i ?o OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



classes of woodland soils, a fair undergrowth will 

 often be formed with comparatively little outlay 

 except for layering of stool-shoots and dibbling in 

 seed on prepared patches, and the returns from 

 this should soon prove remunerative enough to 

 form * pretty encouragements for a small and 

 pleasant industry,' as we have seen Evelyn already 

 point out long ago. 



Other two hardwood trees of minor importance 

 in Britain are the Hornbeam ( Carpinus betulus) and 

 the Robinia or Locust-tree (Robinia pseudacacia), 

 yet they each deserve attention as yielding good 

 timber. 



Hornbeam is seldom allowed to reach its 

 attainable dimensions as a timber tree, being 

 mostly relegated to hedges, though under favour- 

 able circumstances it can grow to a height of 

 sixty or seventy feet, with a girth of from two to 

 three feet in diameter. Its hard, heavy, cross- 

 grained wood is difficult to work up, but is better 

 than beech for such purposes as work-benches, 

 boxes for planes, handles of tools, wedges, hubs 

 of cart wheels, and anything requiring great 

 toughness. And it is the only one among our 

 forest trees whose wood exceeds that of beech in 



