OLD AND REMARKABLE TREES IN BRITAIN. 265 



to use as a compost or top-dressing a mixture of earths of various 

 kinds, and the reverse in their chemical composition, of the soil in 

 which the tree has begun to wane. In cold, clay, damp, or wet tally 

 soils, for example, in which few hardwoods will thrive for any 

 long time, or acquire large dimensions, it will he found advantageous 

 to use a mixture of coal ashes or wood ashes (the cinders having 

 been removed), compounded with road scrapings (silicious) or well 

 decayed peat, in the proportion of one part of coal ash to three of 

 road scrapings, or mould of peat or decayed leaves. A compost of this 

 description need not be laid on thicker than about one foot at the 

 tree neck, gradually tapering off to about four inches thick at the 

 outer circumference of the circle. It should be applied in autumn, 

 and during the fall of the leaf, and carefully stirred into the soil in 

 which the tree is growing. The use of ashpit refuse from dwelling- 

 houses, from which all cinders have been carefully removed, is not 

 so generally appreciated as it ought to be for the promotion of 

 vigour and healthy foliage in trees. If administered to young speci- 

 mens, and dug into the soil in which they are intended to be placed, 

 its effects very soon become apparent in the increased root action, 

 and consequent improved health and appearance of the plants. 



In cases of large trees whose condition seems to be stationary, 

 although not positively backward, it will be found beneficial to use 

 a top-dressing of rich loam mixed with leaf-mould and police manure, 

 or house coal ashes, in the proportion of one cart of the latter to four 

 or five of the former, and to lay the compost "barrow thick" upon 

 the roots under the drip of the branches, without levelling the surface 

 during the first winter. In this way the rains and snows of winter 

 wash in the various chemical agents of which this compound is made 

 up, and carry down to the rootlets fresh supplies of food, along with 

 the quantity of carbonic acid gas derived from the atmosphere ; and 

 in this way the powers of exhausted soil in which trees have been 

 too thickly planted are renewed, and the dormant functions of nature 

 in the tree itself receive a revivifying impulse. 



The application of police manure or street sweepings as a medium 

 for increasing and intensifying tree life was first suggested by the 

 appearance of several beech trees, of large dimensions, standing in 

 rows in the centre of a field which, after long remaining in pasture, 

 had been broken up for cropping. During the earlier years of the 

 rotation, no difference in the progress or appearance of the beeches 

 was apparent; they had previously exhibited symptoms of decay 

 and stationary existence for many years ; but one season, after an 



