46 ON THE PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OF 



containing three to four loads of timber each. The New Forest is 

 in the southern division of the county, and its geological forma- 

 tion is London clay, or plastic clay sand and marl. An imaginary 

 line, from Liphook in the east to Winchester and Salisbury in the 

 west, divides the county into two large divisions. Geologically, 

 these consist of chalk and chalk marl in the north, and London 

 clay and plastic clay sands in the south. These London clays are 

 cold and retentive ; but if not too wet, and the superincumbent 

 soil of an adhesive nature, they produce magnificent oaks and 

 excellent timber. Light, sandy, or gravelly soils on substratums 

 of cold plastic clays have a tendency to grow oaks short of stem, 

 with large bushy heads. This is caused by the roots ramifying 

 rapidly in the light, warm surface soil, and producing masses of 

 fibrous rootlets incapable of penetrating the impervious subsoil. 

 If, on the contrary, the superincumbent soil is adhesive, the roots 

 acquire a tapering and pointed form, with strong penetrating 

 rootlets, which overcome almost any resistance. This propensity 

 to produce fibrous rootlets in warm soils, and to become " carrotty 

 rooted " in heavy soils, is common to all trees, but is more marked 

 in some species. Every forester has probably observed that 

 shallow roots produce short stems, and that twisted grotesque 

 heads indicate the same general formation of roots. This explains 

 why the oaks planted in the New Forest gravels are never likely 

 to make noble specimens, or produce valuable timber. 



Hardwood Plantations are advantageously treated as a whole, as 

 it seems undesirable to classify the several varieties. The term 

 mixed hardwoods is indefinite, and may include few or many sorts, 

 planted alternately, massed according to the number of varieties, 

 or indiscriminately mixed. The sorts generally planted in the 

 south are oak, ash, birch, beech, and lime-tree. The English elm 

 (Ulmus cam])est7-is) is grown extensively in hedge-rows but seldom 

 in enclosures, and the Spanish chestnut, sycamore, and plane trees, 

 are rarely planted except for ornament. The varieties enumerated 

 are placed according to the frequency in which they occur in our 

 woods. The ash frequently occurs in mixed hardwood plantations 

 and is a useful and profitable acquisition. In them it is difficult 

 to define its value as a crop, but when planted in masses it affords 

 more certain data. In deep loamy soils and sheltered situations 

 the ash is a profitable tree. It is a rapid grower, can be closer 

 confined than most hardwoods, and is valuable at all ages. In 

 the south 3500 trees may be planted to an acre, and as the 



