70 FAMILIAR TREES 



to agriculture and on the other to plantations of more 

 valuable timber. 



In the woodlands of Kent, Sussex, and even 

 Middlesex, this species forms a small standard tree ; 

 but on the rugged precipitous limestone cliffs that 

 overhang the " sylvan Wye," as at the Great Doward, 

 the Windcliff or the romantic heights of Lancaut, 

 opposite Percefield, amid grotesque Yews and gnarled 

 Beeches, it is but a small bush. One of the most 

 remarkable examples of the species, however, is in 

 the south-west of England in Warleigh Wood, near 

 the mouth of the River Tavy. This tree is between 

 thirty and forty feet high, and has its bole clear of 

 branches for about six feet from the ground and 

 four feet in girth at its base. 



The wood of the Service is hard and tough. Under 

 the microscope it exhibits its small vessels slightly 

 more crowded towards the inner margin of each 

 annual ring, but also distributed throughout the 

 whole radius of the ring, almost in single rows 

 between every two of the fine but distinct pith- 

 rays. At Edenbridge, in Kent, where it is termed 

 Chequer-wood, it used to be preferred to all other 

 woods for flails ; but hand-threshing of corn is 

 now rarely seen. 



Some of the other local names recorded for this 

 species, such as " shir " in Surrey and " lezzory " or 

 " lizzory " in the Cotswolds, are difficult to explain ; 

 but the name " Maple Service " seems to be merely a 

 somewhat unhappy book-name, derived from some 

 resemblance in the lobin- of the leaf to some kind 

 of Maple. 



