NOTES ON PARTICULAR TREES 61 



growing oak than can be gained by inspection 

 of the soil. 



In the southern counties the sessile variety 

 is said to grow more freely and with greater 

 length of stem than the pedunculate variety on 

 light gravelly land, but to be more liable to 

 shakes. 



Ash is the most remunerative tree grown in 

 English woods. It commands a ready sale and 

 good prices. As a rule it grows well and seeds 

 itself freely in any soil which is of fair fertility 

 and damp, if free from sourness and under the 

 800-foot contour line. Some very fine trees 

 are found on limestone formation, but more 

 usually it grows quickly where there is lime, 

 until it is fifty or sixty years old, and then is 

 checked and becomes liable to decay. If ash 

 on limestone is cut down as soon as growth 

 slackens, the timber is usually of excellent quality. 

 It is a capricious tree, and sometimes refuses to 

 grow well on land which seems suitable for it. 

 It generally grows scattered among other trees 

 in a wood, or in small groups on banks in pasture 

 lands, or as hedgerow timber. It is rarely seen 

 in large groups or in pure woods. The seed 

 (called keys) germinates in the second year 

 after it is formed. It is kept, mixed with sand, 



