38 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
trees, and for improving the soil, than for the value of its 
timber. It grows well, and to a great size, and lives to a long 
age on chalk, limestone, and oolite soil. The fact of its being 
a shade-bearer makes it one of the best trees for mixing with 
others. Its great density of foliage kills off side-branches, and 
draws up the other kinds into clean, straight trees. It annually 
casts off a heavy fall of leaves, the decomposition of which 
greatly improves the condition of the soil. It is very suitable 
for mixing with oak and larch. The former benefits greatly 
by the beech killing off lower branches, which, if allowed to 
grow, would check the growth at middle age. 
When beech is mixed with larch, this keeps more healthy 
than when grown pure or with other trees. 
Ash.— When grown for small timber, it is advisable to plant 
ash in a mixed plantation; but, when heavy timber is wanted, 
it requires a great deal more head-room, in its later stages of 
life, than can be profitably given in a mixed wood. ‘“Coppice- 
with-standards” is therefore the best system for growing big 
ash timber. Deep, strong, moist soil, found in the bottoms of 
valleys and ravines, will grow ash of superior quality, and 
secure for it a great rapidity of growth, while dry shallow soil 
or peaty ground is unsuitable. 
Spanish Chestnut.—This tree can be mixed profitably with 
other fast-growing trees, such as Douglas fir, larch, or Corsican 
pine. It has a very heavy annual fall of leaves, which does 
much to keep the soil moist, and it yields timber of high 
quality, little inferior to oak. But the quality of the timber 
deteriorates in large trees, and it is therefore necessary to cut 
it out as thinnings, when it is about thirty or forty years, and 
before it gets twisted and shaky. The best soil for Spanish 
chestnut is a deep well-drained loam, and deep sand or gravel. 
Wet or limy soil, cold and bleak situations, and frosty hollows, - 
are all unsuitable for it. 
Larch.—The larch, one of the most profitable timber-trees, 
is almost invariably planted in our woods. Its toughness and 
durability, even when comparatively young, and its clean 
cylindrical bole make it a great favourite for fencing, pit- 
props, etc. Where there is the slightest doubt as to its 
successful growth, it should be planted in admixture with 
other trees. The failure of the larch during the earlier stages 
of growth does not then necessarily destroy the future of the 
