THE OTHER HARDWOODS 161 



woods. Their rapidity in growth is often re- 

 markable, and they are bound to prove a good 

 source of revenue in well-managed woodlands. 

 Sycamore and maple planted in 1868 to 1871, 

 upon high land on the Earl of Selborne's Black- 

 moor estate in Hants, girthed up to three feet 

 in September 1899, and they had already seeded 

 themselves freely in blank places throughout 

 portions of the plantation. Here is a description 

 of this small plantation, formerly an oak grove, 

 of 2 J acres known as Highfield Copse : ' A good, 

 deep, fresh soil varying from sand to sandy loam, 

 sloping very gently towards W., at which end 

 the soil is a loamy clay. A mixture of Oak, 

 from 4 to 6 feet in girth, originally standards 

 in copse, with Sycamore, Maple, Elm, Lime, 

 Beech, and other trees planted about 1868 to 

 1871. Some of the Maple and Sycamore now 

 girth up to 3 feet at breast-height. The crop 

 now forms full canopy in places, but in others 

 there are blanks ; and in some of the blanks 

 self-sown sycamore are coming up abundantly. 

 Where it still exists, the coppice is mostly of 

 hazel, but patchy, with birch here and there.' 

 In woodlands managed on business principles, 



