BRITISH FOREST TREES 73 



aspen and alder mixed with it, but on the whole the 

 appearance of crops of this kind is seldom satisfactory. 



Scots pine woods are often the matrix throughout which 

 other varieties of pine, in particular Weymouth and also 

 black or Austrian pine, are grown with satisfactory results. 

 The former often assists materially in maintaining the 

 canopy, and both are less impatient of shade than our in- 

 digenous species. The Weymouth pine is, however, apt to 

 overtop and crowd out the Scots pine, so that it should 

 be introduced in clumps for more easy tending in favour of 

 the latter. The black pine is notably backward in growth 

 during its tenth to fifteenth year, but can bear a light shade 

 well, and improves the soil considerably through its heavy 

 fall of needles and its thicker foliage. 



Formation and Reproduction of Pine Forests. The methods 

 of reproduction of pure pine forests are various. Natural 

 regeneration under parent standard trees was long the rule, 

 and is even now, in extensive pine tracts where low local 

 timber rates, or a limited demand for timber, did and do not 

 seem to call for or justify the outlay of large sums on artificial 

 reproduction, although it cannot be denied that the latter 

 leads to more regular and complete results. But wherever 

 the whole crop can be profitably disposed of, natural repro- 

 duction of this species and, indeed, of every species of 

 forest tree except the beech and the silver fir, which are 

 shade-demanding during the first two or three years of their 

 existence has come to be the exception in place of, as 

 formerly, the rule, though .some maintain that in many 

 cases natural regeneration is the preferable method, and 

 that better timber crops of pine can be raised from seed 

 shed by parent standards, if blanks and unregenerated 

 patches be promptly filled up artificially. Large pine forests 

 on light sandy soil, where sudden clearance might render 

 it a prey to the winds, ought certainly to be reproduced 



