PROFITABLE TIMBER TREES 77 



for the roots of larch, running almost on the surface, find a 

 layer of beech leaves a cool and grateful mulch on dry soils. 

 In fact, all trees on dry soils are benefited by a sprinkling of 

 beech, and the forester, unless prevented by reasons given 

 above, should make a point of using it to a reasonable 

 extent in most planting operations. 



But it is on the Chiltern Hills that we must look for 

 beech at home, and as a recognised inhabitant of the woods. 

 Here, although the woods are not often large in themselves, 

 they are fairly numerous, and the majority of them consist of 

 little but beech with a sprinkling of oak, holly, etc., be- 

 tween and beneath them. The peculiarity of these Chiltern 

 beech woods is that no record exists of their having been 

 planted. They are supposed to be the remains of natural 

 forests which once covered these hills, and are perhaps one 

 of the few existing instances of woods having directly de- 

 scended, without artificial sowing or planting, from the 

 native forests of Britain. Whether this is so, for a fact, no 

 one can say with certainty, as the introduction of a tree from 

 the continent of Europe would not be a great or difficult 

 event in the earliest times, and would easily be lost sight of 

 as time went on. Be that as it may, the beech is now 

 thoroughly at home on the low loam and flint-covered hills 

 round Wycombe, Chesham, etc., and, if properly managed, 

 costs next to nothing for maintenance and replanting. 



The system under which most of these woods are 

 managed is somewhat as follows : At periods of fifteen to 

 thirty years, according to the needs or ideas of the proprietor 

 or agent, sections of the woods are gone through, and all 

 timber which is supposed to be of a marketable size is taken 

 out. The particular limit as to size or proportion of standing 

 crop removed varies with the wishes or requirements of the 

 owner or his representative, and while one wood may be 

 stripped of everything saleable, another may only be lightly 

 thinned of its heaviest timber. Between each felling seeds 

 spring up more or less annually in the gaps made in felling, 

 and the wood is thus composed of a succession of age classes 

 ranging from one year to the oldest age up to which the 

 timber is allowed to stand. 



The success or failure of the system depends a good deal 



