FORESTRY 



Wynyard, and others, the young plantations are 

 naturally in a better condition than where this 

 work has been neglected. But conditions of soil 

 and local climate affect the development of cer- 

 tain species to an equal or greater extent than any 

 system of management, and must be considered 

 accordingly. The development of oak or larch, 

 for instance, requires certain conditions which 

 cannot everywhere be found, and the failure of 

 these trees is not necessarily a sign in itself of 

 bad management. Taking the woods as they 

 are, however, a few of the most noteworthy may 

 be mentioned which exhibit good specimens of 

 the ordinary forest trees of the county. 



Oak woods, pure and simple, are not numerous, 

 but probably the best type of timber may be 

 seen in those at Hamsterley in the Derwent 

 valley, where trees containing from forty to sixty 

 feet or more of timber are common. Younger 

 oak woods of a promising character may be seen 

 at Lambton, Wynyard, Brancepeth, and else- 

 where, although the growth of this tree in the 

 cold stiff clays of these districts is very poor. 



Other broad-leaved trees chiefly exist in small 

 clumps, or in mixture with other species, but a 

 considerable number of beech woods or clumps 

 exist in various parts of the county, chiefly in 

 or near parks or pleasure grounds. The finest 

 of these may be seen at Gibside, Hamsterley Hall, 

 Axwell, and Ravensworth, on the banks of the 

 Derwent; Lambton, Lumley, and Bishop Auck- 

 land on the banks of the Wear ; and at Raby and 

 elsewhere in the Teesdale district. Of conifer- 

 ous woods, the best are probably those in Upper 

 Weardale, between Wolsingham and Witton-le- 

 Wear, in which larch, spruce, and Scotch pine 

 may be seen containing from fifty to eighty 

 feet 01 more of timber and over lOO feet in 

 height. Fairly large plantations of Scotch pine 

 and larch also exist at Woodlands Hall, Weather- 

 ly Hill, Bedburn, along the banks of the Der- 

 went above Shotley Bridge, and in various parts 

 of Upper Weardale and Teesdale. At the 

 higher altitudes in the latter districts spruce 

 succeeds better than Scotch pine as a rule, al- 

 though most of the plantations are too small to 

 obtain the best results. Sycamore, ash, and beech 

 also grow at these elevations to moderate sizes, 

 but it is only in sheltered places that the larch 

 attains to timber dimensions. 



The timber trade in the county of Durham 

 suffers considerably from the heavy imports of 

 mining and other timber along the east coast. 

 One hundred years ago practically all the pit- 

 props and other timber used in the mines was 

 grown in the county, while oak was exclusively 

 used for ship and boat-building, beech for colliery 

 rails and sleepers, ash for wagon building, wheels, 

 tool handles, and so on. For many years now, 

 however, foreign woods of all kinds have been 

 steadily replacing English timber, until, at the 

 present time, only such timber as oak and larch can 



be readily disposed of for mining purposes, and ash 

 for wheelwright work. Large sycamore can also 

 be sold at fair prices, but nearly all other species 

 are often difficult to deal with in a satisfactory 

 manner, even when lying at the pit's mouth. 

 The average prices for the principal kinds of 

 timber are as follows : — 



Per cubic foot, and 



standing in the wood 



J. d. s. d. 



Oak I o to I 6 



Ash I o ,, I 6 



Beech o 4 ,, o 8 



Elm o 4 „ o 8 



Sycamore . . . . i o „ 2 o 



Larch o 9 „ I o 



Scotch pine . . . o 3 „ o 6 



Spruce . . . . o 2 „ o 4 



Much, of course, depends upon the quality of 

 the timber, and the situation in which it is grow- 

 ing, but it is only occasionally that higher prices 

 than those quoted above are obtained. 



Of the various enemies to which trees and 

 woods are exposed, none are peculiar to the 

 county, although the more common of them 

 may be mentioned. Rodents are chiefly repre- 

 sented by rabbits and hares, squirrels and voles. 

 The last-named do a great deal of damage to 

 young plantations from time to time, especially 

 to broad-leaved trees. Billington mentioned 

 injuries caused by these animals having destroyed 

 young oaks in Chopwell 100 years ago, and 

 the same method of trapping he employed to 

 destroy them, by digging pits in the ground, is 

 still adopted in the county. Insect and fungoid 

 pests are chiefly represented by the pine-beetle 

 and weevil, pine-bud moth, spruce gall aphis, 

 larch-mining moth and woolly aphis, giant sirex, 

 beech felted scale, and others. The most destruc- 

 tive fungoid pests are the larch canker, heart 

 rot, beech canker, honey fungus, and numerous 

 others of minor importance. 



In the way of noteworthy trees in parks or 

 pleasure grounds Durham cannot compare favour- 

 ably with many counties. The following list of 

 large or interesting trees may be given, which 

 includes most of those existing at the present 

 day, and which have been recently measured : — 



Oaks 



The finest in the county is probably the 

 'King Oak,' at Gibside, which girths 15 ft. 7 in. 

 at 4^ ft. and contains nearly 500 ft. of timber. 

 Other large oaks are at Axwell, 15ft. 8 in.; 

 Brancepeth, 17 ft. 8 in. ; Bishop Auckland, 

 13 ft. 4 in. ; and Raby, 16 ft. 



Ashes 



A tree at Raby has a girth of 16 ft., while one 

 at Wynyard girths nearly 20 ft., but has a very 

 short bole. 



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