been made by 

 the Midland Reaff'oresting Association have been regularly 



