CHAPTEK VII. 



TBEES BEST ADAPTED FOR VARIOUS SOILS. 



THERE is, perhaps, no soil so bad and barren that it may 

 not be rendered profitable by judicious planting ; but, as 

 might be expected, there is often a great want of knowledge 

 as to the proper kind of trees to be chosen to suit a particular 

 soil. In looking over a large extent of woodland one will 

 generally be struck with the great disproportion in size oi 

 the individual trees of a species ; but it will generally be 

 noticed that where the largest and healthiest occur the tree 

 is usually growing upon its own soil, and is found to be 

 flourishing at the expense of all around it. Thus the finest 

 oaks will be found where the soil is deep and loamy, resting 

 on clay ; beech, and the Austrian Pine (Finns anstriaca) 

 upon a calcareous gravel, resting on a bed of chalk ; ash and 

 elm7"on a Hampish, loamy gravel ; birch, in a light, black 

 loam, with a gravelly substratum ; Spanish chestnut, in a 

 good loamy soil, not too damp ; the Scotch and Corsican 

 pines (P. sylvestris and P. laricio) at fairly high altitudes, 

 and in gravelly, well-drained soils ; and the Cluster and 

 Aleppo pines (P. Pinaster and P. halepensis), in almost pure 

 sand on the sea-coast. Some trees grow rapidly enough 

 for a few years in almost any soil, but after a time they 

 generally show signs of distress, make little or no progress, 

 and ultimately become stunted and ill-grown ; or, should 

 the soil be very unfavourable, tiiey die outright. Instaoces 

 of such are, unfortunately, far too common wherever 

 one travels over the country, trees of a kind that are 

 Utterly unfitted for the particular class of soil being 



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