16 FORESTRY IN EARLY TIMES 



of the oak, beech, hornbean, ash, birch, Scots or 

 Wych elm, yew, aspen, alder, willow, mountain ash, 

 holly, and hawthorn amongst the broad-leaved trees, 

 with Scots pine the only conifer. The oak forests 

 occupied the deep, rich, alluvial lowlands, whilst 

 the beech formed dense forests on the uplands of 

 southern and central England. The sandy areas 

 in the south of England and the mountainous tracts 

 stretching from Yorkshire to the north of Scotland 

 were probably chiefly covered with Scots pine, 

 birch, and mountain ash, the other broad-leaved 

 species occupying the more sheltered, low-lying 

 localities in the island. 



During the Roman occupation many species of 

 trees, forest and fruit and ornamental shrubs, were 

 introduced by them into Britain, some of which 

 flourished whilst others failed. The chief of these 

 introduced trees are the sweet chestnut, English 

 elm, poplar, and lime. These are now widespread, 

 but their seed only rarely ripens sufficiently to have 

 reproductive power. All of them may, however, 

 throw out sucker shoots from their roots. It was only 

 after the lapse of a thousand years from the departure 

 of the Romans that other species of trees were 

 imported into the country. In the fifteenth century 

 the sycamore, white and crack willows, and the white 

 and grey poplars were introduced ; the cluster pine 

 and the spruce in the sixteenth century ; silver fir, 

 maple, horse chestnut, and larch in the seventeenth 

 century; Weymouth, maritime, Cembran, and 

 pitch pines in the eighteenth century ; and Austrian, 

 yellow, and Jeffrey pines, Nordmann's and Douglas 



