130 PLANTS AND ANIMALS. [CHAP. 



change in the characteristic trees of a country cannot 

 be effected without producing an effect as great upon 

 other vegetation and also upon the fauna of the 

 locality. 



What a change must have been effected in our 

 native flora and fauna by the invention of gun- 

 powder ! Previously the country owed its victories 

 of war to the bowmen, and they owed their excellence 

 largely to the yew-staves of which their bows were 

 made, and to which the victories of Cressy, Poictiers, 

 and Agincourt were mainly attributed. But with the 

 invention of gunpowder and the adoption of firearms 

 in the army the Yew ceased to be cultivated ; the 

 plantations which had been previously devoted to it 

 were filled with more profitable trees, and to-day it 

 is so scarce that the wood for the fancy bows of 

 modern archers is imported from the United States. 

 Previously immense areas of ground must have been 

 planted with the Yew, and the effect of abandoning 

 its cultivation must have been great, especially as it 

 was probably accompanied by an increased cultiva- 

 tion of the Alder (Alnus glutinosd), for its wood fur- 

 nishes one of the best kinds of charcoal used in the 

 manufacture of gunpowder, and in the neighbourhood 

 of gunpowder factories large plantations of Alder are 

 often to be seen. 



It is by such circumstances as these that the whole 

 aspect of our country has been changed, and the flora 

 and fauna considerably modified. Think what a revo- 

 lution of Nature must have been effected by the 

 cultivation of corn ! Tracts of virgin forest and moor- 

 land were ploughed and dug, and the characteristic 



