150 FORESTS, WOODS, AND TREES 
it is grown singly or in groups amidst other trees, which 
are capable of killing the undergrowth of grass and of keep- 
ing the soil moist and covered with good humus. In other 
words, ash must be grown in a matrix of trees slower 
in growth, which protect the soil. A suitable species for 
this purpose is hazel, which is not injured by the shade of 
the ash. A small plantation of mixed ash and hazel made 
on fairly good soil at Westwick, Norfolk, in 1906, has 
grown splendidly. The ash had in 1918 an average height 
of 36 feet, with a girth of 14 inches, while the hazel 
beneath was about 6 to 8 feet high. 
Ash also requires for its proper development a soil rich 
in mineral constituents and at the same time full of moisture ; 
but the water must not be stagnant. It is, in fact, one of 
the most exacting of our forest trees, as it only thrives on 
moist deep soil, preferably light and loamy, and containing 
lime. 
In England there are natural woods, in which ash is the 
predominant tree, mixed with oak, wych elm, hazel, haw- 
thorn, etc., on the limestone hills of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, 
Westmorland, and Somerset, and on the chalk in Devon, 
Dorset, and Isle of Wight; but the trees are small in size 
and poor in quality, except where there is much moisture 
in the soil. These woods ascend to 1000 or even 1250 
feet elevation in the Pennines, 
Ash tends to spread naturally and oust other trees 
wherever the soil is either calcareous or contains a good 
deal of moisture. It regenerates itself freely by self-sown 
seed throughout the British Isles. Under natural condi- 
tions the finest ash would grow in deep alluvial soil in river 
valleys, but in this country such land has long since been 
monopolised by agriculture, and does not now carry forests. 
In the limestone districts of England, Scotland, and Ireland 
there are many spots with fairly deep, moist, and well- 
drained soil, on which would grow fine groves of ash, but 
most of such sites are probably taken up by the farmer or 
grazier. On thin, chalky soils, as in the Lincolnshire 
wolds, beech succeeds well in situations unsuitable for 
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