PROFITABLE TIMBER TREES 81 



it ripens its fruit in most warm summers, and attains a size 

 which would render it one of our most valuable trees if only 

 the quality of its timber kept pace with its growth. In the 

 north of England and Scotland ripe nuts are rarely seen, 

 and the annual growths are sometimes cut back by frost 

 during a severe winter, and the tree is there rarely seen to 

 perfection. 



There is good reason to believe that the Spanish chestnut 

 seldom meets with the treatment necessary in order to render 

 it profitable in English woodlands, for we feel convinced that 

 it is a fairly profitable tree when correctly planted and 

 managed. The point most frequently overlooked is the fact 

 already mentioned, that it deteriorates with age, and that, like 

 larch, on unsuitable soils it must be cut early if a profit is 

 aimed at. For this reason it is best adapted for mixing with 

 hardwoods or conifers on suitable land, and in such a way 

 that it can be taken out about the thirtieth or fortieth year, 

 or when individual trees contain from 10 to 20 feet of timber. 

 Cut about this age, it proves very useful for estate fencing, 

 pit-wood, or other purposes where durability and strength 

 are required, for we know from experience that it is little 

 inferior to oak for outdoor work. Another good point which 

 Spanish chestnut possesses for mixing purposes is its heavy 

 leaf-fall and soil-shading qualities. The beech is usually 

 considered the best soil-shading hardwood we have, but up 

 to a certain period Spanish chestnut is not far behind, and, 

 for the first ten years at anyrate, probably excels it in this 

 respect. It is not quite such a good shade-bearer as the 

 beech in middle age, perhaps, but will bear a good deal of it 

 when young on suitable soils, and for mixing with larch we 

 consider it almost as effective and certainly more profitable 

 than beech. Apart from the superior quality of its timber 

 for outdoor work, few hardwoods grow at a more rapid rate 

 than this tree on warm deep soils, and there is little danger 

 of its getting partly suppressed and weakened when planted 

 with larch or pines ; or, even if such should occur, small poles 

 are of considerable value of a size at which beech or oak 

 would be useless. 



As already hinted, the soils for Spanish chestnut are 

 deep well-drained loams, sands, or even gravels if not too 

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