LIFE IN A PINE WOOD 



PEOPLE, BIRDS, ANTS 



SOME years ago a clever gentleman, a landowner 

 no doubt with pine plantations on his property, 

 made the interesting discovery that the ideal place 

 to live in was a pine wood, owing to the antiseptic 

 and medicinal qualities emanating from the trees. 

 You could smell them and began to feel better the 

 moment you entered the wood. Naturally there 

 was a rush to the pines just as there had been a 

 rush to the hill-tops in response to TyndalPs flag- 

 waving and exultant shouts from Hindhead, and 

 as there had been a rush over a century earlier to 

 the seaside in obedience to Dr. Russell's clarion call. 

 I have no desire myself to live among pines, simply 

 because I cannot endure to be shut off from this 

 green earth with sight of flocks and herds. Woods 

 are sometimes good to live in : I have spent happy 

 months in a woodman's cottage in a forest ; but 

 the trees were mostly oak and beech and there 

 were wide green spaces and an abundant wild 

 life. Pine woods, especially plantations, are 



i B 



