Sparse Distribution in England 3 1 



of these commons were enclosed, and all round the 

 clumps nice young trees are springing up by the 

 million, looking exactly as if planted, so many are 

 of the same age. In another part of the common, 

 not yet enclosed, I looked for miles, and not one 

 young tree could be seen. I then went near (within 

 a quarter of a mile of the clumps) and looked 

 closely in the heather, and there I found tens of 

 thousands of young Scotch firs (thirty in one square 

 yard) with their tops nibbled off by the few cattle 

 which occasionally roam over these wretched 

 heaths.' 



A similar state of things is found on the island 

 of Inch Lonaig, where there is an extensive natural 

 forest of yew. No young trees have sprung up for 

 ages, as their growth is prevented by a herd of deer 

 which has been introduced there. 



Yew-trees are found in larger quantity on the 

 rugged scars and clefts on the sides of hills than 

 on low ground. How far this is due to peculiarities 

 of soil, or drainage, or to the degree of protection 

 they find there from the ravages of animals, through 

 their more inaccessible position, it is not easy to say. 

 Thus, on the Kent and Surrey downs, where they 

 occur in lines or in large masses, the former may be 

 the explanation, while in some of the Welsh valleys, 

 in the valley of the Wye, at Tintern and in Dove- 

 dale, where the trees grow in profusion amongst 

 the rocks, the latter reason may have more weight. 



