CLIMATE AND SOIL 23 



North and east aspects are the best for ash, beech, larch, 

 Douglas fir, hornbeam, silver fir, and spruce. 



South and west aspects are best for oak, chestnut, elm, 

 maple, sycamore, false acacia, Austrian pine, and Corsican pine. 



The following species will do well on any aspect : Alder, 

 aspen, birch, hazel, willows, Scotch pine, and Weymouth pine. 



When the land to be planted varies in its aspect it will be 

 well as far as possible to plant each species on the aspect 

 which suits it best. This is especially important with the 

 larch, which is apt to get much diseased ; it should be grown 

 on cold north and east aspects, where its bursting into bud 

 will be rather delayed, and where the climate more nearly 

 approaches that of its natural home in the Alps. Aspect, how- 

 ever, is not so important in England as it is on the Continent. 



4. The danger of, or freedom from, frosts. Frosts which 

 occur in winter seldom do great damage to our indigenous 

 trees, though they may kill exotic plants. Early frosts, or 

 those occurring in early autumn, do a certain amount of harm 

 by killing the young unripened shoots, but they seldom kill 

 young trees outright. It is the late spring frost which does 

 the greatest damage and which must be guarded against. 

 Frosts occurring in May are especially dangerous, while those 

 coming in April are bad but do not do so much harm, as 

 vegetation is not so far advanced. 



The effects of frost may be recognized by the frozen plants, 

 or parts of plants, becoming soft and flexible ; they usually 

 turn brown, hang downwards, and wilt. 



Species which burst into leaf late in spring do not suffer so 

 much as those which do so earlier, as there is then less chance 

 of a bad frost ; at the same time the young plants of almost 

 all species will suffer considerably if a frost occurs just as the 

 buds are bursting. 



The date when a species bursts into leaf depends on the 

 elevation and aspect, and it is therefore impossible to say that 

 a species is hardy or tender in every circumstance. On a 



