REPORT ON A VISIT TO SCOTTISH AND ENGLISH FORESTS. 207 
to say that before long it will not be here that a professor of sylvi- 
culture, desirous of teaching his science, will choose to pitch his 
tent. 
Forest of Dean.—On our return to Lyndhurst, after the excur- 
sion in the New Forest, there remained but three days at our dis- 
posal before our duties necessitated our return to France. These 
were employed in visiting the Forest of Dean. 
The present Forest of Dean occupies the site of the old forest of 
the same name, which formerly covered the whole of the plateau 
between the estuary of the Severn and the valley of the Wye. 
(‘‘ Dean,” “dén,” signifies “forest” in the old Celtic language.) 
The old forest has disappeared within the last few centuries, owing, 
perhaps, to the demand for charcoal and mine-props for the local 
industries ; if, however, we were not afraid of being accused of being 
prejudiced, we might say that unrestricted pasturage may have had 
something to do with the disappearance. It is on these ruins that 
the new Forest of Dean has been created ; in less than a century 
more than 16,000 acres of the original 22,000 have been replanted. 
The older plantations are generally of pure oak ; the beeches, chest- 
nuts, and birches form but a small percentage of the trees. Scots 
fir, spruce fir, and larch are generally only found in the plantations 
made during the last thirty years, or in bad peaty portions. The 
state of vegetation is generally good, varying, however, with the 
quality of the soil, but indicating in every point the artificial nature 
of the forest. 
We may take this opportunity of remarking that a plantation of 
“ broad-leaved” trees (oak, beech, etc.) takes a much longer time to 
establish itself than one of ‘‘ needle-leaved” trees (conifers, Scots fir, 
larch, ete.). In Scotland we saw the most magnificent plantations 
of larch and fir, whilst in the Forest of Dean the plantations of oak 
were always more or less dwarfed in appearance. The cause of this 
is, that oaks furnish the soil with much less vegetable manure than 
the coniferous trees; and again, in an oak plantation there is a 
marked absence of undershrubs and spontaneous ground vegetation, 
which, by their organic remains, tend to increase and improve the 
surface soil. It is rare, also, that a plantation of oaks, on a soil 
which has been long unoccupied by forest vegetation, and is but 
moderate in quality, succeeds well during the first generation ; it is 
only at the second generation that the trees acquire their normal 
development. 
At present, while the trees are yet in their youth, the only cul- 
