102 " THE NEW FORESTRY. 



a high price as timber, good butts are scarce and not often 

 offered in any quantity. One explanation probably is that in 

 the past the tree has not been valued by foresters for its 

 timber, and that the demand for sycamore has greatly 

 increased within the last forty years or so for various purposes 

 connected with the Lancashire mills and other branches of 

 industry. From eleven inches upwards it is sought for at 

 from one shilling to three shillings and sixpence per cubic foot 

 The articles made from it, many of them, are cut out, not 

 longitudinally, but across the grain, hence the usual stipula- 

 tions about girth by purchasers who buy sycamore for special 

 purposes, such as rollers for machinery, as in the case of the 

 beech. The sycamore grows quickly, and in a mixed or pure 

 wood produces a fine, clean, cylindrical trunk, is extremely 

 hardy, withstands gales, and is not particular as to soil. The 

 tree sows itself freely, and in some parts it has extended 

 itself naturally from older trees. When planted, one year or 

 two-year-old plants should be used. 



NORWAY MAPLE. Acer platanoides. A hardy tree, less 

 vigorous than the sycamore, which it resembles. Timber not in 

 demand, but may be sold with that of the sycamore. 



BlRCH. Betula alba. This species and the alder and 

 mountain ash are here grouped in succession, because the 

 timber of all the three is used for similar purposes, and they 

 thrive well together at high elevations and under similar con- 

 ditions. The birch is a very useful timber-tree, reaching 

 saleable dimensions on dry or moist soils of almost every 

 description, thriving at a higher elevation than most other 

 trees, also in valleys, and reaching a height of sixty feet. The 

 timber is light and is extensively used for clog soles in 

 England, the doggers felling the trees at any season of the 

 year, cutting out the soles and leaving them to season stacked 

 in piles in the wood. Trees of from one to five cubic feet 

 dimensions are preferred for soles, but lots of all sizes are 

 readily sold at from fivepence to sixpence per foot. The birch 

 sows itself readily, and may be sown artificially without any 

 preparation of the soil. When planted by itself, about six 

 thousand small plants may be put out to the acre, and they 

 need not be thinned until the best reach three-and-a-half 

 inches quarter girth in the middle. Birch is a good com- 

 panion for the oak, and both may be planted very thickly 

 together without fear, as they do not incommode each other 

 and grow at about the same rate till past middle-age in the 

 case of the birch. Birch timber is now imported in the rough 



