254 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
XVII. Trees Best Adapted for Various Soils. By A. D. 
Wesster, Hollydale, Keston, Kent. 
There is, perhaps, no soil so bad or barren that may not be 
rendered profitable by judicious tree-planting ; but, as might be 
expected, there is often a great want of knowledge as to the 
proper kind of trees to be chosen to suit a particular soil. Where 
the plantations are intended mainly for profit, grouping of the 
trees according to soil and situation will be found the surest 
method of attaining such an end. 
In looking over a large extent of woodland one will generally 
be struck with the great disproportion in size of the individual 
trees of a species ; but it will generally be noticed that where the 
largest and healthiest occur the tree is usually growing upon its 
own soil, and is found to be flourishing at the expense of all 
around it. 
Thus the finest oaks will be found where the soil is deep and 
loamy, resting on clay; beech upon a calcareous gravel, resting 
on a bed of chalk; ash and elm on a dampish loamy gravel ; 
birch in a light black loam, with a gravelly substratum ; Spanish 
chestnut in a good loamy soil, not too damp; the mountain ash 
at a good elevation, in a rather light soil ; horse-chestnut in deep 
loam, dry at the bottom; the Scots and Corsican pines, Pinus 
sylvestris and P, Laricio, at fairly high altitudes, and in gravelly 
well-drained soils; and the Cluster and Aleppo pines (P. Pinaster 
and P. halepensis) in almost pure sand on the sea-coast. 
Some trees grow rapidly enough for a few years in almost any 
soil, but after a time they gradually show signs of distress, make 
little or no progress, and ultimately become stunted and ill- 
grown; or, should the soil be very unfavourable, they die outright. 
Instances of such are unfortunately far too common wherever 
one travels over the country, trees of a kind that are utterly 
unfitted for the particular class of soil being planted in a kind of 
haphazard way, and without any consideration of their individual 
requirements. 
For all practical purposes with reference to tree culture, soils, 
generally speaking, may be divided into six distinct classes— 
peaty, chalky or limey, gravelly, clayey, loamy, and such as con- 
tain ironstone, coal, etc.,—and so as to render the subject as 
concise as possible we will treat each soil separately, giving a 
list of the trees best suited for growing thereon. 
