NOTES ON PARTICULAR TREES 65 



trees and therefore can be planted to supply 

 the plaee of natural underwood where that 

 fails. 



The value of the beech for sylvicultural pur- 

 poses has been placed very high by continental 

 professors of forestry. It has been said to 

 protect the fertility of the soil by its close canopy, 

 and to increase it by the fall of leaves of con- 

 siderable manurial value. If it could be proved 

 that by underplanting with beech, good oak 

 could be profitably grown in England, on land 

 which otherwise would be of insufficient fertility, 

 it would be necessary to concede these claims. 

 The differences between the conditions in Ger- 

 many and England are so great that it is only 

 with great caution that practices usual in Ger- 

 many can be applied usefully here. In a great 

 part of Germany the soil is sandy, and the 

 climate very dry in summer. Here sandy soils 

 are the exception, and the climate is damp. 

 Here, when oak woods are partially cleared near 

 the end of the rotation, the soil is soon covered 

 with a natural crop of hazel and oak bushes 

 which can be sold as crate-wood, but if this 

 natural underwood fails to appear, or there are 

 places which have become vacant by the death 

 of trees, under-planting with beech may be 

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