I R THE WOODLANDS. 



CHAPTER II. 



TIMBER TREES. 



THE vegetation of woodlands may, for the sake of 

 convenience, be arranged in four groups. The first 

 group would consist of the large timber trees which 

 constitute the wood or forest. These, in some 

 instances, are chiefly of one or two kinds, as oak 

 woods, beech woods, or fir woods ; but in the ma- 

 jority of cases they are much more mixed, and con- 

 sist of several species growing together. The second 

 group consists of smaller trees which compose the 

 undergrowth, and shrubs which never attain the 

 dignity of trees. The third group will be the herba- 

 ceous vegetation, mixed with dwarf perennials. Whilst 

 the fourth group will include what are botanically 

 called cryptogams, such as the ferns, mosses, liver- 

 worts, lichens, and fungi. It will be advisable to 

 treat of this vegetation under these four groups, giving 

 examples of each, without attempting to enumerate 

 all ; and as the arrangement is purely an artificial one, 

 at least in so far as the first three groups are con- 

 cerned, it must not be subjected to too critical a 

 test. 

 Much might have been written of the uses to which 



