312 ON THE CULTIVATION OF TREES. 



Mrs. B. That is necessarily the case in all highly civ- 

 ilised and thickly populated countries ; corn being a more 

 valuable produce than timber, will obtain the preference 

 where the soil is adapted to it. 



Our natural forests, in such land as we allow them to 

 occupy, consist of little more than the oak, the ash, the 

 beech, the birch, and, in elevated situations, the fir. 



Forests are divided by botanists into tolerant and in- 

 tolerant : the former admits of trees of another species 

 growing amongst them ; the latter exclude all but their 

 own. 



A forest of oaks is of the former description ; under- 

 wood of various descriptions growing beneath it ; whilst 

 beeches and firs do not allow this privilege to the infe- 

 rior plants, and are hence denominated intolerant. 



The thirty-four species of European forest-trees are di- 

 vided into four classes. 



1st Class. Trees with hard wood : this class comprises 



three species of oak. 



Long-stalked oak. Chesnut. Hornbeam. 



Stalkless oak. Elm. Pear. 



Tauzin oak. Ash. Apple. 



Sycamore. 



2d Class. Trees with soft wood. 

 Lime. Poplar. Willow. 



3d Class. Trees with resinous wood. 

 Pine. Fir. Larch. 



4th Class. Evergreens, not resinous, 

 The Evergreen Oak, of the south of Europe. 



There are two modes of felling forests ; which the 

 French call en Jardinier, or Taille regie, and for which 

 we have no equivalent terms in English. In the former, 

 you successively cut down the large trees as they grow 

 up to the size of timber ; in the latter, the whole of the 

 forest is felled at once. 



1683. Between highly civilized and thinly populated countries, what 

 difference will there necessarily be* 1684. Of what do English forests 

 consist! 1685. What is understood by tolerant and intolerant when 

 applied to forests'? 1686. What is said of oak, beech, and fir in 

 relation to this division 1 ? 1687. Into how many classes are European 

 "forests divided! 1688. What ones does the first class include 1 ? The 

 second 1 ? The third 1 ? The fourth! 1689. What are the two modes 

 of felling trees'? 



