CHAPTER II 



THE BRITISH SYLVA, AND THE GROWTH OF 

 WOODLAND CROPS IN GENERAL 



AT the time of the Roman invasion of Britain a very con- 

 siderable portion of our island was still covered with forest, 

 as the gradually advancing requirements of increasing popula- 

 tion had not yet necessitated any very extensive clearance of 

 the primeval woodlands in order to permit of the expansion 

 of tillage and pasturage. 



The species of forest trees of which the woods consisted 

 comprised Oak, Beech, Hornbeam, Scots Pine, Birch, Ash, 

 Willow, Alder, Scots Elm, Yew, Aspen, Mountain Ash, and 

 Hawthorn. The uplands of central and southern England, 

 and more especially those tracts having limy or chalky soils, 

 bore dense woods of Beech (which, however, was not indi- 

 genous to Scotland, where it was not introduced until the 

 beginning of the eighteenth century), whilst a stately growth of 

 Oak covered the richer alluvial stretches having deeper soil. 

 The sandy hills of southern England and all the mountainous 

 tracts extending from Yorkshire to the northern portion of the 

 island were probably mainly covered with Scots Pine (the only 

 species of the Abietineae indigenous to Britain), Birch, and 

 Mountain Ash, whilst Oak, Ash, Scots Elm, Aspen, Willow, 

 Alder, and Yew were for by far the most part restricted to 

 the dells, valleys, and lower-lying localities, where the soil was 



