88 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



off in Britain than in most parts of the Continent, for a tem- 

 perature approaching to zero F. would, if long sustained, 

 be fatal to many of them, and it is possibly better to have 

 half a tree than none. Species which one would only 

 expect to find growing several degrees farther south may 

 be seen of a respectable age and size in many parts of 

 Britain, and an amateur is often inclined to attribute 

 their success rather to the climate of the growing than to 

 that of the resting season. To the gardener and arbori- 

 culturist this point is of special importance, for our mild 

 winters enable them to enrich gardens and ornamental 

 woodlands with an enormous variety of attractive and 

 interesting species, to the admiration and envy of many 

 of their continental neighbours. But to the practical 

 forester it is really of little consequence whether the 

 climate of the country can grow such a tree as the 

 Eucalyptus, or many others of that class seldom seen so 

 far north, for these trees can never attain, under the most 

 favourable circumstances, the dimensions and character 

 upon which their chief value depends for timber production. 

 For the forester, the climate of the country must be 

 largely valued by its ability to produce the commoner 

 timber trees, such as oak, ash, beech, pines, spruce, silver fir, 

 larch, etc., of commercial dimensions in the comparatively 

 short period of fifty to a hundred years, according to species. 

 Judged on this particular basis, how does the British 

 climate compare with that of France, Belgium, Germany, 

 Holland, and others lying between similar latitudes ? 

 Enthusiasts tell us it will produce the finest timber in 

 Europe. This may be so, but will it produce it at the 

 same elevations, and on the same classes of soil as is the 

 case in many parts of the Continent ? This is the basis on 

 which to test the superiority or inferiority, as the case 

 may be, of the British as compared with the continental 

 climate, and while we have neither reason nor right to dis- 



