1 8 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The oak-woods are divided into damp and dry associations. 

 The damp oak-woods occur on clays, loams, and other moist, 

 heavy soils. The pedunculate oak is the dominant tree, but ash 

 may be present and, in Sussex and neighbouring counties, 

 hornbeam is often abundant. An undergrowth of hazel is a 

 good indication of a damp oak-wood. In the south of 

 England, coppicing has long been carried on in the oak- 

 woods, and besides oak and hazel, ash, birch, beech, 

 hornbeam, alder, willow, and even Spanish chestnut are cut 

 back periodically and treated as coppice. Oak-hazel coppice, 

 with or without oak standards, is a widespread type of woodland, 

 but it is regarded as derived from the damp oak-wood. The 

 observations of the authors of the "Woodlands of England" give 

 much information on the origin of this oak-hazel copse, and the 

 effect on the soil of this mode of treating woods. One important 

 conclusion is that coppicing has often deteriorated the soil for 

 trees, because the natural humus-covering has been wasted 

 through exposure without canopy. This process has gone so 

 far in places that what was once woodland is now poor scrub, 

 with whins and other not very useful plants. This may explain 

 the well-known difficulty met with by foresters who attempt to 

 convert coppice, which is no longer so profitable as it was, into 

 timber-producing woods. 



The undergrowth of the damp oak-wood is generally varied. 

 Hazel, hawthorn, maple {Acer campestre), brambles and roses are 

 typical shrubs, and the climbers ivy and honeysuckle are common. 

 The ground-vegetation includes a number of plants partial to 

 damp shady woods in general, such as primrose, red campion, 

 wood anemone and celandine. The following appear to be 

 almost confined to the damp oak-wood : male fern {Lastrcea 

 Ftlix-tnas), broad buckler fern (Z. dilatata), the lady fern 

 {Athyrium Filix fcemind), the wood horsetail {Equiseiuin 

 sylvatiaim), and the large woodrush {Lvzula maxwid). 



Typical examples of damp oak-woods and dry oak-woods 

 are quite distinct, but between the two there is every stage 

 of gradation, and on a single valley-slope in a hilly dis- 

 trict, it is not unusual to find the dry type at the top of the 

 slope with a more or less damp oak-wood lower down. The 

 typical dry oak-woods are characterised by absence of ash, 

 hazel and maple, but birch, holly and rowan are strongly 

 represented. The soil is poorer in humus, and the herbaceous 



