49 



How far north did this forest extend 1 As the fir abounds to this 

 day in the Highlands of Scotland, of course it was not climate 

 that determined its northern limit. Its advances in that direction 

 could only have been checked by the progress of civilisation and 

 agriculture. It is hardly possible to fix the boundary line exactly ; 

 but as a rude approximation towards it, I interested myself in 

 tracing on the return journey from Bournemouth to Bath, for 

 what distance on either side of the line, the firs might still be 

 noticed. The speed of railway travelling forbids any accurate 

 observations of this nature ; and possibly I may have been mis- 

 taken in some instances. But certainly the firs were distinctly 

 seen, though in gradually diminishing numbers, for a very 

 considerable distance. They were in abundance — large patches 

 of them here and there — as far as Wimborne ; afterwards (but 

 the patches fewer in number, or the firs only standing here and 

 there in rows), they were noticed up to Blandford, There is a 

 manifest reason, however, for their falling off here. 



The sands and gravels of the Bournemouth tertiary beds are 

 exchanged, after a while, for the underlying chalk which is far 

 more profitable for agricultural purposes, and which must have 

 long since led to a clearance of the firs on that account, if on no 

 other. I have just said that some of the trees may be seen 

 standing in rows, and it looks as if they had been purposely left 

 so, when the clearance was made, to serve as a border line between 

 two contiguous fields or holdings. One can hardly imagine them 

 to have been planted for such a purpose, as farmers in general 

 (certainly in the eastern counties) consider low hedges, and not a 

 row of trees, essential for good corn crops, allowing a free 

 circulation of air overhead, and thereby in great measure prevent- 

 ing mildew. 



Passing Blandford there was a decided falling off in the number 



of the firs for the rest of the journey ; only a few observed here 



and there at rare intervals. I am almost sure I saw some at 



Templecombe and Wincanton, and others in the vicinity of one 



D 



