236 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



ornament. An oak clump in which the trees have grown up 

 together from infancy as a more or less solid mass of 

 foliage, usually exhibits every form of stem and crown. Some 

 have taken the lead from the start, and have developed tall 

 stout boles and massive crowns ; others have been more or 

 less overshadowed by their stronger brethren, and have only 

 been able to push up a thin tuft of foliage to the sky on an 

 attenuated and more or less crooked stem. Others again, 

 towards the outside, have thrown out a few horizontal 

 branches to the light from short and leaning stems, and are 

 little more than bushes in height, or gate-posts in diameter. 

 Yet, whatever their form or development has been, they are 

 all more or less essential to the completion of the group ; and 

 to take out the smaller and weaker individuals at any time 

 after middle age not only destroys the general effect, but 

 may even stunt or affect the growth of the larger trees. 

 While the crown of an oak may require a good deal of light 

 and air for its healthy development, its stem should always 

 be as closely shaded as possible, unless fully exposed from 

 the first. To expose it late in life invariably leads to the 

 breaking out of water branches, or epicormic shoots, up the 

 whole length of the bole, and these in their turn check and 

 stunt the growth of the tree during the remainder of its life, 

 in addition to disfiguring it as an ornamental object. The 

 only satisfactory method of thinning an oak clump is to clear 

 it away altogether, unless one tree or so happens to exist 

 which, from its comparative isolation previously, is adapted 

 for standing alone. 



THE BEECH. 



While many trees look almost equally as well when grown 

 in the open as in close woods, there is little doubt that fche 

 beech only looks its best when grown in thick masses or in 

 the recesses of a dense wood. The reason of this is not far 

 to seek. The beech is a tree which can dispense with a 

 great deal of the air and light which are necessary for the 

 development of many trees, and its natural tendency is to 

 take full advantage of those elements whenever they are 

 available. Grown in the open, therefore, it forms one of the 



