134 Avoidable waste in planting 



Britain, and our quick-grown Scotch Fir is never so 

 valuable for timber as the same tree of the mountains 

 of western Europe. Rainfall too has much effect on 

 trees, and also elevated situations; in such we might 

 venture to plant trees which would be started too early 

 by the milder climate of the south. In the wood we 

 need no manure cart, and in the hottest years the trees 

 maintain their freshness. Vast areas of European 

 mountains are covered with Pines, although there is 

 scarcely a trace of soil over the ribs of the mountain. 

 Those who are now seeking to plant with a garland of 

 trees the hideous refuse-heaps of the Black Country 

 are right in their efforts ; however poor the land may 

 be when the trees are first planted, the annual layer of 

 fallen leaves soon forms a deposit of mould, between 

 which and the natural soil the roots of the trees are 

 always found in great numbers. The older the wood 

 the deeper the leaf-soil : in old Beech and other forests 

 it is extraordinary to what an extent this leaf-mould has 

 accumulated. If it were not for it, generation after 

 generation of the same tree could not have succeeded 

 each other on the same ground. Mountains which 

 unplanted would have been almost bared to the rock 

 by constant denudation, have a good soil of leaf-mould ; 

 the same may be said of Fir and Spruce woods, in 

 which the fallen Pine-needles have formed a bed of 

 black mould. Tree crops manure themselves and 

 enrich the ground on which they grow, a fact that 

 should never be lost sight of in considering the planting 

 of poor lands. Many do not plant, fearing the cost 

 of labour and plants, and all would do well to con- 

 sider the wastefulness of planting as usually done and 

 the heavy labours undergone for no lasting gain. 



