CHAPTER III. 

 THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FORESTS IN EUROPE. 



THE extent to which in different countries there are 

 names of places with a reference to woods where now 

 woods or forests there are none, and remains of trees are 

 found submerged or buried where now trees no longer 

 grow, tells of the change which has taken place in the 

 forestal character of Europe, and accords with allusions 

 and explicit statements preserved by history; and in 

 comparing the present appearance of Europe with what 

 it must have been when a land of forests, it becomes 

 interesting to enquire in what way these forests came to 

 disappear. 



There is such a thing as a natural decay of trees, by 

 which I mean a decay which occurs, it may be altogether 

 irrespective of man, and of man's doings. In an old wood 

 there may sometimes be seen staghorn-like branches at 

 the very top, or at the extremities of some of the lower 

 boughs. This is an indication of decay. Sometimes there 

 may be seen on a living tree a dead branch, or an entire 

 side apparently dead, or actually so. Sometimes there 

 may be seen a lofty tree growing with apparent vigour, 

 but with only a hollow trunk, a mere shell remaining j or 

 a tree may be found standing erect but quite dead ; or it 

 may be, multitudes of trees lie uprooted and prostrate, 

 dead, or dying. In all such cases a knowledge of the 

 physiology of vegetation may enable an experienced 

 observer to tell at once how the decay, or the death of 

 the trees has come about. Most probably in the first men- 

 tioned case the roots of the tree had exhausted the 

 nutriment within reach of the extremities of the rootlets. 



