THE CULTIVATION OF HARDWOODS. 1 55 



Elm, Sycamore mid Maple. — These three trees may be 

 classed together, as the same treatment may be applied to all of 

 them. Commercially, the sycamore is the most valuable of the 

 three, and in large sizes it is probably the most valuable timber- 

 tree grown. Like the sycamore, the maple is valuable in large 

 sizes, whereas the elm is at its best as ordinary sized timber. 

 In their soil requirements these trees are somewhat similar to 

 ash, except that sycamore and maple do not require the same 

 degree of moisture. In their light requirements they may be 

 termed middle class, none of them being very exacting in their 

 demands. They all form a fairly dense canopy, their leaves 

 are rapidly decomposed, and not very liable to be badly blown; 

 thus they may be ranked as fair, but not as good preservers of 

 the fertility of the soil, and they are therefore not suitable for 

 growing in large areas as pure woods. To cultivate them 

 successfully, they should be treated in the manner recommended 

 for ash, if their timber is likely to be in demand ; or where the 

 demand is not so great, by planting single trees throughout, or 

 round the margin of, woods. 



Birch. — The birch, in this country, is more frequently treated 

 as a weed than as a timber-producing tree; yet consider- 

 able quantities of birch wood are used in various industries,^ 

 and if the proper variety of birch were grown, there is no reason 

 why it might not become a more profitable tree, as it grows 

 rapidly and comes to maturity at an early age. It makes small 

 demands on the fertility of the soil, and will even flourish in a 

 poor dry soil, but will do much better on a good and fairly 

 humid one. It is essentially a light-demanding tree, and after 

 youth affords poor protection to the soil. Little can be said 

 from experience as to its cultivation, but presumably from its 

 very rapid growth in youth, and from its tendency to lash and 

 destroy the tops of adjoining trees with its whip-like twigs when 

 subjected to even a moderate breeze, it should be grown pure at 

 first, and underplanted with a shade-bearer when it has reached 

 a suitable stage. Some varieties of American birch may yet 

 prove to be useful trees in this country, and are certainly 

 worthy of a fair trial. 



There are several other broad-leaved trees which are timber 

 producers; some of these, viz., sweet chestnut, horse-chestnut 



^ Considerable quantities of clean birch logs are imported from the Baltic 

 and other northern ports. — Hon. Ed, 



