4 Introductory 



they are sawn into planks and are then placed on ships 

 for transport to other countries. 



We have now in England only a few forests left, but 

 if we could look back some million years we should 

 see a very different state of things. In those days the 

 country was covered with swampy forests in which ferns 

 and other plants grew together so closely that the 

 weaker ones were often choked out of existence in the 

 struggle. When they fell to the ground they gradually 

 became rotten and other dead plants and leaves fell 

 upon them. Thus, by degrees, thick layers were formed. 

 Very many years passed by, earthquakes and other 

 more gradual changes altered the surface of the earth, 

 so that at last these old layers found themselves right 

 deep down in the earth and became a hard black 

 substance. This is what you know as coal. It is now 

 found in coal mines in the depths of the earth and is 

 dug up to be burnt in our grates. Sometimes in a piece 

 of coal you will see the mark of a fern leaf, or of a piece 

 of stem (Fig. 4). These are almost the only traces left 

 to tell us what those ancient forests once were. If you 

 are ever on a peat moor, look carefully at the black 

 peaty earth. You will see that, even some way below 

 the surface, it is full of little roots and stems of plants. 

 This peat shows a very early stage of decay through 

 which coal very possibly went before reaching the form 

 in which we know it. 



After many ages had passed by, England became 

 inhabited by men, and as these inhabitants became more 

 civilized they began to cut down small tracts of forest 

 and to cultivate the land. The larger and fiercer animals 

 that used to range through the country were extermin- 

 ated and the forests came to be looked upon as hunting 



