234 FORESTKY IN THE UNITED KINODOM. 



good layer of leaf-mould on the ground, the management 

 is sure to have been good ; if not, undoubted mistakes have 

 been made which should be eliminated as quickly as 

 possible. 



No doubt, some readers will say, this is all very well, but 

 what are we to do with so much beech w'hich fetches only a 

 small price per cubic foot? The answer may be given by 

 another question : — What is done with beech in Buckingham- 

 shire and adjoining counties ? Why, it is made into chairs, 

 other articles of furniture and tools, and it fetches at least 

 a shilling a foot all round. In other words, provide the raw 

 material and industries to vtilise it icill soon sprimj up. They 

 follow the raw material Beechwood is coming into use more 

 and more every year, for casks for dry goods, railway sleepers, 

 pattens, heels for ladies' boots and what not. Besides, the 

 beech need not occupy more than half the crop, or it may be 

 kept almost wholly below the oak. 



Let us hope that the twentieth century foresters wall profit 

 by the lesson and revert to methods of treatment, which will 

 secure the continued yield capacity of the soil and thus lead 

 to returns far higher than those, which have been obtained 

 of late from extensive woodlands in these islands. 



