BRITISH FOREST TREES 243 



and recently receiving almost more attention than any 

 other exotic in northern Europe, reaches a height of 300 

 feet and a girth of 27 feet in its own home, and yields timber 

 of excellent quality. It thrives on sandy downs, but attains 

 its best development on loose, mild, permeable, fresh soil, 

 whilst on a dry soil it does better than on a damp or wet 

 one. In Germany it is said although this seems to be 

 contrary to experience in Scotland to make a good stand 

 against the violence of winds, and also bears a considerable 

 degree of shade. In rapidity of growth in height it far excels 

 the spruce, the Scots pine, and even the larch or the 

 Weymouth pine. Being tardy in sending out its shoots, it 

 is little apt to suffer from late frosts. In a great many respects 

 it resembles rather the spruce than its closer relative the 

 silver fir. It begins to bear seed about the twenty-fifth year. 

 It does not suffer so much from insect enemies as our in- 

 digenous conifers, and is not particularly sought after by roe 

 or red-deer. Up till the present, experience and experi- 

 ments throughout Germany have tended to show that it bids 

 fair to prove the most remunerative of all the exotic conifers 

 (with the exception perhaps of spruce so far as Britain is 

 concerned). It certainly deserves very special attention in 

 the formation of fresh woodlands, and during the reproduc- 

 tion of existing coniferous forests. Seedlings put out in 

 nursery beds at 8 inches x 4 inches can be transplanted in 

 the following year if necessary, as they develop rapidly. 



I'.ROAI. i i.AVKD, DECIDUOUS TREES. A. HARDWOODS. 



i. ASH (FRAXINUS EXCELSIOR, L.) 



Distribution. The ash is to be found over nearly the 

 whole of Europe and the Caucasus, southwards from 634o' 

 in Norway, 61 in Sweden, and 62 in Finland, and forms 



K 2 



